What’s the best way to pick a gift for someone?
udies at Stanford reveal you should stop trying to be creative and just get them what they want: Findings revealed that recipients appreciated receiving items from their wish list more than unsolicited items, and perceived the requested items to be more thoughtful and considerate. But in direct contrast, the givers thought that recipients would be more impressed with unsolicited items. And: A fourth study showed that when recipients were explicit about one particular gift they would prefer to receive, gift givers were more accurate in predicting…
2 minutes
What marks the transition from novice to expert?
vices focus on positive feedback ("good job!") because hearing they're doing well helps them stay committed. Experts focus on negative feedback ("You're doing that incorrectly") because they're interested in progress. As people go from novice to expert their focus shifts: A large proportion of marketing communication concerns feedback to consumers. This article explores what feedback people seek and respond to. We predict and find a shift from positive to negative feedback as people gain expertise. We document this shift in a…
1 min read
Guys, how should you speak so women remember what you say?
en take note: If you want women to remember, speak to them in a low pitch voice." Via Eurekalert: ...according to a new study by David Smith and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen in the UK. Their work shows for the first time that a low masculine voice is important for both mate choice and the accuracy of women's memory. The research is published online in Springer's journal, Memory & Cognition. Join over 190,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via…
1 min read
What motivates us more than most anything else?
ogress. I've posted about this before. In his excellent blog Mind Hacks, Vaughan Bell points out that we don't even need to make real progress -- the illusion of progress is enough to light that fire: I just came across a fantastic study published in the Journal of Marketing Research which shows that we can be convinced to shift into a higher gear of work and spending, even when the perception of progress is a complete illusion. And: They did an experiment where they gave some…
1 min read
What’s a good way to trick yourself into getting work done?
xtronet offers a good tip and I've used this successfully myself: I tell myself that I will merely write down the steps needed to complete the task. Just a rough draft, at first, and that’s it. Maybe just 3 steps. I then add more steps, breaking the 3 steps into smaller sub-tasks. I then add some details, and thoughts, notes of things that I shouldn’t forget when doing this task. I just think the task through and write everything down. After a…
1 min read
How much of office gossip is true?
a Dimensions of Nursing Management: The informal communication network -- i.e. the grapevine -- is an inherent part of the organization. This network helps employees to make sense about the world around them and in this way it provides a relief from emotional stress. If left unguarded, the grapevine can become an organization's worst enemy, but when it is managed properly it can significantly increase the productivity and job satisfaction of employees (Simmons 1985L 39). The grapevine's communication does not…
1 min read
Can asking questions help you accomplish those things you procrastinate doing?
a Eurekalert: Can you help you? Recent research by University of Illinois Professor Dolores Albarracin and Visiting Assistant Professor Ibrahim Senay, along with Kenji Noguchi, Assistant Professor at Southern Mississippi University, has shown that those who ask themselves whether they will perform a task generally do better than those who tell themselves that they will. And: Albarracin's team tested this kind of motivation in 50 study participants, encouraging them explicitly to either spend a minute wondering whether they would complete…
1 min read
Does the Socratic method really help people learn?
cratic questioning, a cornerstone of CBT, is as equally useful in coaching to raise awareness, promote reflection and improve problem-solving thinking. Padesky’s (Socratic questioning: Changing minds or guiding discovery? 1993) bifurcation of Socratic questioning, changing minds versus guiding discovery, is commented upon. The characteristics of good Socratic questions are enumerated, the pitfalls of experienced coaches’ over-reliance on intuition to guide their questioning is discussed and how continuing deliberate practice through, for example, providing the logical basis for sequencing questions can correct…
1 min read
