May 27, 2014

Some Definitions (part 3)

Every now and again I run across some concepts of which I do not want to forget. They may be simple or elaborate. At any rate, I include them so that I have some reference; given the state of my memory I think this may be a good thing!

The Hard-Easy Effect: A bias that occurs when, based on a specific level of difficulty on a given task, subjective judgments do not accurately reflect the true difficulty of the task. Subjects tend to be over-confident in the face of hard tasks and under-confident in the face of easy ones.

The Agentic State Theory: The essence of obedience consists in the fact that a person comes to view themselves as the instrument for carrying out another person's wishes, and they therefore no longer see themselves as responsible for their own actions.

May 20, 2014

8 Powerful Ways to Improve Your Body Language

It's time again for another Jeff Haden post! One would start to think I'm in love; in fact I think that he is a most capable blogger. In his article, 8 Powerful Ways to Improve Your Body Language, we learn a little bit about how to feel (and project) more confidence, how to be engaging in conversation and presentation, and how to look dynamic overall when you speak:
  1. Prep with a power pose
    • Spend two minutes standing tall, holding your arms out or towards the sky, or like Superman with your hands on your hips.
    • Do this alone, it will dramatically increase confidence.
  2. Dial up your energy level
    • Display more enthusiasm and passion than you normally would.
  3. When the going gets tough, start smiling
    • Negative facial expressions signal the brain that something is difficult, which will cause the brain to raise stress levels.
    • Forcing a smile keeps the stress down.
    • People subconsciously mirror; if you smile or frown, so will they.
  4. Play supermodel to reduce conflict
    • Shift so that you are standing at a slight angle, like supermodels do - you will come across less confrontational.
    • Standing side-by-side signals collaboration, face-to-face signals confrontation.
  5. Don't gesture about your shoulders
    • Just don't.
  6. Talk more with your hands
    • Using the right hand gestures at the right time can punctuate, keep you confident, and help you think more clearly.
  7. Use props to engage
    • The more that people move and open up their bodies, the more engaged they feel.
    • Resistant poses (arms crossed, rigid, etc.) are naturally more defensive. Pull your audience out of such poses by getting something into their hands (a business card, glass of water, etc.) or just shake hands.
  8. Think before you speak
    • If you have to look away to think, do it before you answer, not while you or the other person is talking.

May 13, 2014

What Creativity Requires

Extrapolated from Tara Hunt's article, "How to be Creative", are the following three simple, yet important, ideas - What Creativity Requires:
  1. Surrounding yourself with inspiration, stories, and ideas which are outside the "narrow" topic.
  2. Space to breath and grow, because you'll go down a million paths to nowhere.
  3. A purpose - a direction or point of view.

May 6, 2014

Some Definitions (part 2)

Every now and again I run across some concepts of which I do not want to forget. They may be simple or elaborate. At any rate, I include them so that I have some reference; given the state of my memory I think this may be a good thing!

The Law of Small Numbers: People tend to generalize from small amounts of data. Nielsen is guilty of this, and so that is why a lot of good television shows are canceled.

The Illusion of Validity: Consistent evidence persistently leads to confident predictions, even after the predictive value of the evidence has been discredited. A good example of this is picking lottery numbers based upon numbers that appear to come up often.

The Law of Closure: Objects which are grouped together are seen as a whole; gaps tend to be ignored, the mind filling in the missing information. Here is a great video to illustrate. Just watch it first, don't read anything about it, or it will ruin the point.