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The human mind can achieve fantastic things. One of them is ‘…our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance…’ – Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Source: David Ropeik, Big Think)
Fiction Writing Prompt: What is your character ignoring about his or her ignorance? Add to your character sketch.
Journaling Prompt: What areas of ignorance do you prefer to ignore in your life?
Art Prompt: Denial of Ignorance
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the psychological phenomenon of denial.
Photo Credit: jungmoon on Flickr
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… because society trains us not to hurt others’ feelings, we rarely hear the truth about ourselves — even when it’s well deserved. And that can be a problem for overly self-confident people who carry around inaccurate, overly positive perceptions of how others view them…
There are many times when overconfidence carries serious consequences.
“Overconfident doctors and lawyers might offer their patients or clients poor advice,” she said. “There are ways in which overconfidence is dangerous, and it might be important to set aside politeness in the service of helping people avoid the perils of overconfidence.” -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene where an overconfident character provides dangerous advice.
Journaling Prompt: Write about someone you know who is overconfident.
Art Prompt: Fear of Speaking Up
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Find a true example of dangerous overconfidence and weave it into an informative piece about lack of truthful feedback.
Photo Credit: Pegabovine on Flickr
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The dragon is a myth given veracity by the fossil record that offers dinosaur remains as proof positive of the monsters who had possessed the world, once. The dragon is a monster that carries any burden we give it—terror, wish-granter, lesson. -Genevieve Valentine, Three Dragons (free to read at Fantasy Magazine)
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or poem about dragons.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a mythological creature that fascinates you.
Art Prompt: Dragons
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the mythology of your favorite creature and explain what it symbolizes to you.
Photo Credit: balt-arts on Flickr
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what can explain the powerful and pervasive effect that suggestion has in our lives? The answer lies in our ‘response expectancies,’ or the ways in which we anticipate our responses in various situations. These expectancies set us up for automatic responses that actively influence how we get to the outcome we expect. Once we anticipate a specific outcome will occur, our subsequent thoughts and behaviors will actually help to bring that outcome to fruition.
So, if a normally shy person expects that a glass of wine or two will help him loosen up at a cocktail party, he will probably feel less inhibited, approach more people, and get involved in more conversations over the course of the party. Even though he may give credit to the wine, it is clear that his expectations of how the wine would make him feel played a major role.
But it’s not just deliberate suggestion that influences our thoughts and behaviors — suggestions that are not deliberate can have the very same effects. As the authors point out, “simply observing people or otherwise making them feel special can be suggestive,” a phenomenon termed the Hawthorne effect. As a result, people might work harder, or stick to a task for longer. And this case is more worrying, says Garry, “because although we might then give credit to some new drug or treatment, we don’t realize that we are the ones who are actually wielding the influence.” -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or scene where the power of suggestion plays an important role.
Journaling Prompt: How suggestible do you think you are? What are some suggestions that you believe in?
Art Prompt: The power of suggestion
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Share some tips with your audience on using the power of suggestion to their advantage.
Photo Credit: x-ray delta one on Flickr
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John Maynard Keynes said: “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” -Leading at a Higher Level by Ken Blanchard
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story about a character that is trying to escape from an old idea that is strangling him or society.
Journaling Prompt: Write about an idea that it’s time for you to let go of.
Art Prompt: Escaping Ideas
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Persuade your audience that it is time to let go of an old set of beliefs in order to achieve a new way of living.
Photo Credit: Metaphox on Flickr
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“The way we read another person’s intentions changes our physical experience of the world,” says UMD Assistant Professor Kurt Gray, author of “The Power of Good Intentions,” newly published online ahead of print in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Gray directs the Maryland Mind Perception and Morality Lab.
“The results confirm that good intentions — even misguided ones — can sooth pain, increase pleasure and make things taste better,” the study concludes…For those in relationships, which is pretty much everyone, the message is to make sure your partner, sibling, friend, etc. knows you care. Gray notes, “It’s not enough just to do good things for your partner — they have to know you want them to feel good. Just imagine saying, ‘fine, here’s your stupid hug,’ — hardly comforting.” The same would also seem to apply to cooking, where emphasizing your concern about the experience of the diners makes things taste better.
Relatedly, these results also apply to business strategy. “It’s no surprise,” says Gray, “that food companies always pair their products with kindly old grandfathers and smiling mothers — thinking of this make believe benevolence likely increases our enjoyment.”
