Psychology

On The Psychology Of Identity

1. “Arizona Legislature Passes Bill Banning Ethnic Studies Programs.” I thank my Alliant University colleague Eduardo Morales for an email summarizing that story: “After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislatur ...

Article - Fred Phillips - Jun 11 2010 - 2:40pm

Why Economists Hate Psychologists

Think you're rational? Think again. Here's but one example, gentle reader, of your brain unbound by reason. Blue Devil basketball tickets are a hot commodity: there are far more fans than seats. And so some students enter a ticket lottery. After ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Jul 10 2010 - 10:02am

Cognitive Costs Of Winning (and Losing) Rock, Paper, Scissors

Your brain is used to trying to win rock, paper, scissors. And so if you happen to see rock coming down, it's much easier to adjust your throw mid-flight to shoot paper than it is to adjust your throw to scissors (both, by the way, are cheating). ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Jul 17 2010 - 11:38am

Roshambo Winners Guide

Humans are very, very bad at being random. In roshambo, aka rock, paper, scissors, this leads to probabilities and patterns which you can exploit to give your RPS opponent(s) severe and repeated thumpings. There are two ways to go about this: knowing the ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Jul 18 2010 - 6:04am

How To Win Any Argument (Part 1)

Here's how I roll: my wife loves three-dollar bagels from the Sunday farmers' market. And so she says, "let's get a loaf of bread, some flowers, and a flat of strawberries!" When we roll home with only bagels, I feel I've won ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Jul 26 2010 - 10:17pm

How To Win Any Argument (Part 2)

Go here for Part 1 Here's how I roll: my wife loves three-dollar bagels from the Sunday farmers' market. And so she says, "let's get a loaf of bread, some flowers, and a flat of strawberries!" When we roll home with only bagels, I ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Jul 26 2010 - 10:19pm

How To Win Any Argument (Part 3)

How To Win Any Argument (Part 1) and (Part 2) Here's how I roll: my wife loves three-dollar bagels from ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Jul 26 2010 - 10:07pm

How To Win Any Argument (Part 4)

Here's how I roll: my wife loves three-dollar bagels from the Sunday farmers' market. And so she says, "let's get a loaf of bread, some flowers, and a flat of strawberries!" When we roll home with only bagels, I feel I've won ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Jul 27 2010 - 10:08am

Einstellung Baby! Why Experts Fail

When you woke up this morning were you an expert water measurer? No? Well, you will be after reading this article. But that might not be a good thing: experts are sometimes worse off than regular Janes and Joes. To see why, first we need to wire your brai ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Aug 7 2010 - 7:09pm

Ouija Tweet Brain Interface

The responsibility of Twitter updates got you down? D'you think about tweeting but never actually get around to it? Never fear, Adam Wilson is here. The University of Wisconsin-Madison biomedical engineering grad student removes the clunky and outdat ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Aug 16 2010 - 1:33am