Have you ever noticed the phenomenon of the overnight sensation? Suddenly an actor has a starring role in a blockbuster film and becomes famous. A […]
Second Place? Don’t Sweat It
Many times in life you might not be someone’s first choice for a job or a role. Often we may not even know it. You […]
From the Archives: Competition, Collaboration, and Writing
I was browsing through some of my old documents, and came across a piece I wrote in grad school about competition and collaboration in academia, […]
How A Revolutionary War Hero Used Modern Psychology
Sometimes I think the formal study of behavior science is really about putting names and a framework around concepts we already intuitively understand. After all, […]
The Value of Fear
People’s natural instinct when confronted with a scary situation is to avoid it. On reflection, most of us realize the downside to running away from […]
When I Don’t Know that You Don’t Know What I Know: Hidden Profiles and Expert Information
I’ve been reading Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days. One of the key Monday activities is gathering information […]
Being Both: The Psychology of Identity Integration
Certain identities are deeply meaningful for the time and the place in which we live. Being a woman in the 21st century United States carries […]
Procrastinating by “Pre-Crastinating”
In college, I’d say I was a procrastinator. I’ve always worked well under a deadline, and what better way to incite that energizing pressure than […]
What Airplane Pilots and Surgeons Have In Common: How Structure Enables Safety
In many high performance jobs, the tasks are done in as standard a manner as possible. Following a precise set of procedures accomplishes a number […]
Case Study: The Lion and The Owl Share a Manager. He’s a Cat.
I have a few general criticisms of personality tests in the workplace, many of which stem from people’s interpretation of them as deterministic diagnoses. Too […]