Excerpt from existential psychologist Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.
In a recent TED video, psychologist Alison Gopnik describes how a child’s early cognitive development is a lot like the “Research & Development” sector in an economy.
Babies and young children are constantly experimenting and playing with their environments, absorbing new information, testing new ideas and hypotheses (with scientific-like curiosity), and thereby gaining knowledge about how their world really works.
In many ways, children are better, faster, and more flexible learners than adults – they have to be – so that when they grow up they can use this knowledge to produce results and survive in our society.
One key area of their development is between the ages of 13-18 months, when infants begin to develop empathy at an accelerated pace. This is when infants begin to discover that other humans think and feel differently than how we might think and feel. Gopnik shares an example of this by illustrating young children learning that people may prefer broccoli over goldfish crackers, even though the child tends to prefer the opposite.
At later ages, children begin engaging in remarkable problem-solving skills. Gopnik shares one video of a young child (at about 4 years old) trying to solve a task (getting 2 boxes to light up) by experimenting with different possibilities. After testing about 5 different hypothesis over a 2 minute span, the child discovers the solution to the problem.
In addition, by looking at a variety of different species, Gopnik found that the length of a species’ average childhood is often correlated with greater intelligence. This is strong evidence that the main purpose of childhood is for learning and preparation.
You can check out the full TED lecture here:
How to develop your own kind of “baby mind?”
At times, it can be useful to develop a kind of “baby mind” of our own. This is especially useful for keeping our minds open, flexible, creative, and effective at problem-solving.
Here are some suggestions for things we can do to help create a “baby mind” of our own:
- Engage in novel and unfamiliar environments, such as going on vacation somewhere you’ve never been before (especially at a place where you don’t know the language). This will get your brain to kick into a “learning mode” very similar to that of a baby mind.
- Embrace new interests, hobbies, and curiosities. Babies are constantly trying new things and exploring their environment in new ways. Try to do the same whenever you have the opportunity and time. Pick up a guitar or learn how to paint.
- Drink coffee. According to Gopnik, caffeine activates some of our “baby neurotransmitters.”
- Surround yourself with children more. Volunteer at a daycare or spend more time with your children at home. This is one of the best way to learn how a child’s mind really works.
- Practice Zen meditation. There is a concept known as “beginner’s mind” which is said to be an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, very similar to that of a child. Zen master Shunryu Suzuki wrote a great book on this mindset called Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.
These are some small suggestions for increasing our “baby mind” in certain situations. Gopnik reminds us that this doesn’t mean being a baby is better than being an adult, but often there are benefits in adopting a more curious and open-minded attitude like that of a child or newborn. In many ways we should try to retain this attitude into adulthood.
Optimists are said to be those who see the glass as half full, while pessimists see the glass as half empty.
An optimist often tries to find the good in everything. This perspective can cause less stress, less anxiety, and a more empowering and motivating attitude.
Positive psychologist Martin Seligman coined the term learned optimism to explain that people can cultivate more optimism by challenging their negative self-talk. Seligman believes that learning an optimistic attitude is crucial to finding happiness and living healthier.
However, despite these benefits, some research is showing that too much optimism in certain situations can actually be harmful.
According to some psychologists, excessive optimism can cause us to ignore information that goes against our rose-tinted perspective (a kind of “confirmation bias“). This leads some optimistic people to only focus on benefits, but at the same time ignore risks and costs.
In one study, experimenters had participants estimate the risk of a negative event happening to them in the future, such as car theft or getting cancer. After the participant predicted a probability, they were told the actual statistical likelihood it would happen to them.
After a short break, participants were then asked again what the probability of a certain negative event was. What researchers found was that optimistic people only changed their estimates when the information they were given was better than expected, but tended to ignore information that went against their optimism:
- “For example if they had predicted that their likelihood of suffering from cancer was 40%, but the average likelihood was 30%, they might adjust their estimate to 32%. If the information was worse than expected – for example, if they had estimated 10% – then they tended to adjust their estimate much less, as if ignoring the data.”
These findings were consistent with some brain research that was also conducted. Researchers found that when people were presented information better than expected, there was high activity in the frontal lobes (suggesting that the participant was re-calculating their estimate). But when the information was worse than expected, there was much less activity in the frontal lobes, almost as if participants were disregarding the new information.
