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Links Tagged With “psychology” (Show All Items Tagged With “psychology”)

Tweenbots

Bookmarked via Diigo on Thursday, April 16, 2009 @ 16:12 CDT by Daniel Andrlik

This is a very interesting social experiment being conducted where cute little robots are sent on a mission to reach a certain location, but are dependent on assistance from the strangers they encounter on the way. The reactions people have to the Tweenbots say a lot about us.

From the article:

The Tweenbot’s unexpected presence in the city created an unfolding narrative that spoke not simply to the vastness of city space and to the journey of a human-assisted robot, but also to the power of a simple technological object to create a complex network powered by human intelligence and asynchronous interactions. But of more interest to me was the fact that this ad-hoc crowdsourcing was driven primarily by human empathy for an anthropomorphized object.

Go read the article and watch the surveillance footage (available at the site) of Tweenbots attempting to make their way through the crowds.

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Quantum Theory May Explain Wishful Thinking

Bookmarked via Diigo on Thursday, April 16, 2009 @ 16:04 CDT by Daniel Andrlik

This article describes a fascinating new framework for understanding human cognition and decision making based on principles of quantum probability. Experiments described in this article suggest the classical model of human decision making does not effectively take cognitive dissonance (“wishful thinking” in this case) into account. The resulting quantum model proposed makes a lot more sense to me, and certainly helps explain some of our seemingly irrational impulses.

It’s worth noting that this is just a framework, and in time we may discover the reality to be different, but I find this new model very intriguing.

If you are at all interested in understanding the reason why we make the decisions we do, it is worth your while to give this article a read.

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The Nerd Handbook: Rands in Repose

Bookmarked via Diigo on Monday, February 9, 2009 @ 16:29 CST by Daniel Andrlik

This is an excellent essay written for the poor benighted souls who have taken on having a relationship with a nerd. Honestly, I prefer the term “geek”, but in this essay the words are interchangeable. At least in my case, the observations made here may be a little exaggerated, but the general trends described are accurate. I like to think I’m a better listener and more empathetic than what is described here, but you would have to ask those who know me personally to get an objective opinion.

Still, this is a wonderful piece and worth reading for both nerds, and the brave souls who choose to spend time with them.

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Paul Buchheit: The first thing that you need to understand about humans

Bookmarked via Diigo on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 @ 08:34 CDT by Daniel Andrlik

An interesting essay illustrating how human behavior is not rational. This isn’t a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, but it bears repeating less we get too full of ourselves.

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What You Say is What You Are - The Problem of Blogger Inferiority Complex

Bookmarked via Diigo on Friday, May 2, 2008 @ 11:03 CDT by Daniel Andrlik

This is excellent advice, as is the author’s follow up article Build Upon What You Build.

This piece, as the title suggests, describes the problem with people describing themselves as what they are not, as opposed to what are, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. This problem, and the advice for dealing with it is sound counsel for people working in any area.

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The sting of poverty

Bookmarked via Diigo on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 @ 11:59 CDT by Daniel Andrlik

This is an interesting article covering an theory advanced by Charles Karelis that traditional economic theories don’t apply to the experience of the poor. The idea being that when living in poverty, “we see the world around us not in terms of goods to be consumed but as problems to be alleviated.”

It’s an interesting read, and while the article admits that Karelis’ evidence is a little vague, it seems to me that his arguement rings true. Definitely worth your time to look over and think about.

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