“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on…
DetailsFridays overnight action saw most world markets lift – even Greece was up. This pop in prices presents a problem for traders since markets have been ordinary for some time. Lacklustre markets such as the ones we have been experiencing have been characterized by false breaks both up and down. These false breaks have the…
DetailsIf you have had trouble working out what the hell is going on in Europe this may or may not help. Click to image for a ferkin giant version.
I have just been reading an interview with noted psychologist Steven Pinker and three points were worth highlighting from this interview – How do you explain the decline in violence? I don’t think there is a single answer. One cause is government, that is, third-party dispute resolution: courts and police with a monopoly on the…
DetailsBecause our impressions of how well each soldier performed were generally coherent and clear, our formal predictions were just as definite. We rarely experienced doubt or conflicting impressions. We were quite willing to declare: “This one will never make it,” “That fellow is rather mediocre, but should do O.K.” or “He will be a star.”…
DetailsHow does last-place aversion play out with regard to redistribution? In our surveys, we asked Americans whether they supported an increase to the minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour. Those making $7.25 or below were very likely to support the increase – after all, they would be immediate beneficiaries. In addition, people making substantially more than…
DetailsI was trolling through the online version of Rolling Stone the other day and came across their poll of the 100 Greatest Singers So I immediately went to see who was numbers 1 and 100 and found Aretha Franklin and Mary J Blige respectively and thought no argument there. Then I looked a little further…
DetailsI am not normally a fan of Malcolm Gladwell – I find his writing quite simplistic and often wide of the mark. I found his last missive Outliers to be particularly trite. Steven Pinker the noted psychologist wrote – The themes of the collection are a good way to characterize Gladwell himself: a minor genius who…
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