How Your Thoughts Catches Psychosocial Colds

“It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.”  – ERIC HOFFER, THE PASSIONATE STATE OF MIND
You Feeling Me?
You may well be at a social gathering with only some friends and everyone appears to be having a good time. The chit-chat is casual and u…

Brain Decision Making and The Great Truth Rub Off

“For certainly, at the level of social life, what is called the adjustment of man to his environment takes place through the medium of fictions.” —WALTER LIPPMAN, PUBLIC OPINION
Assumption by Committee
Simply the previous evening you headed off to see a motion picture that resists straightf…

Brain Socializing with Monkeys Like Us

“Society is a masked ball, where everyone hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding.” —RALPH WALDO EMERSON, CONDUCT OF LIFE
Monkey See, Monkey Drama
Professor Laurie Santos is one of the leading primatologists in the country. As the director of the Yale University CapLab (aka, the Compar…

Brain Want, Get, Regret, Repeat

“I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations—one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: Do it or do not do it—you will regret both.” —SØREN KIERKEGAARD, BALANCE BETWEEN ESTHETIC AND ETHICAL, VOL. 2: “EITHER/OR”
Going Z Instead of Y…Oh Why?
Madi…

Brain Restraint – Writing Promises on an Etch-a-Sketch

“I can resist everything except temptation.” —OSCAR WILDE, LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN
This Time I Really Promise
Robert is a well-regarded pharmacologist who runs a clinic for diabetes patients in Orlando, Florida. Many patients of this clinic do not want to begin a regimen of insulin shots (due…

Brain Motivation – Revving Your Engine in Idle

“Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.” —MARK TWAIN, FROM A LETTER TO AN UNIDENTIFIED PERSON
Beating the System Like a Drum
I’d like to introduce you to a most unlikely master of industry. We begin by observing Mike in high school. He is, to use the…

Brain Immersion and the Great Escape from Loneliness

“Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.” —AESOP, AESOP’S FABLES, “THE DOG AND THE SHADOW”
When the Web Was Young
Idistinctly remember the day I first saw the graphical World Wide Web (WWW). It’s one of those “where were you when” moments that usually append a hi…

Your Happy Brain and The Magnetism of Autopilot

“All that is gold does not glitter; not all those who wander are lost.” —J. R. R. TOLKIEN, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Time Traveling Homeward
You are driving home one night after work, later than typical, with a lot on your mind lingering from a busy day. Most of your thirty-minute drive is on th…

Why a Happy Brain Discounts the Future

“I never think of the future—it comes soon enough.” —UNKNOWN
Your supervisor calls you one morning and tells you that she is heading up a new initiative. She describes in fine detail what this initiative entails, why the company is allocating a budget for it, and each of the expected outcomes. Ev…

Brain Seductive Patterns

“There are as many pillows of illusion as flakes in a snowstorm.” —RALPH WALDO EMERSON, CONDUCT OF LIFE
Who’s Telling Me What?
Let’s try a little thought experiment. First, imagine that you are walking through an airport. As you stroll, you encounter a series of variables that occur r…