If you happen to have a few hours to burn, The Case Against Credentialism from The Atlantic tracks the fascinating development of credentialism:

Three changes, which took place in the past hundred years, produced the system that is now producing M.B.A.s. They were the conversion of jobs into “professions,” the scientific measurement of intelligence, and the use of government power to “channel” people toward certain occupations.

The Zurich Axioms is a book written by Max Gunther. In the context of speculation, it maps out the risks of chaos and the risks of human behaviors and tendencies, and it provides a framework for managing these risks to capitalize on positive luck. Read the rest of this entry »

From the The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, Jonathan Haidt on the pleasure of success:

The final moment of success is often no more thrilling than the relief of taking off a heavy backpack at the end of a long hike. If you went on the hike only to feel that pleasure, you are a fool.

It is rare that I buy magazines. I might buy three a year (my subscription to Rolling Stone doesn’t count — it was a Christmas present). But this month’s Scientific American Mind is a special feature issue on Men and Women. I could not resist its pull. And after only a few pages I’m overflowing with questions. Read the rest of this entry »

I like this guy already:

When patients pretended to confide in me that they were suffering from low self-esteem, I used to reply that at least, then, they had got one thing right: they had valued themselves at their true worth.

The self-esteemist wants something for nothing, and, because in his heart he knows that what he wants is impossible, he is wretched and ascribes all the many failures of his life to it. Self-esteem is therefore first cousin to resentment.

@Theodore Dalrymple on Self-Esteem vs. Self-Respect — Features — In Character, A Journal of Everyday Virtues by the John Templeton Foundation

But how do these things get started? Maybe we should ask The Rambling Fool or The Last Psychiatrist.

Some people seem to have an affinity for pursuing paths that lead to pain and frustration. It is like they seek out situations that give them the opportunity to feel wronged. Does this self-defeating behavior have a psychological payoff? Perpetually being a victim may give a person a way to consistently feel morally superior to the institutions, people or situations that they feel have wronged them. @Mind – It’s Self-Defeating Behavior That Done Them Wrong – NYTimes.com

The Last Psychiatrist analyzes an author’s thoughts about marriage that appeared last summer in The Atlantic:

if marriage is to blame, why did it take 20 years of it to figure it out?

See it @Atlantic Capture

If there is one conclusion to be drawn from the life of Leonardo, it is that procrastination reveals the things at which we are most gifted — the things we truly want to do. Procrastination is a calling away from something that we do against our desires toward something that we do for pleasure, in that joyful state of self-forgetful inspiration that we call genius. @How to procrastinate like Leonardo da Vinci • Psychology Evolution

Politicians… have long known that appeals to emotion are more effective than appeals to logic—not because people are stupid but because the mind is designed to use logic as a tool for supporting our beliefs rather than for changing them. What the Heaths do well is to explain how important it is to bring both systems (emotional and rational) onboard for change—and explain why that still isn’t enough. All the good intentions and native intelligence in the world can be defeated if the setting is not right. But small changes to one’s environment can have a big effect. @Book Review: Switch – WSJ.com

You get the politicians you deserve.  Arguing over “cutting spending” polarizes Americans because that soundbite is contentless, but elicits a strong emotional response not to a plan but about an imagined recipient (welfare abusers, etc.)  This kind of a debate is an addictive drug. @The Last Psychiatrist: Wrong About Obama II

When people think of knowledge, they generally think of two sorts of facts: facts that dont change, like the height of Mount Everest or the capital of the United States, or facts that change a lot, like the weather or the stock market close. But in between there is a third timescale, with its separate category of facts: facts that change slowly. This middle, or meso-, scale, of facts are the most interesting and yet the most slippery with which to be acquainted. These change over the course of a single human lifetime but we tend to nonetheless view them as constant. @Warning: Your reality is out of date – The Boston Globe @Mesofacts: Slowly Changing Facts

Dr. Rob writes about why women are interested in Tucker Max.

At many levels women seek what they want in their own kids…

Read it at @Why You Want to Have Sex with Tucker Max « Shrink Talk.

Also try @Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature | Psychology Today.

“The thing about being autistic is that you gradually get less and less autistic,” she says, “because you keep learning, you keep learning how to behave. It’s like being in a play; I’m always in a play.” @The Weekend Interview with Temple Grandin: Life Among the ‘Yakkity Yaks’ – WSJ.com

In making decisions, your own mind may be your worst enemy. Here’s how to catch thinking traps before they become judgment disasters [PDF]. @The Hidden Traps in Decision Making | Harvard Business Review

Maslow believed that man has an internal, natural, drive to become the best possible person he can be, to become self-actualized. @Abraham Maslow’s 8 Ways to Self-Actualize | Derek Sivers. Also see @Self-actualization Theory and @Maslow Self Actualization – unlearn.