Psychology and behavioral economics

For content related to psychology, how we learn, how we make decisions.

Responding to the 'but 99% survive' argument

admin

3 Feb 2021

Among the many candidates for arguments against taking action to protect our families, friends, colleagues, neighbors, communities and country from COVID, none make me angrier than the "but 99% survive" gambit. This argument is numerically illiterate (Mark Twain said “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so”), racist, ableist, and inhumane. Let me explain.

Read more about Responding to the 'but 99% survive' argument
Log in or register to post comments

How to have constructive difficult conversations

admin

23 Jan 2021

How to have constructive conversations about political issues with people who have different perspectives.

The key concepts:

Have a pleasant conversation.
Find commonality.
Ask, don't tell.
Listen to learn.
Stories and ideas, not facts.

Read more about How to have constructive difficult conversations
Log in or register to post comments

Action versus behavior

admin

31 May 2020

I'm a Hannah Arendt fan. She often took two words that were often used as synonyms, identified a difference, and then found meaning in that difference. For example, consider the words action and behavior:

Read more about Action versus behavior
Log in or register to post comments

My proposed treatment for our COVID-19 pandemic

PeterElias

23 Mar 2020

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across multiple spheres of American society is a novel event. Some have used the term black swan, Taleb's term for an event that can't be anticipated because it is outside the realm of experience. I prefer to think of it as a gray rhino, Michele Wucker's term for the big and obvious thing coming at you that you don't want to acknowledge. I think of this as a threat to our society writ large, not just as a threat to our economy or even just to public health. I think those narrow framings guarantee inadequate analysis and response.

Read more about My proposed treatment for our COVID-19 pandemic
Log in or register to post comments

Wetness and whiteness (continued)

PeterElias

2 Sep 2019

We Americans like to think (and boast) about our great experiment in Democracy: that we are a nation founded on the principle so famously expressed by Thomas Jefferson that all are created equal and endowed by God from birth with an unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As they say these days: not so much.

Read more about Wetness and whiteness (continued)
Log in or register to post comments

Wetness and whiteness

PeterElias

29 Jul 2019

A fish doesn't understand the concept of water.

This is Derek Sivers' version of a quote based on the opening of a David Foster Wallace address* to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College:

Read more about Wetness and whiteness
Log in or register to post comments

An Obsession with Metrics

PeterElias

16 Feb 2019

I precipitated a recent online discussion about healthcare’s obsession with measurement (quality metrics is the current buzz phrase) when I quoted two aphorisms that highlight some problems with metrics and targets:

Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure,"

Campbell's Law: "The more a metric is used, the more likely it is to "corrupt the process it is intended to monitor."

One comment rubbed me the wrong way because it implied that measurement reduces harm: