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6 lessons to supercharge your communication and collaboration skills
Join Big Think's premium learning platform, Big Think Edge, and learn skills that will propel your life and career.
- Big Think Edge videos this week focus on optimizing your effectiveness with other individuals, one-on-one and in a group setting.
- Three complementary Deep Dives offer more insights to help you get along with others, and to help them feel empowered interacting with you.
- If you're not a subscriber yet, join Big Think Edge today. Take our 7-day free trial — test it out. You can cancel any time.
At Big Think Edge this week, Reza Aslan explains the frustrating fact that facts don't change people's minds. Luckily, he also reveals what you can do about it. Shane Snow explains how to unlock the hidden genius of collaboration in diverse teams, and Charles Duhigg presents emotionally intelligent methods for fully empowering team members.
Constructing powerful arguments: Wield your data in an emotional way, with Reza Aslan
Facts alone don't change people's minds, says religious scholar and author Reza Aslan. We respond more readily to emotion. It's the reason that your most persuasive facts may be of frustratingly little use in winning an argument. Your opponent isn't fact-averse—you're just not connecting. Azlan explains how to wrap your facts in emotion if you want to change someone's point of view.
"PEOPLE ARE MUCH MORE IMPACTED BY EMOTION THAN THEY ARE BY DATA."
— REZA ASLAN
Available September 23 in Boost Your Analytical Intelligence
Harness your team's mental toolkit, with Shane Snow
It turns out, says Shane Snow, two heads aren't actually better than one. Groups are slower than individuals, and only as smart as their smartest member. Still, collaboration is often essential for large, difficult tasks. So if it's not speed or sheer brainpower that teams deliver, what's the point? Snow explains that collaborations develop a unique capacity for devising outstanding solutions when they utilize the diversity of members' individual perspectives and skills.
Available September 25 in Become a Better Leader
The science of productivity: Create psychological safety, with Charles Duhigg
Charles Duhigg, author of Smarter Faster Better, recalls how the millions of dollars Google spent analyzing the precise makeup of their most successful teams wound up revealing another, more important factor than their composition: Creating a safe emotional space in which each team member—not just the star performers—can do their best work. Duhigg lays out how to build the requisite social sensitivity into a team's norms, and offers a compelling example of what can happen when it's done right.
"PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IS THE SINGLE GREATEST DETERMINANT IN WHETHER A TEAM COMES TOGETHER OR WHETHER IT FALLS APART."
— CHARLES DUHIGG
Available September 26 in Become a Better Leader
This week's Big Think Edge Deep Dives
Saturday Night LiveIn this week's Big Think Edge Deep Dives, we explore group dynamics. We talk about how great decision-making requires the ability to first to sort out the facts, what to do to break creative logjams in groups that lack a diversity of perspectives, and take a look at how producer Lorne Micheals' emotional intelligence has been the behind-the-scenes secret to Saturday Night Live's success.
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Related Articles
Childhood sleeping problems may signal mental disorders later in life
Chronic irregular sleep in children was associated with psychotic experiences in adolescence, according to a recent study out of the University of Birmingham's School of Psychology.
July 10, 2020
Personal Growth
We spend 40 percent of our childhoods asleep, a time for cognitive growth and development. A recent study found an association between irregular sleep patterns in childhood and either psychotic experiences or borderline personality disorder during teenage years. The researchers hope their findings can help identify at-risk youth to improve early intervention.
<ul class="ee-ul"></ul>
<p>Sleep is a critical activity in our mental and physical health. <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325353#lower-risk-of-heart-disease" target="_blank">Sufficient sleep</a> is necessary for learning, productivity, and emotional regulation. It boosts our energy, improves our performance, and helps us prevent injury, making it an athletic necessity on par with hydration and nutrient intake. <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sleep-deprivation-and-deficiency#:~:text=Sleep%20plays%20an%20important%20role,pressure%2C%20diabetes%2C%20and%20stroke." target="_blank">Sleep deprivation</a>, meanwhile, has been linked to an increased risk of stroke, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17853-lack-of-sleep-linked-to-alzheimers/" target="_blank">onset dementia</a>. And without it, your <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-sleep-clears-brain" target="_blank">glymphatic system</a> doesn't have the time to properly scrub your brain of the toxic protein beta-amyloid—meaning your head fills up, literally, with unfiltered daytime gunk.</p><p>For children, sleep is even more crucial. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440010/" target="_blank">A meta-analysis of ten studies</a> on infant sleep and cognition found a "positive association between sleep, memory, language, executive function, and overall cognitive development." In other words, all the ingredients for a healthy mind and social aptitude. It's so necessary for cognitive development that by age two <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/children-and-sleep#:~:text=The%20rhythms%20begin%20to%20develop,his%20or%20her%20childhood%20asleep." target="_blank">a child will spend more time asleep</a> than awake. In total, 40 percent of our childhoods are spent mapping our personal dreamlands.</p><p>But <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2767298" target="_blank">a recent study</a> in <em>JAMA Psychiatry </em>suggests the obverse is also true. Poor sleep routines, chronically disrupted sleep, and other <a href="http://sleepeducation.org/essentials-in-sleep/parasomnias/overview-and-facts" target="_blank">parasomnias</a> may have an adverse effect on children's mental health later in life.</p>
