Several of the mail bag questions I’ve been getting ask for specific examples of how to look at the world, including the news, through a rational mental model approach. A perfect illustration fell into my lap today so I’m going to group these responses, write this post, and then reply to all of those who…
Mental Model: Mere Exposure Effect or the Familiarity Principle The mere exposure effect, also known as the familiarity principle, describes a phenomenon that causes humans to rate or feel positively about things to which they are frequently and consistently exposed, including other people. All else equal, you will buy products, invest in stocks, frequent establishments,…
It is remarkable how much more enjoyable your life can be when you refuse to participate in situations that you know are going to end poorly, or work with people in environments that you know are going to cause problems. When you see something like this on the horizon, employ the Grandpa Simpson strategy. In…
Mental Model: The Shoichi Yokoi Fallacy Shoichi Yokoi was a Japanese tailor born in 1915. When he was 25 years old, his country sent him to war with the idea that he and his fellow soldiers were to fight to the death and avoid the shame of surrender. In 1944, the United States military seized…
Have you ever met someone, or seen someone on television, who has insane, completely irrational beliefs? These beliefs could be scientific. They could be religious. They could be political. They could be racial. They could be philosophical. The particular manifestation doesn’t matter. An example would be the stoning to death of a woman accused…
Each of us has a brain chemistry baseline that is part of our genetics. Some people are naturally content most of the time. Others are miserable no matter how well their life is going. No one ever tells the people in the latter category how to function.
Unless you have trained yourself to think otherwise, it is a common mistake to assume that everyone sees and experiences the world the same way you do. They don’t. There are significant implications for education, social harmony, and communication when we fail to recognize the basic truism that all external stimuli must be filtered through…
There is an old latin phrase, panem et circenses, made famous by Juvenal of Ancient Rome. “Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and…
If any of you remember the television show Boston Legal, each episode ended with two main characters, great lawyers Denny Crane and Alan Shore, having drinks and cigars on the balcony discussing the cases and events of their day. They were best friends that took time to block of a private area of their lives that…
Mental Model: The Micawber Principle In Charles Dickens’s novel, David Copperfield, published in 1850, the eternal optimist Wilkins Micawber was known for saying “something will turn up”. He was poor but lived in expectation of becoming rich, sometimes foolishly taking on debts due to the belief. We have Micawber to thank for one of the…
