Two Selves

Now Dove again posts an interesting video on YouTube. Also, you are available to this experimental series on their site (all the sketches are available to see). The basic story of the experiment is that a FBI trained artist draws two sketches of each participant's face. One is based on his/her own descriptions to his/her face, while the other comes from what a perfect stranger who just met him/her describes to his/her face. Check out the result of it!

Now I want to guess about the background story of this experiment. In social psychology, there is a concept of the actor-observer bias that actors tend to attribute their own behavior to environmental factors, whereas observers are likely to attribute the same behavior to actors' own personality. Suppose that I pick a wallet at a crowded street. Then, I take the wallet to the police office. For my standpoint, although I want to take it without going to the police office (get the money), I visit there because I (the actor) am afraid to become a thief and get caught, and think there are so many people watching my behavior (situational factors). On the other hand, people around there or the police officer (the observer) may assume me as decent and honest (personality), regardless of whether or not I believe myself as honest. This asymmetric perception is similar to what this experiment shows.

In the video, many participants believe themselves as whatever such as beautiful, attractive, neutral, ugly, or terrible, but they are amazed when seeing the two sketches of themselves. This is because there are clear differences between the two sketches. What we think of ourselves and what others think of us are different. As Daniel Kahneman points out, we are an animal to believe "what you see is all there is". In reality, it seems  two selves are existing: one from my mind, and the other from others'.

*the title of this entry refers to Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, but my intent to use the word is different from his use (experiencing and remembering self).

Online Lies

Which do you think more people would lie, online or face-to-face? Here is an interesting talk by Jeff Hancock on TED.

Although it is scientifically true, what he finds seems to be needed more evidence in order to prove his insistence, I think. For instance, people more easily write like "I'm on my way" on twitter than other social media or email, because tweets are usually assumed as not serious even if some of them lie or overstate.

Anyway, this is very inspiring!!

How To Get A Seat: Smartly But Strangely

I was sitting on a seat. Woman was coming and then standing in front of me. With little courageous, I said to her "Would you like to have a seat?" And, I gave up my seat to her... because she is attractive or I'm a gentleman. No, just because she looked like pregnant! And, I sat on an inappropriate space. What I am talking about now is "priority seats." The priority seats are set up for those who are disabled, pregnant, or having babies to have a seat easily. (In Japan, a subway line have conducted a policy that all seats are priority seats...Even more, they are right now considering about making the most priority seats on the priority seats. What a mess...)

Japanese sign for priority seats on trains

Just in case you really want to get a seat, Try out the following way. In China,  there are 1.3 billion people living. According to some article, to get a seat on public transportation, some women wear a fake pregnant belly! Wow!

After knowing this news, I re-thought that woman whom I offered my seat was really pregnant, just a bit fat, or wearing a fake pregnant belly??

Too Many Choices

I traveled Taipei, Taiwan in last weekend. And, I got a lot of tasty food and drinks there. Bubble teas are one of the famous drinks from Taiwan, I think. Of course I had them during the visit, but I had some difficulty when ordering them. See below!

As shown in the picture, so many choices there are!! In mind, "How can I choose?" Even I thought I'd like someone to choose a great one! However, the staff seemed busy and even I can't speak in Taiwanese. As a result, I needed to choose by myself... What would you choose when you are facing such a situation?

Recently what I learned is that when facing too many choices we tend not to buy the item, according to a jam experiment by Sheena Iyengar. But, in my case, I really wanted to drink a bubble tea, so I chose one. That is, I didn't have the choice of not buying it. So, the problem is how I picked it. I think that we would follow two patterns under this circumstance; cautious or risky choice (I can't find any research of this related topic, so to describe the phenomena I borrow these terms usually used in the group think). The cautious choice means a tendency we choose ordinary, familiar, and safe one which we have already had or seen. On the other hand, I use risky choice to describe that we are likely to pick one which we have never had or even heard and seen. When I chose one, I was considering apricot kernel (cautious) or 養楽多 (risky) flavor (*養楽多 is Yakult, although I didn't know at that time. In fact, Yakult is a drink made by a famous Japanese company).

Well, eventually, I got the apricot kernel bubble tea. It's not provocative but tasted good! Although maybe it could be good, at that moment the Yakult one seemed to me mysterious and strange. Anyway, Taipei is a good place to visit. If you have time, go there. And, if you have an opportunity to visit Taipei, try to buy Bubble teas!

Which Is Which?

Last weekend, I went to a friend's house to be invited dinner. Her father was there at that time. Although I've met him a few times, I didn't know he likes wines and he was kind of enthusiast on them as much as collects them from all over the world. And, I drunk a bottle of wine which he recommended. It was fantastic, and tasted and smelled like what I've never had. However, I unfortunately do not have good abilities to remember that taste and smell for a long time. Actually, next day I already forgot what it tasted and smelled like, though I'm sorry for him.

For so long time, researchers have wondered whether we can distinguish ordinary wines from great ones. There are a lot of research conducted by many ways: http://www.freakonomics.com/2008/07/24/keep-the-cheap-wine-flowing/

The same thing happens in the music. Probably most people have heard of the name, Stradivari who is known as a great violin maker. His violin has been acknowledged the greatest and the most expensive one all over the world.

An article by NPR introduced an interesting experiment a few days ago. It was about a blind violin test, but the point of this experiment is a "double-blind" test. That is, all participants including players and listeners didn't know which one was a Stradivari violin. If you want to try your ability, go the link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/01/02/144482863/double-blind-violin-test-can-you-pick-the-strad. You can also find the result!

Fortunately, I would have musician's ears, which means I was able to pick correct one! It seems like hearing something is good fit for me rather than tasting and smelling.