The study also suggests the general benefits of thinking that others mean well — including God. “Painful events attributed to a benevolent God should seem to hurt less than those attributed to a vengeful God, says Gray. “To the extent that we view others as benevolent instead of malicious, the harms they inflict upon us should hurt less, and the good things they do for us should cause more pleasure,” the paper concludes. “Stolen parking places cut less deep and home-cooked meals taste better when we think well of others.” -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Add to your character sketch. What does your character think about the intentions about the other characters in your story? How does it affect their relationships?
Journaling Prompt: How do you view the intentions of the people you live with? Work with? How does this affect your relationships?
Art Prompt: Good Intentions
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how changing your perception of people’s intentions can change your worldview.
Photo Credit: gagilas on Flickr
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“If I could tell you this in a single sitting, then you might believe all of it, even the strangest part.” -Graham Joyce, The Limits of Enchantment
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story inspired by this first line.
Journaling Prompt: What is the strangest story you’ve ever believed and why did you believe it?
Art Prompt: Incredible Story
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the strangest true story you’ve ever heard.
Photo Credit: stevelyon on Flickr
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The main reason that misinformation is sticky, according to the researchers, is that rejecting information actually requires cognitive effort. Weighing the plausibility and the source of a message is cognitively more difficult than simply accepting that the message is true — it requires additional motivational and cognitive resources. If the topic isn’t very important to you or you have other things on your mind, misinformation is more likely to take hold.
And when we do take the time to thoughtfully evaluate incoming information, there are only a few features that we are likely to pay attention to: Does the information fit with other things I believe in? Does it make a coherent story with what I already know? Does it come from a credible source? Do others believe it?
Misinformation is especially sticky when it conforms to our preexisting political, religious, or social point of view. Because of this, ideology and personal worldviews can be especially difficult obstacles to overcome.
Even worse, efforts to retract misinformation often backfire, paradoxically amplifying the effect of the erroneous belief.
“This persistence of misinformation has fairly alarming implications in a democracy because people may base decisions on information that, at some level, they know to be false,” says Lewandowsky. -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: What misinformation do your characters believe? Work this into your character sketches.
Journaling Prompt: Write about an urban legend that you or someone you know believed? How did you feel when it turned out to be misinformation?
Art Prompt: Misinformation
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about a current piece of misinformation and the effect you believe it has on society.
Photo Credit: Glutnix on Flickr
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During the night of May 18/19 of 1910, when the Earth passed through the tail of comet Halley, some people took precautions by sealing the chimneys, windows, and doors of their houses. Others confessed to crimes they had committed because they did not expect to survive the night, and a few panic-stricken people actually committed suicide. Enterprising merchants sold comet pills and oxygen bottles, church services were held for overflow crowds, and people in the countryside took to their storm shelters. A strangely frivolous mood caused thousands of people to gather in restaurants, coffee houses, parks, and on the rooftops of apartment buildings to await their doom in the company of fellow humans. -Gunter Faure and Teresa Mensing, Introduction to Planetary Science: The Geological Perspective
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story set during a time when people believe that they are doomed.
Journaling Prompt: How would you spend tonight if you knew it was the last night of your life?
Art Prompt: Awaiting Doom
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: How do you see the tendency toward doom and despair playing out in today’s world?
Photo Credit: NASAblueshift on Flickr
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Words spelled with more letters on the right of the keyboard are associated with more positive emotions than words spelled with more letters on the left, according to new research by cognitive scientists Kyle Jasmin of University College London and Daniel Casasanto of The New School for Social Research, New York. Their work shows, for the first time, that there is a link between the meaning of words and the way they are typed – a relationship they call the QWERTY effect…
Linguists have long believed that the meanings of words are independent of their forms, an idea known as the “arbitrariness of the sign.” But the QWERTY effect suggests the written forms of words can influence their meanings, challenging this traditional view.Should parents stick to the positive side of their keyboards when picking baby names – Molly instead of Sara? Jimmy instead of Fred? According to the authors, “People responsible for naming new products, brands, and companies might do well to consider the potential advantages of consulting their keyboards and choosing the ‘right’ name.” -Science Daily
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story with characters that you’ve name using the QWERTY effect. Pay attention to how you feel about the characters now that you’re aware. Is it affecting your perception?
Journaling Prompt: Analyze your name. What does it say about you if the QWERTY effect is real? If you were going to rename yourself to use the effect to your advantage, what name would you choose?
Art Prompt: QWERTY
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Compare and contrast brand names using the QWERTY effect information. Look for the humor!
Photo Credit: bennylin0724 on Flickr
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