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Perfect, It Turns Out, Is What Practice Doesn’t Make
The Huffington Post: We've long been eager to believe that mastery of a skill is primarily the result of how much effort one has put in. Extensive practice "is probably the most reasonable explanation we have today not only for success in any line, but even for genius," said the ur-behaviorist John B. Watson almost a century ago. In the 1990s K. Anders Ericsson and a colleague at Florida State University reported data that seemed to confirm this view: What separates the expert from the amateur, a first-rate musician or chess player from a wannabe, isn't talent; it's thousands of hours of work.
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What Are the Benefits of Locking Yourself in a Tank and Floating in Room-Temperature Saltwater?
Pacific Standard: “It’s almost better than therapy,” said the spa owner. We were sitting in the common room, which looked like a minimalist, high-class Chinese restaurant that prefers the word “cuisine.” Freshly washed and nibbling dark chocolate, I had just relayed a rather macabre vision from my first 90-minute “float.” My holistic spaman’s comment was not wholly appreciated. Over the past few years, sensory deprivation tanks—you’re suspended in a few inches of body-temperature, epsom saltwater completely removed from light, sound, and touch—have gone quasi-mainstream. The goal is deceptively simple: Reducing external stimuli to an absolute minimum.
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Is One of the Most Popular Psychology Experiments Worthless?
The Atlantic: Harvard University justice professor Michael J. Sandel stood before a lecture hall filled with students recently and presented them with an age-old moral quandary: "Suppose you're the driver of a trolley car, and your trolley car is hurtling down the track at 60 miles an hour. You notice five workers working on the track. You try to stop, but you can't, because your brakes don't work. You know that if you crash into these five workers, they will all die. You feel helpless until you notice that off to the side, there's a side track.
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Turning Dogs Into Green-Eyed Monsters
Forbes: Do animals feel jealousy? Charles Darwin thought so. In The Descent of Man, he wrote that a dog will become jealous “of his master’s affection, if lavished on any other creature.” But, since then, scientists have disagreed. Some thought only humans could exhibit the emotion. Many pet owners are in no doubt; Your correspondent, for example, is quite certain that one of his cats turns into a green-eyed monster if her brother gets too much attention. Read the whole story: Forbes
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No Time to Think
The New York Times: ONE of the biggest complaints in modern society is being overscheduled, overcommitted and overextended. Ask people at a social gathering how they are and the stock answer is “super busy,” “crazy busy” or “insanely busy.” Nobody is just “fine” anymore. When people aren’t super busy at work, they are crazy busy exercising, entertaining or taking their kids to Chinese lessons. Or maybe they are insanely busy playing fantasy football, tracing their genealogy or churning their own butter. And if there is ever a still moment for reflective thought — say, while waiting in line at the grocery store or sitting in traffic — out comes the mobile device.
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Powerful and Coldhearted
The New York Times: I FEEL your pain. These words are famously associated with Bill Clinton, who as a politician seemed to ooze empathy. A skeptic might wonder, though, whether he truly was personally distressed by the suffering of average Americans. Can people in high positions of power — presidents, bosses, celebrities, even dominant spouses — easily empathize with those beneath them? Psychological research suggests the answer is no.