More Smile in Our Life

The more I smile, the less I need to eat chocolates (especially Bon Bons), according to the below talk. As a result, I would be more healthy. It's nice!! Yeah, more smile in my life!!

Risk Preference

Recently I read a book "What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20" by Tina Seelig. This book provides a lot of fascinating examples and is well organized. I found and got some useful insights from the book. Also, it was very easy to read. I'd like to mention a thing from the book, anyway.

The author introduces a thought of risk in a chapter. According to the book, there are five types of risks:

1. Physical risk: such as being willing or unwilling to bungee jump off a bridge.
2. Social risk: like being willing or reluctant to start a conversation with a stranger. 
3. Emotional risk: revealing own emotion and feeling.
4. Financial risk: a big financial risk taker or not.
5. Intellectual risk: willingness to take risk in pursuing scientific inquiry.

According to the finance, risk is the probability that actual return on an investment will be lower than the expected return. And, suppose a financial assumption -- which is the more you take risk, the more you get the return, and vise verse -- is correct (For example, high-risk, high-return research is here). That is, the more we take risk, the more we will get something successful or big, as the following comic strip shows.

Comic Strip: Frank & Ernest published on June 23, 2011

With the above idea, I'd like to consider about my risk preference, that means which types of risks I am willing to take. I'm comfortable to take physical risks because I don't think about risk of fracturing a born which some people may worry, while taking social risks are uncomfortable for me as I confessed before: "Shy is not Shine". Also, I'm willing to take intellectual risks such as I like casting doubt on theories and common thought regardless of whether my critics for them are correct and pertinent or not, but I'm not a big financial and emotional risk taker so I may be a cheapskate and an expressionless face...

As Tina Seelig points out, although we are taking a big risk, we don't see ourselves as big risk takers on certain types of risks. For instance, unlike me, some entrepreneurs and bankers don't assume themselves as big risk takers despite spending huge money for investments. On other hand, if someone paid one million dollars for you to play a sky diving, you could never try it out. I think a message comes from these things. That is, "Don't be afraid of failure and shame." But, I know easier said than done. As for the first step of action, take a look at your own risk profile. Which types of risks are you willing to take and don't you see as a big risk? Though it is just a starting point, it would be easy and sometimes helpful for you to go ahead. 

Taking Test

Photo: Sheknows.com

Who the heck loves taking a test? I confess that I hate a test. Whenever I take a test, it makes me nervous. And, if a test were a big deal like an entrance exam, it could make me crazy. In fact, before the quake and tsunami hit in Japan, cheating at entrance exams for college was a big issue. I would not say about how to prevent such cheating in this blog, but I would like to introduce a way to feel better to take a test.

Here is two pieces of research. One suggests that taking a test is the best way to learn, and another one introduces how to improve your test score better. These are just a tip.

First, Jeffrey D. Karpicke and Janell R. Blunt found that students who read a passage, and then took a test asking thiem to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods -- repeatedly studying the material and studying with concept mapping. Although this doesn't urge you to take a test more often as argued at an article by the New York Times, just keep your mind that an exam is one of the ways you study and retain knowledge. Also, I want to make a comment for this research. This study supposed school situations. Especially, if we were in school, we would be required many tests, and take again and again. This hatred ritual actually helps us retain taught knowledge at school.

Next, a study by Gerardo Ramirez and Sian L. Beilock showed that a brief expressive writing assignment, which occurred immediately before taking an important test, significantly improved students' exam scores, especially for students habitually anxious about test taking. This advice might be useful for some of readers who are facing on a significant test like an entrance exam and qualifying exam. I think this is worthy to try once because if it doesn't work well, we'll find another way to improve our exam scores. That's it.

Finally, I'd like to say if you have an opportunity to take a test, take it easy!! Because there is no royal road to learning. Although they may be useful, yet aforementioned researches are no more than some consolation.

Shy is not Shine

Recently I have worried about shyness. In fact, I am shy. In some case, shyness is a good thing, especially in terms of a good listener. On other hand, shyness has a bad aspect. Maybe many people would be taught a tip by parents. I quote it from The Fine Art of Small Talk:

• Good things come to those who wait.
• Silence is golden.
• Wait to be properly introduced.
• Don't talk to strangers.

These might be useful for us when we were children. But, as the author pointed out, now, as adults, these lesson are not useful for us, and sometimes good things come to those who wait and waiting to be properly introduced are not good things for us. The Upside of Irrationality gives us a good example for this. A professor who was smart, funny and more or less good-looking couldn't find his partner. It was because he was not outgoing and concentrated on working, even though he had an opportunity to meet women like dinner parties. (However, according to the book, he did meet his mate.)

Therefore, we often lose a good opportunity due to be shy and introvert. Hey, shyness is not golden!

The following opinion is based on just my case, but I suspect many people have the same trouble as me.

Now I study abroad in the U.S.. However, my English skills except reading skills haven't improved so much. One of the reasons for that is that I am shy. Generally speaking, to master a language, we need to have a lot of talking to the others. Of course, reading and writing help us mastering a language, but human being actually had a speaking word before making characters. In addition, as a baby, we acquired a lot of words by listening to our mother and father's talks or having a conversation to them. In other words, what I want to say is talking is important for us to improve English skills, and also other languages. So, I guess socialized people master a language more quickly than shy people.

Two days ago, I had a discussion socializing and shyness with my host mom. She thought socializing is one of the skills. I agree with the idea. And we also talked about why shy parents' children sometimes become shy. In fact, my parents are both shy. Her idea about why shy takes over was that parents who are not socializing can't teach their children how to be socializing because they have no idea. I think so, of course, though shy is also a part of personality. The above-mentoned author, Debra Fine, overcame her shyness, according to The Fine Art of Small Talk. So, I try to learn socializing!