Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right. — Laurens Van der Post People often ask me: What’s your favorite theory in social psychology? But often what I think they’re really asking is what’s the most important theory? So let me tell you: naïve realism. Naïve realism asserts that humans…
God comes to a Russian and tells him he will grant him one wish. “But whatever you choose,” God says, “I will give your neighbor twice as much.” So the man thought and thought and finally said: “Take out my eye.” — Russian joke Today’s post is inspired by the book Prisoners of Geography, the…
Intelligence is what intelligence tests measure — E. G. Boring Have you ever wondered what is intelligence? When we call someone intelligent, what do we mean? Are you intelligent? Am I? Would you even want to be? Numerous studies report that greater intelligence is associated with greater success in life. Yet at the same time, greater intelligence is also…
Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere. — Gilbert Chesterton As the U.S. media proclaims these days, “we are a country divided.” From nationwide protests on the election outcome to voting differences unsettling marriages, it seems these days that donkeys and elephants couldn’t be more distinct species. But for as different as we seem, there is a…
If you wish to make a man happy, add not to his riches but take away from his desires. — Epicurus Depending on who you voted for this presidential election, this post may be particularly relevant to you. It builds off another post I wrote four years and a day ago, where I gave some psychological…
One’s reputation, whether false or true, cannot be hammered, hammered, hammered into one’s head without doing something to one’s character. – Gordon Allport After receiving a number of messages about the last two posts I’d written on self-affirmation, I was surprised to find that I had never discussed one of the primary uses for it:…