A time for sleep
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="Mt29uUqI" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="931343dee3c02121445e51e94ba22446"> <div id="botr_Mt29uUqI_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Mt29uUqI-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/Mt29uUqI-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Mt29uUqI-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div> <p>Previous studies had already suggested a link between persistent nightmares in childhood and psychosis and borderline personality disorder (BPD) by adolescence, but researchers at the University of Birmingham's School of Psychology wanted to see if a similar connection existed between these mental disorders and other childhood behavioral sleep problems.</p><p>To do this, they scoured data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a longitudinal cohort study that followed approximately 14,000 children born in Avon, England, in the early '90s. The study followed the children for more than 13 years. During that time, mothers filled out questionnaires asking about the children's lives. Factors looked at included housing, parenting, nutrition, physical health, mental wellbeing, environmental exposures, and so on. </p><p>The cohort study inquired about sleep routines, sleep duration, and awakening frequency when their children were 6, 18, and 30 months old, and then again at 3.5, 4.8, and 5.8 years. It also assessed mental health in adolescence using semi-structured interviews, such as the Psychosis-Like Symptom Interview.</p><p>"We know that adolescence is a key developmental period to study the onset of many mental disorders, including psychosis or BPD. This is because of particular brain and hormonal changes which occur at this stage," <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/psychology/marwaha-steven.aspx" target="_blank">Steven Marwaha</a>, professor of psychiatry at Birmingham and senior author on the study, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200701125431.htm" target="_blank">said in a release</a>. "Sleep may be one of the most important underlying factors—and it's one that we can influence with effective, early interventions, so it's important that we understand these links."</p><p>After compiling the data, the researchers discovered an association between children with irregular sleeping patterns and teenagers with <a href="https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/psychosis/about-psychosis/" target="_blank">psychotic experiences</a>—that is, episodes when the person perceives reality differently than those around them. Even when depression at 10 years old was considered as a mediating factor, their findings still suggested "a specific pathway between these childhood sleep problems and adolescent psychotic experiences." </p><p>Toddlers with shorter nighttime sleep duration and late bedtimes were likewise associated with a <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/borderline-personality-disorder/index.shtml" target="_blank">borderline personality disorder</a>—an disorder marked by a pattern of varying moods, self-images, and behaviors—in their teenage years. Depression at age 10 did not mediate this particular association, suggesting a separate and more specific pathway. </p>A more restful tomorrow
<p>While the sample size was large and mental health was assessed with a validated interview, there nevertheless remain limitations to this data. For starters, sleep habits were based on mothers' reports. Because they came from memory, versus a more direct observation method such as actigraphy, these data may be prone to imperfect recollection and reporting error. There are also many confounders that could be secretly nudging the results, such as family conditions, prenatal medicines, and a host of environmental factors. Finally, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6024884/#:~:text=Sleep%20difficulties%20in%20youth%20with,fear%20of%20dark%20%5B13%5D." target="_blank">the relationship between sleep problems and mental disorders</a> is both complex and two-way.</p><p>As such, the study shows an association between poor childhood sleep later mental disorders but does not prove a causal link. Parents need not worry that a string of nightmares or the eternal struggle settle into bed will be the first ingredients in a witches' brew of debilitating mental disorders. The goal of the study, the researchers point out, is not to create undue worry but improve our ability to recognize the signs of at-risk children and deliver necessary interventions earlier.</p><p>"The results of this study could have important implications for helping practitioners identify children who might be at higher risk for psychotic experiences or BPD symptoms in adolescence, and potentially lead to the design of more effectively targeted sleep or psychological interventions to prevent the onset or attenuate these mental disorders," Isabel Morales-Muñoz, the study's lead researcher, <a href="https://www.healio.com/news/psychiatry/20200702/childhood-sleep-problems-linked-to-adolescent-psychosis-borderline-personality-disorder#:~:text=Sleep%20problems%20during%20early%20childhood,study%20published%20in%20JAMA%20Psychiatry." target="_blank">told <em>Healio Psychiatry</em></a>.</p><p>If a parent reading this is worried that their child's sleep patterns are deleterious, the take away should not be despair over an unyielding fate. It should be to seek professional help as soon as possible to begin improving sleep duration and quality. Even if you aren't worried, it's worth remembering that childhood experiences lay the foundation for a lifetime of salubrious sleeping habits. It's so much more than beauty rest.</p>
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Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?
Are we genetically inclined for superstition or just fearful of the truth?
July 10, 2020
Videos
- From secret societies to faked moon landings, one thing that humanity seems to have an endless supply of is conspiracy theories. In this compilation, physicist Michio Kaku, science communicator Bill Nye, psychologist Sarah Rose Cavanagh, skeptic Michael Shermer, and actor and playwright John Cameron Mitchell consider the nature of truth and why some groups believe the things they do.
