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Naive Realism: who determines what’s right or wrong?

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Naive Realism: who determines what’s right or wrong? American comedian George Carlin said: “First a philosophical question. Have you ever noticed when you are driving that everyone who is driving slower than you is an idiot and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac?” So when you are in your car, you punch the horn at those who are driving slower than you (the idiots) because they...

Placebo Effect: when mind conquers matter

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Placebo Effect: when mind conquers matter Just Imagine  “Let’s do a thought experiment. Round up three hundred harried commuters with headaches—not hard to do on the New York subway any workday rush hour. Of course, they are shouting and whining strident protests, which only worsen their headaches, which is precisely what you want. You reassure them that you’ll get their names listed...

Stereotyping: judging a book by its cover

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Stereotyping There is a high possibility that you have seen some maps like these:    Different groups tend to categorize other groups of people. We have specific characteristics in mind, and we tend to apply them to groups or individuals. These characteristics could be centered, among others, around gender, race, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and many many others. What we...

August 2017 Readings

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August 2017 Readings 1. Ultimate flexibility: a Complete Guide to Stretching for Martial arts (Sang H. Kim) Ultimate Flexibility was the third book I studied about stretching and flexibility. Although this book refers to martial arts, it is very useful and has really extensive exercises for all body areas. 2. The No1 Ladies Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith) This was a hilarious book from...

July 2017 Readings

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July 2017 Readings 1. Stretching scientifically (Thomas Kurz) After reading the Ultimate Guide to Stretching and Flexibility, this second book also deals with how to become more flexible. The book supports the concept of full flexibility with no warm-up, which for some is dubious, but it is a really effective guide about stretching and flexibility, suggesting several exercises and stretches for...

June 2017 readings

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This section is a review of the books I read every month and an effort to present a summary of each book and what is interesting and beneficial to the reader and what’s not. I will start this section with the books I read in June and the next summer months will follow accordingly. Ultimate Guide to Stretching and Flexibility (Brad Walker) A healthy body is not a body with muscular mass only...

Hot Hand Fallacy: randomness perceived as non-randomness

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Hot Hand Fallacy You watch a basketball player score four three-pointers in a row. When he successfully shoots a fifth one, you believe that the player is actually “on a hot hand” and so he is going to continue to score. What we think Sometimes we think that if something is repeatedly happening, it will continue to happen for a certain amount of time. As we previously mentioned with the...

Anchoring Effect, when “anchors” affect our decision making.

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The Anchoring Effect What we believe. When we make a decision, we collect all the necessary information and analyze all the parameters that factor in before we reach a conclusion. In the end, we choose correctly, or at least we have very good reasons supporting our choice. What is the reality: The initial information we receive, relevant or irrelevant, subconsciously plays a significant role in...

The Bandwagon Effect: when the masses affect us.

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The Bandwagon Effect Why is it that the last couple of years more and more men are picking up the habit of growing a beard? What is the deal with people of all ages, creeds, backgrounds, getting tattoos pretty much daily? What about women changing their haircut or dressing style every couple of months, according to the latest fashion trend? Finally, why is it that lately, the football supporters...

Gambler’s Fallacy

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Gambler’s Fallacy You see the lottery numbers. Some of them haven’t shown up for some time, so you go and play those numbers, believing that there is a greater chance of winning. Well, there is not, you are just victim of the Gambler’s Fallacy. You are at the supermarket, you are waiting on the line, and you see the line near you going faster. You consider changing lines, but after that...

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