Psychology – Page 5 – How Do You Think?

The IAT: Questions of Reliability and Validity

by Gerald GuildAdaptive Unconscious, Erroneous Thinking, Psychology, Rational Thought, Skepticism September 10, 2010September 26, 20129 Comments

The Implicit Associations Test (IAT) is a very popular method for measuring implicit (implied though not plainly expressed) biases. Greenwald, one of the primary test developers, suggests that “It has been self-administered online by millions, many of whom have been surprised—sometimes unpleasantly—by evidence of their own unconscious attitudes and stereotypes regarding race, age, gender, ethnicity, …

I’m Not Prejudiced – Are You?: The Illusion of an Open Mind

by Gerald GuildErroneous Thinking, Evolution, Parenting, Psychology September 3, 2010November 3, 20132 Comments

My wife and I recently spent some time in New York City and one of our traditions is to take in a Broadway show. This time we stepped a bit off-Broadway to see the bawdy but Tony Award Winning Avenue Q. On the surface, this show seems silly, but it actually addresses some important issues. …

The Illusion of Cause – Vaccines and Autism

by Gerald GuildAutism, Erroneous Thinking, Evolution, Invisible Gorilla, Neurology, Parenting, Psychology, Rational Thought, Skepticism August 20, 2010September 26, 20123 Comments

There are many well intentioned folks out there who believe that childhood vaccinations cause Autism. Last week I covered the origins of this belief system as well as its subsequent debunking in Vaccines and Autism. Despite the conclusive data that clearly establishes no causal link between vaccines and Autism, the belief lives on. Why is …

Vaccines and Autism

by Gerald GuildAutism, Erroneous Thinking, Invisible Gorilla, Parenting, Psychology August 13, 2010September 26, 20126 Comments

It is hard to imagine anything more precious than one’s newborn child. Part of the joy of raising a child is the corresponding hope one has for the future. Don’t we all wish for our children a life less fraught with the angst and struggles we ourselves endured? One of the less pleasant aspects of …

The Illusion of Attention

by Gerald GuildErroneous Thinking, Neurology, Psychology, Rational Thought July 16, 2010May 27, 20139 Comments

In psychology there are some pretty famous studies that have penetrated popular culture. Many folks are at least familiar with Skinner’s rat box, Pavlov’s salivating dogs, Milgram’s obedience studies, Bandura’s Bobo Dolls, and Harlow’s rhesus monkeys reared by wire frame terry cloth mothers. In recent history, perhaps the most well known study pertains to inattentional …

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So You Think Your Memory is Bad? Well, it’s actually worse than you thought.

by Gerald GuildAdaptive Unconscious, Erroneous Thinking, Memory, Neurology, Psychology July 9, 2010October 3, 2012No Comments

Imagine yourself walking down a familiar street approaching a stranger who is obviously lost, staring hopelessly at a map. As you saunter by you provide eye contact and a look of willingness to help. He asks you for directions. As you begin to offer your advice, you are interrupted by a construction crew carrying a …

The Illusion of Punditry

by Gerald GuildAdaptive Unconscious, Erroneous Thinking, Neurology, Psychology, Rational Thought, Skepticism June 25, 2010August 27, 201210 Comments

Have you ever wondered what makes a pundit a pundit? I mean really! Is there pundit school or a degree in punditry? Given what I hear, I can only imagine that what would be conferred upon graduation is a B.S. of different, more effluent sort. I mean REALLY! I am certain that many of …

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Bad Blink – Good Gorilla?

by Gerald GuildAdaptive Unconscious, Erroneous Thinking, Neurology, Psychology, Rational Thought June 18, 2010October 3, 2012One Comment

Over the last couple months I have submitted posts proclaiming the potency of intuition. One of my major resources has been Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Among Gladwell’s tenets, the most prominent was the power of intuition and its relative supremacy, in certain situations, over rational thought. I have also heavily …

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Retail Mind Manipulation

by Gerald GuildAdaptive Unconscious, Erroneous Thinking, Neurology, Psychology, Rational Thought June 11, 2010October 3, 20128 Comments

Believe it or not, freewill, to a large extent, is an illusion. For the most part, what you do, as you go through your day is based on decisions made outside of your conscious awareness. Many of these decisions involve a complicated and largely unconscious interplay among various brain regions that each struggle for control …

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What Plato, Descartes, and Kant Got Wrong: Reason Does not Rule.

by Gerald GuildAdaptive Unconscious, Erroneous Thinking, Evolution, Neurology, Psychology, Rational Thought June 4, 2010October 2, 20125 Comments

For nearly as long as humans have been thinking about thinking, one of the most intriguing issues has been the interplay of reason and emotion. For the greatest thinkers throughout recorded history, reason has reigned supreme. The traditional paradigm has been one of a dichotomy where refined and uniquely human REASON pitches an ongoing battle …