What is the secret to a child’s long-term success? Why do some kids do so well while others falter along the wayside as they journey through life?
The answers to these and more are found in Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed…
Tag: psychology
Buyology – Truth and Lies About Why We Buy
Imagine that you are a smoker. You pick up a pack of cigarettes.
On the front of the pack are gory images – a hemorrhaged brain, blackened lungs, deformed baby, ugly cancerous growth – coupled with stern admonitions like “SMOKING KILLS”.
How would you react to these gruesome warnings?
The Art of Thinking Clearly: Book Review
This man wants you to think more clearly (courtesy of Wikimedia)
You’ve heard the saying “to err is human and forgive divine”.
What you may not know, however, is that us Homo sapiens have been hardwired over the millenia to be illogical, distorted in our perception of reality, and inaccurate in our judgements.
In other words, to err repeatedly is human.
Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck: Book Review
What are entrepreneurs and business builders made of? Who should you bring to your team at different stages of growth, and why?
The answers, according to venture capitalists and business leaders Anthony K. Tjan, Richard J. Harrington and Tsun-Yan Hsieh, are contained their book Heart, Smarts, Guts, and Luck (HSGL). Tackling the human aspect of entrepreneurship, leadership and management, the book surmised that each of us are biased towards one of four traits – namely heart, smarts, guts, or luck – in our decision-making processes.
How Pleasure Works – Book Review
Why does pain sometimes feel like pleasure? Why do we enjoy music and art even though there aren’t any adaptive advantages? When does “one man’s meat” become “another man’s poison”?
The answers to these human behavioural puzzles (and more) can be found in How Pleasure Works. Written by Yale’s evolutionary psychologist Paul Bloom, the book uncovers the “new science of why we like what we like”. By delving into the fields of anthropology, evolution, history, biology and psychology, the book investigates why we humans are so different compared to our fellow earthlings.
Can we attract Millennials to tourism jobs?
Can we attract these youths to tourism and hospitality jobs? (courtesy of Singapore International Foundation)
Hilton, we’ve got a problem.
On one hand, the travel and hospitality industry is desperately in need of workers. Labour-intensive and high-touch, tourism sector jobs in hotels, retail outlets, visitor attractions, F&B, and transport are always available.
Hedonic Arbitrage – A Formula for Happiness
Original design from AsiaPacFinance.com
Are you going crazy over Apple’s latest iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and other new models?
Well, many people are – for both good and bad reasons.
The Danger of Digital Addiction
Are you addicted to social networks? (courtesy of Salsafrica Blog)
I’ve just watched a TED video featuring a highly impactful talk by psychologist Sherry Turkle on how we’re all becoming increasingly connected while becoming increasingly alone.
It really set me thinking. Hard.
The Psychology of Social Commerce
Courtesy of Tab Juice (via Brian Solis)
Thanks to a recent post by social media guru Brian Solis, I chanced upon this brilliant infographic on the psychology of social commerce.
According to the post, there are six heuristics or pillars in social commerce: social proof; authority; scarcity; like; consistency; and reciprocity.
Let me go through each of these in turn and give my layman’s take on what it means for us.
Adapt by Tim Harford: A Book Review
“Undercover Economist” Tim Harford’s latest book Adapt – Why Success Always Starts with Failure blends economics, psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology to explain why trial and error is preferred over grand strategic plans. Touted as “Britain’s Malcolm Gladwell”, Harford’s central thesis is that countries, companies and individuals should embrace an evolutionary and empirical approach in determining what works and what doesn’t.
Using analogies from evolution such as variation, selection and adaptation, Adapt uses far flung examples ranging from the Iraq War, Global Warming, 2007’s Financial Meltdown, to 3rd World Development efforts to prove its point. Some of its stories – such as the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg – date all the way back to the middle ages. Others, such as the almost accidental success of Google (which purportedly has no corporate strategy) are more recent.