Dr. Sharot who led the study added:
- “Our study suggests that we pick and choose the information that we listen to. The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be influenced by negative information about the future. This can have benefits for our mental health, but there are obvious downsides. Many experts believe the financial crisis in 2008 was precipitated by analysts overestimating the performance of their assets even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary.”
I don’t wish to deride optimism, I think it’s incredibly important to being a flourishing human being. At the same time, I think it needs to be balanced and realistic. Ignoring reality might bring us some temporary pleasure, but it can also hurt us badly in the long-run. We need to learn how to acknowledge the obstacles, risks, and costs that come with life, while still being confident and hopeful about our future.
Stay updated on new articles on psychology and self-improvement here.
One of the most powerful shifts in your mindset is thinking of mistakes as learning opportunities. Recently a study published in Psychological Science tried to investigate how this attitude affects our brains.
Researchers first hooked up participants to an EEG in order to record electrical activity in the brain. They then had participants perform a simple task where they had to identify the middle letter in a 5 letter series. For example, “MMMMM” or “NNMNN,” where the correct answer is M in both cases. Sometimes the middle letter was the same as the other four, and sometimes it was different.
Although it was an easy exercise, it became tedious enough where many participants would zone out and make silly mistakes from time to time.
Whenever someone made a mistake, the brain would send out two signals. The first signal was when participants realized they messed up – researchers jokingly called this the “Oh crap” response. The second signal was when participants were trying to correct themselves so that the mistake wouldn’t happen again.
The study found that not only do people who adopt a “learn from your mistakes” attitude bounce back easier from mistakes, but their brains also send out a much stronger second signal. This second signal essentially tells us, “I see that I’ve made a mistake, so I should pay more attention.”
A “learn from your mistakes” attitude makes us more responsive to our mistakes and try harder to correct them. But those who think their intelligence is fixed tend to react less and instead repeat the same mistakes over and over. The takeaway message is that when we think we can learn from our mistakes, our brain actually changes the way it responds to failure.
A lot of people have very strong beliefs about money. In this article, I try to dispel some of the most common misconceptions I believe lead to unhealthy attitudes about money, and why we should cultivate a more balanced view about money and how it fits into our value system.
I imagine that before you even opened this article, you read the headline and had a strong reaction to it.
Maybe you read “revolt against money” and immediately thought, “Hell yeah – let’s do this! Money is evil, and we need to get rid of it – it’s ruining people’s lives.”
Or maybe you read the headline and thought, “Revolt against money? That’s ridiculous – money is what makes the world go ’round! We need money to survive.”
There’s no doubt about it – people have very strong beliefs about money.
I’m no different.
And throughout my meanderings into the blogosphere, I come across many different opinions about wealth and money.
- Some sites about money are scams, playing on people’s desires, promising you fast, easy, and effortless cash.
- Some sites about money just criticize those who try to make an extra buck writing e-books or doing coaching.
- Some sites about money proclaim the virtues of minimalism and relinquishing our desires for material possessions.
- Some sites about money proclaim the virtues of consumerism and the luxurious lifestyle.
I believe all of these extremes can reflect unhealthy beliefs about money. Rarely do I find a perspective that seems properly balanced (but I’m sure they exist…somewhere).
And I’ve written about these concerns before. In my post Money on My Mind: Tips for Financial Wellness I cite a declaration made by certain psychologists saying that our attitude about money is an often neglected factor to our happiness and mental health.
There are people at both extremes: those who worship money, and those who run away from it.
Of course, not everyone is at one of these two extremes, but from my personal experience many people unhealthily favor one side over the other. Here are some ideas I have to help cultivate a more balanced viewpoint that I find is more sensible and practical.
Money isn’t everything – no #$%!
One of the most common criticisms against money is that it “isn’t everything.” This is so glaringly evident to me that I wish I (and many others) didn’t feel the need to always say it (yet, here I am writing about it).
Yes, money isn’t everything. But that doesn’t automatically mean it has no value. My legs aren’t everything, but if I had the choice to have legs vs. not have legs – I would damn sure choose the legs!
