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• [article] The trouble with repressed memories — 27 Aug 2020
  The notion of repressed memories gets a lot of attention, which has done more harm than good. Memory is a mercurial thing, but by examining it we learn that the kind of memory doesn’t matter. It’s the emotion that’s the key.
• [article] Weber's 'charismatic leader' is misleading — 24 Aug 2020
  The ‘charismatic leader’ can be traced back at least to Weber. But it’s a misleading title.
• [article] Teenage brains aren't undeveloped, they're just doing something else — 22 Aug 2020
  Brains never stop changing. Teenagers have less white matter in a very poorly understood part of their frontal cortex. This means they are more behaviourally flexible. Not stupid.
• [article] Four stages of competence — 11 Aug 2020
  Experts are not so valuable anymore, it would appear. One wonders why. Psychology is predominently a discipline of heuristics, applied to answer questions or solve problems of behaviour. This particular heuristic describes well the process of learning, as well what kinds of people don’t value expertise and why.
• [article] Zone of Proximal Development — 10 Aug 2020
  Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’ refers to the distance between that we can do and that we can’t—the space in which we need the help of others to proceed.
• [article] On Emotion — 31 Jul 2020
  Emotion is an impossible term to define. Seems important though, so let’s try anyway.
• [article] Why people lie to you (and you let them) — 24 Jul 2020
  When we first meet someone, we follow a certain social script. That script calls for certain kinds of lies. But it’s not malicious. It’s a fundamental part of the relationship building process. They lie to us, and we tell them what kinds of lies are ok. Because humans are flawed creatures, and all we want to do is connect.
• [article] Annoying media trends explained by the propaganda model of Herman and Chomsky — 20 Jul 2020
  There are plenty of irritating media trends that dominate news feeds today. Herman and Chomsky’s ‘propaganda’ model tells us that they are chosen for us, by design or by accident, because these irritating trends paralyse us. They don’t threaten the powerful. And most importantly, they keep us in a ‘buying mood’. Let’s explore some.
• [article] Chomsky's 'Manufacturing Consent' explains everything that's ever pissed you off about the news — 10 Jul 2020
  Say what you will about Noam Chomsky, he had some bright ideas. The book he co-authored with Edward Herman is often described as ideological. It’s a shame, because when you strip out the strident denounciations of the U.S. government, it’s extremely interesting and helps explain many of the bizarre and annoying trends we see in media today. It’s almost like they don’t want you to know…
• [article] What lies beneath? The uncomfortably vague 'Unconscious Processes' — 18 Jun 2020
  The least endearing parts of ourselves are often ascribed to ‘unconscious processes’. But these processes are typically very poorly defined. With anything so poorly defined, when we turn to face it, we are stymied; we don’t know what we’re up against. So let’s get a better idea.
• [article] The absurd artificial divide that's making money off racism — 8 Jun 2020
  If you’d believe the slew of recent posts, it’s so difficult to ‘work ourselves up’ to talk to ‘the other side’ about issues of structural racism that we need to be carefully educated on how to do it. But that these articles have to be so careful in their messaging irks me. That we have to pander at all to notions of ‘crossing political divides’ and ‘engaging in dialogue with each other’ on issues so clear cut as this one is frustrating in the extreme. Because they aren’t really real.
• [article] We're setting goals wrong, we're missing the point, and it's troubling — 30 May 2020
  I bet you’ve heard of S.M.A.R.T goals. If you haven’t you should, and luckily enough I’m going to tell you about it here. But this article isn’t about S.M.A.R.T goals. It’s about what’s underneath. It’s about how we consistently miss the point of goals in our quest for success. It’s about how that’s toxic. And mostly, it’s about celebrating ourselves a little more, because that’s more important than we seem to want it to be.
• [article] The New Democracy — 13 May 2020
  Today’s representative democracy balances power between the few & many. Despite flaws & crises, it provides stability for change, avoiding turmoil & uprisings. The many gave power to the few; change is in their hands.
• [article] Who was Plato and Why Should We Care — 22 Apr 2020
  Plato has become something of a synonym for philosophy. A figurehead that encapsulates the idea of searching for meaning. In doing so, his philosophy has escaped us. And yet, his works from almost 2500 years ago reflect on matters that we still grapple with today.
• [article] Common sense isn't as helpful as you'd like, and neither is the truth — 18 Apr 2020
  We covet common sense, especially at those times where the expertise of the academic world can seem so distant from our daily concerns. But the spirit of academic enquiry has something that common sense doesn’t and you don’t need to be an academic to have it too.