- "I think there's a gene for superstition, a gene for hearsay, a gene for magic, a gene for magical thinking," argues Kaku. The theoretical physicist says that science goes against "natural thinking," and that the superstition gene persists because, one out of ten times, it actually worked and saved us.
- Other theories shared include the idea of cognitive dissonance, the dangerous power of fear to inhibit critical thinking, and Hollywood's romanticization of conspiracies. Because conspiracy theories are so diverse and multifaceted, combating them has not been an easy task for science.
COVID-19 brain study to explore long-term effects of the virus
A growing body of research suggests COVID-19 can cause serious neurological problems.
July 09, 2020
Coronavirus
- The new study seeks to track the health of 50,000 people who have tested positive for COVID-19.
- The study aims to explore whether the disease causes cognitive impairment and other conditions.
- Recent research suggests that COVID-19 can, directly or indirectly, cause brain dysfunction, strokes, nerve damage and other neurological problems.
<p>As the coronavirus pandemic enters its fifth month, many questions remain unanswered over how the virus damages the body. Now, a group of researchers are planning a large-scale study that aims to shed light on how COVID-19 affects the brain. </p><p>The <a href="https://www.cambridgebrainsciences.com/studies/covid-brain-study" target="_blank">COVID-19 Brain Study</a> plans to monitor the long-term health of 50,000 participants who have tested positive for COVID-19. The research could help answer questions like: Does COVID-19 cause cognitive impairment? And, if so, how do age, race, and sex factor into the equation?</p><p>Considering recent studies that suggest COVID-19 may cause neurological damage, the researchers say it's important to start tracking patients' health as early as possible.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The problem is a bit like when governments were deciding to enter lockdown – timing is everything," Adrian Owen, a Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging professor at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, told <a href="https://news.westernu.ca/2020/06/study-explores-long-term-brain-impact-of-covid-19/" target="_blank">Western University of Health Sciences News</a>. "We need to start collecting this data now. We can't start looking at this issue in a year's time because if there are cognitive impairments, and we know there will be, it's going to be too late."</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ0NTg2Ni9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjcxNTg5Mn0.dinNRn3OCcl_lTjX3FS879ZRiX14zWrb9Ibqy_mRsxQ/img.png?width=980" id="d4b5d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6e65d6b5bd46af5add092e8c63c80553" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="COVID-19 effects on the brain." />
Brain images of a patient with acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis.
<p>The researchers also want to find out whether there are significant differences between patients who recovered from the disease in intensive care units and those who got better at home. After all, studies have revealed that some patients may suffer a constellation of long-lasting physical, emotional, and mental problems after staying in an ICU, a condition dubbed <a href="https://www.sccm.org/MyICUCare/THRIVE/Post-intensive-Care-Syndrome#:~:text=Post%2Dintensive%20care%20syndrome%2C%20or%20PICS%2C%20is%20made%20up,and%20may%20affect%20the%20family." target="_blank">post-intensive care syndrome</a>.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"A year from now, we will have more than eight million people worldwide recovering from COVID-19," Owen said. "So, we may also have eight million people with short- and long-term cognitive problems."</p>COVID-19 and the brain
<p>A growing body of research reveals alarming neurological complications among COVID-19 patients. On Wednesday, for example, researchers from University College London published a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/doi/10.1093/brain/awaa240/5868408" target="_blank">study</a> in the journal Brain that describes how some patients have suffered temporary brain dysfunction, strokes, nerve damage, and other neurological problems concurrent with COVID-19.</p><p>Some patients suffered brain inflammation as a result of a rare disease called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which can cause numbness, seizures, and confusion. One patient in the study even hallucinated monkeys and lions in her home.</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ0NTg4Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjQyODM3MH0.nW1_EykXQyKoamADL0uPHnDKwgQ0pCQxjt5mIpaHcAI/img.jpg?width=980" id="6ac2f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b4ae84584bb17c263f3daf9ddcfa9223" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="medical staff standing around patient in bed" />San Diego-Area Hospitals Treat Coronavirus Patients During COVID-19 Pandemic
<p class=""><br></p>Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
<p>A separate study published in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7198407/" target="_blank">Journal of Clinical Neuroscience</a> notes that some COVID-19 patients have also suffered neurological complications like impaired consciousness and acute cerebrovascular disease. The study notes that past viruses like MERS and SARS also seemed to cause neurological problems.</p><p>A troubling finding among this growing body of research is that some patients seem to suffer neurological damage even when respiratory symptoms aren't obvious. Additionally, scientists aren't sure whether damage from the disease will be permanent.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Given that the disease has only been around for a matter of months, we might not yet know what long-term damage COVID-19 can cause," Dr. Ross Paterson, joint first author of the University College London study, said in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/ucl-iid070620.php" target="_blank">press release</a>. "Doctors needs to be aware of possible neurological effects, as early diagnosis can improve patient outcomes."</p><p>If you've been diagnosed with COVID-19 and want to enroll in the study, visit <a href="https://www.cambridgebrainsciences.com/studies/covid-brain-study" target="_blank">cambridgebrainsciences.com/studies/covid-brain-study</a>.</p>
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