Mental Performance – Page 2

Debiasing: How to Reduce Cognitive Biases in Yourself and in Others

Debiasing (which is also referred to as cognitive bias mitigation), is the process through which we reduce the influence that cognitive biases have on people, in order to enable them to think in a more rational and optimal manner. Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from rationality, which occur due to the way our cognitive system works. …

Cognitive Biases: What They Are and How They Affect You

A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from rationality, which occurs due to the way our cognitive system works. Accordingly, cognitive biases cause us to be irrational in the way we search for, evaluate, interpret, judge, use, and remember information, as well as in the way we make decisions. For example, one …

The Humor Effect: How Laughing Helps You Remember

The humor effect is a psychological phenomenon that causes people to remember information better when they perceive that information as humorous. For example, a teacher could use the humor effect to help students learn a certain concept, by illustrating this concept using a funny story. The humor effect can be highly beneficial, in a …

Learned Helplessness: How to Stop Feeling Like Everything Is Out of Your Control

Learned helplessness is an acquired state of mind, where someone believes, based on past experience, that they are unable to affect the outcome of situations that they’re in, regardless of any action they might take. This state of mind is acquired when someone repeatedly receives negative feedback, that they are entirely unable to prevent. …

Rosy Retrospection and Declinism: Why the Past Looks Great and the Future Is Frightening

Rosy retrospection is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember past events as being more positive than they were in reality. For example, rosy retrospection could cause someone to remember their childhood years as being more joyful than they actually were. Declinism is the belief that a certain entity, such as a country …

How to Be Innovative: The Untapped Potential of Obscure Features

Coming up with innovative solutions is hard. Most people assume that being innovative is a fixed personality trait, so that you either have it or you don’t. However, research shows that while personality does play a role, innovation is something that can be taught, even to people who think that they have no natural aptitude …

The Pessimism Bias: When Things Seem Worse Than They Are

The pessimism bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the likelihood of negative things and underestimate the likelihood of positive things, especially when it comes to assuming that future events will have a bad outcome. For example, the pessimism bias could make someone believe that they’re going to fail an exam, …

The Benefits of Plants: How Plants Can Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Productive

Research shows that having plants in areas where you spend time, such as your house and your workspace, can lead to various benefits, such as improving your physical health, contributing to your emotional well-being, and boosting your productivity. Furthermore, despite the fact that plants can be so beneficial, they generally require relatively few resources, …

The Ostrich Effect: Why and How People Avoid Information

The ostrich effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid information that they perceive as potentially unpleasant. For example, the ostrich effect can cause someone to avoid looking at their bills, because they’re worried about seeing how far behind they are on their payments. Information avoidance can lead to detrimental outcomes in …

The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment: How Self-Control Affects Your Success in Life

The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a psychological study conducted in the late 1960s to early 1970s, in which children were placed in a room with some tasty snack, such as a marshmallow, and told that if they could wait for a short while before eating it then they will get an extra snack as a …