In the real world, people are the same way with money. Most people when presented the choice to have more money vs. less money (all things being equal) will choose to have more money. Why is this?
Money can fulfill some of your values.
Okay, money can’t by itself buy you love or happiness, but it can fulfill some values in your life and other people’s lives.
At the very least, we understand that money is often necessary to provide food, shelter, and clothing – basic necessities. Let’s get that point out of the way – it’s moot.
Regardless of how much our basic needs are already satisfied, people will almost always choose to have “more money” over “less money” (all things, time and work, being equal). This is because money continues to satisfy values for us even when our basic needs are already met.
Yes, I get it – now that we have more money we can buy a new Xbox, or iPod, or Corvette – but that’s not the kind of value I’m talking about either.
Wanting more money doesn’t have to be a purely selfish thing. Money can be used to help others. You can donate to charities, organize a community event, invent something, fund scientific research, start a business, lend to a friend, or buy something from a local business and help your city’s economy, etc.
Money is just a tool that facilitates an exchange in value, but it is up to you to define the values in life that you want to support.
So one individual having more money than someone else can still be a net gain for all of society – it all depends on how that money was spent or invested.
I’ve said it before on this blog that I have very clear plans for making money throughout my life. Not just through this site (which I am currently in the process of monetizing), but through many different endeavors that I hope provide value to others.
And once I have money and I’m comfortable, I don’t just plan on splurging my earnings all on myself. I want to be a philanthropist. I want to be very active with charities and volunteer work, because I think those kinds of activities fulfill the deepest values for me (but they are values that are not OUTSIDE the context of “money” – money helps make those other values happen).
Why you shouldn’t get upset when your favorite blogger starts selling a product.
I mentioned earlier how I’ve been meandering through the blogosphere. I came across two posts within the past 24 hours that really irked me. I’m not going to bother linking to either one, but both basically said how online writers and bloggers who try to make money off their sites are doing a disservice to society.
Information and words, I am told, should always be free.
This poses a problem in my opinion.
If you enjoy a blogger, and you are educated and inspired by their writings, why wouldn’t you want them to be able to make a living doing that? Why would you subject them to have to also maintain a day job on the side, which only detracts that person from devoting more time doing something you you enjoy and receive benefits from.
I think the root of that “shouldn’t make money!” attitude is destructive. Not just to the person who wants to make a profit, but also to the people who enjoy the work and service they receive from that individual.
Keep in mind, in any voluntary marketplace, online or offline, you don’t have to buy anything you don’t want. No one is forcing you to buy their e-book, or their webinar, or their coaching. But if other people want to pay money to receive these things (if they perceive them as “valuable” enough to spend money on), then who are you to call the exchange illegitimate or evil or immoral.
This doesn’t mean there should be a price on everything.
Look, I’ve made it clear that I have intentions for making money on this site. I’m very open about that to anyone who asks me. But that doesn’t mean that everything I do here is solely driven by a profit motive. I genuinely enjoy writing about the things I do and interacting with like-minded people. I would still write about these things even if I wasn’t making money (although I definitely wouldn’t be writing about them as often).
If there is any proof of my dedication, it is the fact that I’ve written over 300 articles on this site and I’ve never charged anyone a single cent to read any of them. I don’t believe that everything needs to have a price-tag. And from my own research and experience, I’m actually discovering that giving away value (with no strings attached) is actually a great business model in the long-term.
I think – as a general trend – most businesses (especially online) have the incentive to offer the most value to their audience at the lowest and most reasonable price. In the end, I see these exchanges as a win-win for all parties involved.
I just wanted to get that off my chest.
I just wanted to get these things off my chest. I know I’ve written about some of these ideas in the past, but I’ve seen a lot of criticism lately and I wanted to clarify my point-of-view one more time (although it probably won’t be the last).
No, I don’t have an affiliate link to share with you, a product to sell, or even a link to my newsletter in this post.
I just wanted to voice my opinion – and you listening is all the value I needed in return. I appreciate it.
Questions.
- What are some of your beliefs about money?
- Do you think money is a net gain or net loss for society?
- Are some of your beliefs about money affecting your own career choices and spending habits?
Please leave a comment below!