2 Proven Tricks For Focusing Your Mind And Increasing Performance
sitive self-talk and positive mental imagery: Self-leadership theory can be described as the 'process of influencing oneself' as opposed to the influence of leaders over followers (Manz, 1983, 1986). We focus on and develop a model for a particular aspect of self-leadership - thought self-leadership emphasizing two primary elements, self-talk and mental imagery. The major thrust of this model is that employees can influence or lead themselves by utilizing specific cognitive strategies that focus on individual self-dialogue and mental imagery.…
3 minutes
What are science based tips for increasing your ability to learn?
a Robert A. Bjork at APA: ON TAKING NOTES “In taking notes in class and from readings, to the extent possible, try to listen or read the entire idea, then write down notes based on what you’ve heard or read. Often we are tempted to write quickly to get down as much as possible while the professor is speaking or while we are reading paragraph by paragraph. Waiting to write down notes until the entire ‘idea’ has been presented can…
4 minutes
If talking to yourself improves performance, what should you be saying?
at you need to know: Talking to yourself does help performance. Self-talk is best used in trying to learn new skills than covering things you are already familiar with. In terms of physical activity, it helps more with fine, subtle tasks than big movements. Via Eurekalert: But the researchers teased out more - different self-talk cues work differently in different situations. For tasks requiring fine skills or for improving technique "instructional self-talk", such as a technical instruction ("elbow-up" which Hatzigeorgiadis…
2 minutes
How To Instantly Get Smarter
tting people to think about professors (or other stereotypically smart groups) improved their smarts for 15 minutes. The reverse was true too: getting people to think about stereotypically stupid people reduced performance. The authors tested and confirmed the hypothesis that priming a stereotype or trait leads to complex overt behavior in line with this activated stereotype or trait. Specifically, 4 experiments established that priming the stereotype of professors or the trait intelligent enhanced participants' performance on a scale measuring general…
1 min read
Being An Expert Doesn’t Make You Look Like An Expert. This Does.
ople choose confidence over actual expertise. From New Scientist: The research, by Don Moore of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shows that we prefer advice from a confident source, even to the point that we are willing to forgive a poor track record. Moore argues that in competitive situations, this can drive those offering advice to increasingly exaggerate how sure they are. And it spells bad news for scientists who try to be honest about gaps in their knowledge. In…
1 min read
What’s the best way to study?
e WSJ has an excellent piece summing up the latest research on the best way to study. Some highlights: Test yourself: Chiefly, testing yourself repeatedly before an exam teaches the brain to retrieve and apply knowledge from memory. The method is more effective than re-reading a textbook, says Jeffrey Karpicke, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. If you are facing a test on the digestive system, he says, practice explaining how it works from start to finish, rather…
2 minutes
Is self-deception one of the keys to optimal performance?
..Overall, the results were consistent with the proposition that self-deception enhances motivation and performance during competition." Hat tip: Ray Pawulich: We investigated the relationship between self-deception and success in competition. Self-deception has been associated with stress reduction, a positive self-bias, and increased pain tolerance, all of which could enhance motivation and performance during competitive tasks. We selected athletic competition as a model and predicted that swimmers who successfully qualified for a national championship would engage in more self-deception than swimmers…
1 min read
What predicts achievement better than intelligence, grades or personality?
pe. A 3-year longitudinal study explored whether the two-dimensional model of trait hope predicted degree scores after considering intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement. A sample of 129 respondents (52 males, 77 females) completed measures of trait hope, general intelligence, the five factor model of personality, divergent thinking, as well as objective measures of their academic performance before university (‘A’ level grades) and final degree scores. The findings suggest that hope uniquely predicts objective academic achievement above intelligence, personality, and…
1 min read
