Humans are prone to cognitive biases. Don’t rely on your intuition to make important decisions. Instead, understand the most common mental models to improve your thinking. Build your very own metacognition toolkit to face choices with a calm, informed mind.
Popular articles in this category include be careful of the optionality fallacy and the Occam’s razor fallacy, avoid falling prey to illusory correlations, use checklists when you can’t trust your brain. Learn about the curse of knowledge, The Cobra Effect, and Parkinson’s Law.
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” — Robertson Davies. If you think women are bad drivers, you are more likely to notice driving mistakes made by women. A detective who is convinced a suspect is guilty is more likely to pay attention to evidence corroborating their intuition. These are examples … Read More
Scenario 1 – Joe and Jane decided to play a game in which they toss a coin a few times. Every time a head came up, Joe had to give Jane $10 and every time a tail came up, Jane had to give Joe $10. They could toss the coin any number of times they … Read More
The Stanford marshmallow experiment is probably the most famous study in delayed gratification. In 1972, a group of kids was asked to make a simple choice: you can eat this marshmallow now, or wait 15 minutes and receive a second treat. In the paper, the researchers highlighted two significant findings. First, not physically seeing the … Read More
When trying to solve a problem, we often tend to look for useful facts that may guide us to the “correct” answer. This type of thinking—called convergent thinking—works great when the problem we want to solve is clear and requires a reasonable solution. But for bigger, more complex problems, convergent thinking may be too limited. … Read More
Roam Research is a new kind of knowledge management tool. Learn how to use it for journaling, note-taking, goal-tracking, task management, and more.
You have a plan. It sounds like a good, solid plan. You’ve written it down. You’ve even asked for feedback. You’re ready to execute. Then, down the line, something goes wrong. Despite all your effort and care, the painstakingly crafted strategy doesn’t seem to work. What happened? The reason why most strategies fail is they’re … Read More
When I was a kid, I used to think I was doing much better at tests when using a particular pencil my sister had gifted me. So I would make sure to use this pen for every test. I have a friend who thinks that city people are generally rude. So when he meets a … Read More
Even unintentionally, you’ve probably seen one of these infomercials on TV. The presenter goes through all the supposedly amazing features of an obscure product with an excited voice, an urgent tone, as if he or she was sharing an important secret few will be lucky enough to know about. When you think the advert is … Read More
When faced with two equally credible theories, wisdom seems to indicate you should go for the simplest one. Simpler solutions are easier to verify; they’re easier to execute. But, while mental models are a great way to make sense of the world, not all of them should be followed blindly. In fact, some should be … Read More
Scholars have discussed the mechanics of persuasion since ancient times. Persuasion encompasses every aspect of culture, with rhetoric as a crucial tool to influence every sphere of society, from mundane negotiations to big national debates. One could argue any form of communication is a form of persuasion. Whether through writing or talking, at home or … Read More