Psychology Archives

Deliberative and Reflexive Thinking: A Balancing Act

How can we keep reflexive thinking from causing us to make irrational decisions? What can poker teach us about this? Deliberative thinking involves logic and careful consideration. On the other hand, reflexive thinking leads us to act quickly and instinctively. Because reflexive thinking drives most of our decisions, we have to figure out how to keep it in check. Poker teaches us how. Keep reading to learn about reflexive thinking in regard to decision-making.

Daniel Pink: How Purpose Drives Behavior

What is purpose in the context of motivation? How does having purpose motivate behavior? According to Daniel Pink, purpose is the third pillar of his Motivation 3.0 framework. In the context of motivation, purpose is a deep, underlying reason why you perform a behavior or engage in an activity. A particularly common and especially motivating purpose is helping other people. In this article, we’ll consider the role of purpose in motivating behavior.

The 5 Common Fears That Come With Leadership

What do leaders fear the most? What are their top insecurities? Leaders may seem invincible but they are also prone to fears and insecurities. In their book The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, leadership experts Alexander Grashow, Marty Linsky, and Ronald Heifetz point out five main fears that come with leadership: 1) disappointing people, 2) incompetence, 3) hard decisions, 4) failure, and 5) exhaustion. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the five toughest leadership fears.

To Overcome Resistance to Change, Appeal to Identity

Are you the kind of person who puts a lot of effort into making sure things stay as they are? Do you resist change? When you need to overcome resistance to change, it can help to appeal to identity—what kind of person someone is, what they value, and how they make decisions. You need to either align your proposed change with someone’s identity or align their identity with your proposed change. Keep reading to learn how to cultivate identity to overcome resistance to change.

What Happens When We’re Not Open to Grace?

Are you open to grace? What happens if you aren’t? In The Road Less Traveled, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck discusses the importance of being open to grace. He believes that grace is a tool for spiritual evolution—and that rejecting it can hinder our growth and even lead to mental illness. Read more to learn why it’s important to be open to grace.

Embrace Separateness: Put Individual Growth First

In what way is separateness a healthy aspect of relationships? Is growth as a couple more important than growth as individuals? In The Road Less Traveled, psychiatrist M. Scott Peck argues that couples should embrace separateness. It’s a myth that love prioritizes growth as a couple. In reality, love puts growth as individuals first. Only then does true growth occur. Continue reading to learn about the value of separateness.

Biased Decision-Making: Don’t Let Distortions Decide

What constitutes biased decision-making? Are you guilty of it? We all tend to let our biases influence our decisions. While we can’t completely eliminate distorted beliefs, we can get better at managing bias—and keep biased decision-making at bay. Read more to learn how to recognize and mitigate biased decision-making.

Daniel Pink: The Psychology of Intrinsic Motivation

What is intrinsic motivation? How does the intrinsic drive compare to extrinsic rewards when it comes to performance? Intrinsic motivation is a desire to do something for internal satisfaction, not for external rewards. External rewards (e.g. financial compensation) enhance performance in the short term, while intrinsic motivation is more enduring—it doesn’t decay as external rewards do. In this article, we’ll look at the psychology of intrinsic motivation, and the role of intrinsic rewards in performance enhancement.

To Support Change, Modify Your Environment

What environments support change? How can routines and spaces be modified to make change easier? If you want to effect change, you should support change by creating an environment that smoothes the path. A change-supporting environment makes it harder to do the “old thing” and easier to do the “new thing.” Keep reading to learn how to support change by modifying your environment.

An Appeal to Emotion Can Make Your Message Stick

How can you effectively communicate your idea by including an appeal to emotion? How can you get people to care about your message? If you want people to hear your message and do something about it, you have to get them to care. An appeal to emotion—making people feel something—is key to making messages stick. Keep reading to learn effective ways to make an appeal to emotion.