WikiMind
All Stories
Prague holds the secret to great art
The beautiful and intricate Czech capital is like an anti-Silicon Valley.
Most Research Is (Probably) Bogus
Science works through experimentation and replication. Hypotheses are put forward; tests are run; and results are obtained. If something surprising or interesting is found in an experiment, other researchers can […]
The Age-Old Secret Of Behavior Change
Earlier today, I was speaking with a friend of mine about habit formation. In the middle of our conversation, he paused and told me: “The trick is to keep on […]
Marketers and The Myth of Perfect Control
You’re not broken. I promise. I can understand why you would think you are, though. After all, you’re an expert in yourself. Like a fine painter, you’re so familiar with […]
The Unspoken Reasons Why We Shake Hands
Behind every behavior there are four potential explanations: It’s been done to solve a tangible and practical problem. It’s a habit (and thus an automatic response to a cue). It’s […]
Technology Is for Sinners
“Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There’s a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you […]
You’ll Never Have Full Control
Two of the most fundamental human drives are: The drive to learn more about the world The drive to gain more control over one’s environment and circumstances While these may […]
You’re not cynical enough
Every occurrence is a mixed bag of good and bad, pleasure and pain.
Don’t Express Yourself – Communicate Instead
In life, the most important skill is communication. It’s the bottleneck to almost every problem in almost every area of our lives. Effective communication is similar to magic, for it […]
Suspending the Laws of Biology, and Common Sense, For Health
One of the eminently amusing and frustrating things in life is how people suspend common sense when thinking about anything related to their bodies or their health. Most people understand […]
The Vast, Bloody Gap Between Theory And Practice
Everyone has a large number of great theories or ideas. Here’s one that I have: Wouldn’t it be great if all of the money that each person generated was split […]
The Triumph of The Most Poisonous Emotion
I’ve always been struck by the power of envy. Other than anger, it is perhaps the most commanding emotion, able to instantly turn our stomachs and perceptions upside down. Envy […]
There Are No Shortcuts in Product Development — or in Life
In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a strangely ubiquitous pattern: an obsession with what I would call “advanced features”, and a nearly complete disregard of what I would consider […]
Is Human Laziness Human Nature?
For most of human history, it’s been recognized that we tend to follow the path of least resistance. We go to comical lengths to avoid work of even the most trivial sort.
The Pros and Cons of Overconfidence
All of us think that we’re more “special” and capable than we are. This phenomenon has many different names in the psychological literature, but my personal favorite is “The Lake Wobegon effect” – a reference to a mythical town where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."
Forget “Mindfulness”: Habits Make Us Human
A person is, in large part, the sum of their habits. We go through an evolutionary process each day, in which certain behaviors in our repertoire are selected for and […]
The Three Ways Mobile Changes Behavior
There are three primary ways that mobile technologies change our behavior: 1. By making things easier 2. By interrupting us 3. By giving us feedback By Making Things Easier: Let’s […]
An Incomplete Loop: A Review of Nir Eyal’s Hooked
In the last decade, the business and technology worlds have become obsessed with the science of the mind. The thinking goes as follows: if we understand the mind, in all […]
You Have More Willpower Than You Think
One of the trendiest ideas in popular psychology in the last few years has been that of “ego depletion” or willpower as a limited resource. Many different books have been […]
How Social Media is Polarizing Us
I’ve been thoroughly dismayed by Facebook the past couple of years. Maybe it’s a quirk of memory, but I don’t remember my feed being so full of political sparring and […]
Upgrade Your Operating System: Building A Better Understanding of Psychology
Whenever I work with a company or talk to people in the business world, I’m always asked for a model or a set of scientific formulas that can “solve” behavior […]
The Three Reasons You’re Failing In Product Design And In Life
In product design and life, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. All too often, we contrive complex, Rube Goldberg-like reasons for why things are or are not working. […]
Putting Off The Bill: The Different Costs of Tech
It’s a classic idea in both Psychology and Economics that when things get cheaper or easier to do they get done more often. While this is an idea sculpted out […]
Design Like A Scientist
When I first started designing products, I used to mainly think about their aesthetics. That seems like the right, and obvious, thing to do. However, product design is not fine […]
Models to Know: Fogg Behavior Model
Today I want to share the most powerful and useful model of behavior that I’ve ever encountered: The Fogg Behavior Model. There have been few other ideas that have impacted […]
You Are Not In Complete Control Of Yourself: And That’s A Good Thing
In our culture, there are two diametrically opposed beliefs. The first is that we are powerful and strong creatures that have the ability to shape our biology and destiny in […]
One Of The Biggest Trends In Technology: Instant Gratification
As I’ve said before, technology reduces uncertainty. It does this primarily by speeding up processes, making what used to take days, weeks, or months take hours or minutes. With new […]
The Most Important Question You Can Ask: Then What?
Life is full of next steps. In the academic literature, these things would be called “second order effects”. But, in real life, they’re called consequences (or unintended consequences). Each of […]
Virtual Reality Is Our Savior: A Vision Of The Future Of Education
In an earlier article, I talked about the fact that we learn much better when we learn with our entire body – all of our senses. I called this “embodied […]
The Rise of Virtual Reality: From Campfire to Oculus
Reading is a fairly recent phenomenon. It’s generally accepted that language developed in the human species between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. The written word, however, came much later, and […]