The World's Best Book Summaries
What is working memory? How does it affect your ability to be productive? Your brain has a certain amount of working memory capacity. You can pay attention to only so much at a time. Naturally, this limitation affects your ability to get things done. Continue reading to learn about working memory capacity and how it impacts productivity.
Where does the human need for recognition stem from? What can biology and psychology tell us about the hunger for social recognition? The desire you have to get more likes on social media or be popular in school can be explained by science. From childhood, humans need physical and social contact to survive and become functional. Eric Berne explores this phenomenon in his book Games People Play. Here’s why social recognition is vital to our well-being, according to Berne.
What is wave-particle duality? How does it affect the theory of relativity? Physicist Stephen Hawking discusses the wave-particle duality, explaining how small particles act like both particles and waves. Because of this duality, general relativity doesn’t accurately model the behavior of small particles. Hawking describes the famous double-slit experiment, which demonstrates that particles act like waves. Keep reading to learn about wave-particle duality.
What is the Zeigarnik effect? How can you leverage it to be more creative? Creative insights might seem random, but you actually can deliberately spark them by leveraging a peculiar neural phenomenon called the Zeigarnik effect. It’s when your brain continues to work on unsolved problems—even when you don’t realize it. Here are four ways to unleash your creativity using the Zeigarnik effect.
Is the future predetermined by the laws of physics? Is free will an illusion? What is scientific determinism? We could predict the state of the universe at a given time—even a time in the future—if two things were true: we have a unifying theory of physics, and we’re able to measure the state of the universe at any given time. This would be “scientific determinism,” and physicist Stephen Hawking explains its limitations in A Brief History of Time. Read more to learn Hawking’s insights on this intriguing matter.
Are your decisions rooted in rationality? What are some of the most common biases in decision-making? You probably think of yourself as a rational and logical human being who makes decisions based on logic and sensibility. However, your decision-making may not be as logical as you’d like to believe. Logical fallacies affect everyone, are extremely difficult to avoid, and can hinder your decision-making ability. Keep reading to learn about some of the most common decision-making biases, how to recognize them, and how to work around them.
How do incentives change behavior? What is the danger in offering incentives to encourage better performance? Incentives inspire hard work and better cooperation. But there is also a dark side to incentivizing the desired behavior: People will perform the behavior, but they’ll strive for those incentives however suits them best, even if their actions contradict the principle behind the incentive. Keep reading to learn about the psychology of incentive manipulation and how to set effective incentives.
What is omission bias? Why does it occur? Omission bias is the tendency to choose omission (inaction) over commission (action). Omission bias occurs because you feel guilty when your action leads to negative consequences, and less guilty when inaction leads to negative consequences. Keep reading to learn about the psychology behind omission bias and why your brain tends to favor inaction over action.
What is inattentional blindness? Why does this effect occur? Inattentional blindness is a tendency to zone in on certain aspects of a situation and disregard the rest. Inattentional blindness is the result of the brain’s limited cognitive capacity: it simply doesn’t have the resources to process everything. Keep reading to learn about the phenomenon of intentional blindness, why it occurs, and how to combat it.
What is alternative blindness? How does alternative blindness affect decision-making? Alternative blindness is a decision-making bias where you hone in on two options, neglecting alternatives. This bias can manipulate you to follow other people’s plans. It makes Option A seem like your only choice when a different option could actually suit you better. Keep reading to learn about alternative blindness bias, why it happens, and how to overcome it.