Jonah Lehrer wrote an excellent article for the Wall Street Journal on why New Year’s resolutions fail. Quick overview of reasons: The more overloaded our brain is with ‘stuff’ (including resolutions we need to keep track of), the weaker its willpower is. We need to spread our resolutions across the year. Just like a muscle, [ Read More ]
Archive for December, 2009
In 1957, a gentleman by the name of James Vicary created a new concept: Subliminal advertising. He flashed the words “Eat Popcorn” and “Drink Coca-Cola” for a fraction of a second during a film, and claimed increases in sales of these products of 18% and 57% respectively. But, there’s one other thing that bugged me [ Read More ]
Categories: Psychology
The working memory model discussed earlier has a lot going for it compared to other memory models. Here are a few things: The working memory model. 1) Unlike some other models (eg, the short-term store model), the working memory model explains not only the storage, but also the processing of information. 2) Specificity. Because the [ Read More ]
Categories: Psychology
Fantastic memory. I really need this. I’m quite fond of such classic moments as walking into a room without any idea what I’m doing there, forgetting peoples’ names only seconds after I meet them, and once, completely forgetting how old I was (a liberating, if mildly frustrating experience). Maybe I need the help of one [ Read More ]
Categories: Self-Help
Ever notice a blank wall where a painting used to be, only to find out it had been gone for days? That’s change blindess at work. As we go about our business, our visual scene is changing frequently. We think that we have a clear and accurate view of the world as …
Categories: Psychology
Welcome to the fifth edition of the Psychology Articles Carnival! Has it been five months already? The Psychology Articles Carnival, predictably enough, is a blog carnival showcasing posts relating to scientific psychology from the previous month. Often they will be articles I’ve come across and want to tell you about, but psychology bloggers are …
Categories: Psychology
I’ve been looking for information on memory recently, searching for ways to improve it. I know a few tricks (the peg system), but I don’t want to using a technique every time I try to remember something, I want general performance improvement. One way to improve the performance of a system is to learn …
Categories: Psychology
Imagine the classic image of the troubled artist; filled with angst and pain, tormented by something-or-other, but pulls out these classic works of art that inspire people for generations. How does this stereotype fit in with studies showing that creativity is enhanced through positive moods and emotions? (1) Is there a …
Categories: Psychology
