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People seeking shelter during tornadoes and cyclones are often called back, or delayed, by people doing normal activities, who refuse to believe the emergency is happening. These people are displaying what’s known as normalcy bias. About 70% of people in a disaster do it. Although movies show crowds screaming and panicking, most people move dazedly through normal activities in a crisis. This can be a good thing; researchers find that people who are in this state are docile and can be directed without chaos. They even tend to quiet and calm the 10-15% of people who freak out.
The downside of the bias is the fact that they tend to retard the progress of the 10-15% of people who act appropriately. The main source of delay masquerades as the need to get more data. Scientists call this “milling.” People will usually get about four opinions on what’s going on and what they should do before taking any action — even in an obvious crisis. People in emergency situations report calling out to others, asking, “What’s going on?” When someone tells them to evacuate, or to take shelter, they fail to comply and move on, asking other people the same question. -Esther Inglis-Arkell
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story using normalcy bias to create conflict.
Journaling Prompt: When do you tend to deny danger, whether it’s a tornado or something more abstract, like overdue bills? How do you act?
Art Prompt: Normalcy Bias
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inform your audience about normalcy bias and how it reveals information about our ability to deny what is in front of us. Give your audience strategies to break through denial.
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Standing at the edge of the mountain, I imagined what it would feel like to let go. There were thousands of feet between me and the valley of the winding Urubamba River. It was lush and green and oddly inviting. I stared down, feeling an exhilarating combination of anticipation and trepidation tugging at me. -Hilary Davidson, The Next One to Fall
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write about a character who is on a precipice, literal or figurative. Focus on the internal monologue.
Journaling Prompt: How do you feel when you are about to take a leap of faith?
Art Prompt: To Let Go
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Inspire your audience to take a leap of faith.
Photo Credit: JSmith Photo 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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It was more beautiful than she could ever have imagined. The picturesque mountains of the Alps, the Andes, even Nanga Parbat couldn’t compare to the majesty of the mountain in front of her. It rose out of the deep valley, its summit cone crowned by an enormous hanging glacier. If she looked long enough, she was sure she’d see the thing crack and fall off. With a stupid shock, she realized that if she was actually there, looking at K2, then she was as far from her home and family as she had ever been. Her body tensed with the exhilaration of exploration; she knew with every fiber of her being that having received this mountain into her soul, she would never again be the same. -Jennifer Jordan, Savage Summit
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write the story of a woman undertaking the challenge of K2.
Journaling Prompt: What sight has had this effect on you?
Art Prompt: K2
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the power of beauty and wonder.
Photo Credit: sjorford on Flickr
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But when it came to the Princess’s turn to give an acid drop to the dragon, he smiled a very wide smile, and wagged his tail to the very last long inch of it, as much as to say, “Oh, you nice, kind, pretty little Princess.” But deep down in his wicked purple heart he was saying, “Oh, you nice, fat, pretty little Princess, I should like to eat you instead of these silly acid drops.” But of course nobody heard him except the Princess’s uncle, and he was a magician, and accustomed to listening at doors. It was part of his trade. -Edith Nesbitt, The Book of Dragons (free Kindle book)NOTE: an acid drop is a old fashioned boiled sweet with a sharp taste
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or poem about a princess who tries to befriend a dragon.
Journaling Prompt: How do you flirt with danger?
Art Prompt: The Princess, the Dragon, and the Magician
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about how we try to allay our fears by placating them. Give your audience a better solution.
Photo Credit: thejbird on Flickr
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It is intuitive that most people would be less likely to take risks after an unexpected loss. What happens after a surprising win?
It turns out that the very same trend applies, according to Case Western Reserve University psychologist Heath Demaree. In other words, it’s not whether you win or lose, but whether the outcome is expected. People appear to decrease their risk-taking levels after experiencing any surprising outcome – even positive ones. -Case Western Reserve University press release
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story about someone who wins and then becomes afraid to take any more risks.
Journaling Prompt: Does winning make you more or less cautious?
Art Prompt: Surprise Victory
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the relationship of risk to success. Convince your audience that they need to continue taking risks even after experiencing success.
Photo Credit: Daadi on Flickr
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“Tomorrow’s NASA space program will be different,” says Wallace Fowler of the University of Texas, a renowned expert in modeling and design of spacecraft, and planetary exploration systems. “Human space flight beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), beyond Earth’s natural radiation shields (the Van Allen belts), is dangerous.”
Currently, a human being outside the Van Allen belts could receive the NASA defined “lifetime dose” of galactic cosmic radiation within 200 days. If the Sun spews out a coronal jet of radiation in a solar storm in the direction of the spacecraft, a lethal dose can be received in a few hours. Mars does not have the equivalent of the shielding Van Allen belts, so a Mars base would also need shielding. Until we develop appropriate shielding, probably an intense magnetic field around the spacecraft, human travel, even to the moon, will likely be limited. -Daily Galaxy
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story or scene about space travel beyond the Van Allen belts.
Journaling Prompt: If you could travel into outer space, what would you like to see?
Art Prompt: Space Travel
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about the difficulties of space travel.
Photo Credit: x-ray delta one on Flickr
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Himalayan avalanches travel at horrifying speeds, upward of 125 miles per hour as they careen miles down the steep slopes of the world’s highest mountains. Even in a relatively small slide, the force and volume pack the snow and ice like cement. If climbers don’t die instantly from blunt trauma, they usually suffocate within minutes, unable to dig out of their crushing tomb. -Jennifer Jordan, Savage Summit
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story about characters caught in an avalanche.
Journaling Prompt: Write about a time when you felt life was as out of control as an avalanche.
Art Prompt: Avalanche!
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about avalanche safety measures that can be applied to more metaphorical avalanches in business.
Photo Credit: sgillies on Flickr
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The Triumph growled them through the twilight. The air was crisp and cool as clean bedsheets, and Eddi took long breaths of it. -Emma Bull, War For The Oaks
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story, scene or poem that involves a night ride on a motorcycle.
Journaling Prompt: What is your favorite memory of being outside at night.
Art Prompt: Night Riders
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about a personal experience you’ve had involving motorcycles and/or a ride at night time.
Photo Credit: kalleboo on Flickr
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If you’re going to pay with your life, you may as well buy something worth the price. -Michael Langlois, Bad Radio
Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a scene about a character who gives his or her life as a sacrifice for someone or something.
Journaling Prompt: What would you be willing to give up your life to save?
Art Prompt: Sacrifice
Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Write about someone who gave his or her life for something.
Photo Credit: Augustin Brunault on Flickr
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