Tag: psychology
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We need stereotypes
A stereotype is a heuristic – a mental shortcut. We would need them to negotiate our way around a simple world, let alone the complicated one we find ourselves in now. If you see a square-ish, flat surface with four legs holding it off the floor and a vertical surface rising from one side you…
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First impressions (really do) last
It is a familiar adage that first impressions last, but they really do. After we have formed a first impression about someone, usually remarkably quickly, we then spend any time we have with them looking for evidence to confirm our opinion. Note my wording there: we look for evidence to confirm our opinion. We don’t…
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Presentation is everything
I don’t know about you, but when I cook dinner for my family and dish it up, I am a firm believer that presentation doesn’t matter. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Taste is everything and the sloppiness of my sloshing the food onto the plate is unimportant. That is, until they…
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We assume physically attractive people are clever too.
We manage to get through the complications of modern life by using heuristics. These are mental rules of thumb which may or may not be accurate, but which save us time and effort. For example, when we see someone and judge them to be attractive, we also tend to assess them as intelligent, kind, sociable…
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Multitasking is a myth – so don’t even think about it!
When I state that multitasking is a myth, I am not talking about chatting to a friend on the phone whilst you stir a pot with one hand and close a cupboard door with your foot. I mean mental multitasking: we cannot pay proper attention to more than one thing at a time. The brain…
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You probably think you have above average intelligence.
You probably think you have above average intelligence. I would agree with you, since you are reading my blog. It stands to reason that 50% of the population has above average intelligence, and 50% are below average. However, a study by Heck, Simons and Chabris has shown that 65% of Americans consider their intelligence to…