• How The Mind Really Works: 10 Counterintuitive Psychology Studies

Cognitive dissonance is the first counterintuitive that states the mind finds it hard to hold two contradictory beliefs, so we unconsciously alter one to make it fit the other. An example would be classic study showing that student find boring job with lower salary interesting. The second one is Hallucinations are common, one third of normal people hallucinate a day, which make us not very different from people with mental illness. Third counterintuitive will be The Placebo Effect, it states that our mind tricks us to feeling relief from a pain after taking medicine without the medicine even kicking in. Obedience to authority was fourth in the study, despite of our thoughts of being independently open minded people, an officer can make the majority of people things that wouldn’t have done independently. The following on the list is Choice Blindness, coming as fifth, research shows that in some circumstances we have little or no awareness of choices we’ve made and why. So rationalization is used to help us cover our track. The sixth is that Fantasies Reduce Motivation, people use fantasy to help achieve goals but it can also cause to lay back if you can already taste the future of your fantasy. Number seven on the list is Brainstorming Doesn’t Work. psychological research shows that people tend to forget or question their own ideas when there are many ideas being thrown around in a group, it is better to think alone and present it for further review. Don’t Suppress is Eighth, suppressing thoughts is counter productive. It only makes the thought come back stronger than before, distraction is a better solution. The ninth  counterintuitive is Incredible Multi-Tasking skills. People can read and write, in a study of multitasking two people were trained for sixteen weeks and by the end they were able to read and categorize words from their reading simultaneously. The Tenth and last one is It’s The Little Things, Major event in life such as graduation, getting married, the birth of a child usually affects us through the daily hassles and uplifts it brings, but it shows that little things like getting enough rest, good relationship with family and friends is what make us happy.

This was a good reading, I found some interesting studies like the first one which talks about cognitive dissonance. Yes sometimes we have to make changes to fit two different beliefs but the example given in the article wasn’t convincing enough for me. Most people I know would take a boring job for a low salary, it’s usually the opposite.

• Avoiding the Curse of the Oil-Rich Nations

Countries with oil based economy eventually end up with the most troubled economy. Oil is a capital-intensive industry, it creates few jobs and wipes out many jobs. The benefit of oil is more state concentrated, oil producers focus more on bribing or doing for politicians. This can also lead to conflict, cause if the government can finance itself with oil money it doesn’t need to tax citizens,

But these countries might have a way out of this “curse”. An example would be the Alaska permanent fund founded in 1976, where the money is invested each year and every Alaskan get a share of dividends. The dividend check is considered as taxable income.

Oil-to-Cash can help the citizen depending on their needs, it can create programs that aim to improve citizen’s social welfare. The advantage of cash payout is its convenience for porn governed countries to do well, and there are fewer chances to play politics or corruptions.

This is a good strategy to help boost the lifestyle of the poor but that is only if the governance is good. So I disagree that Oil-to-Cash is a solution for countries filled with corrupt politicians. Especially if we are dealing with cash, it is very easy to steal money because it can operate of books.

• How to Change the World

Social entrepreneurs are key for social change, they are the driven, creative individuals who questions the status of society and its laws. It tells the fascinating story about individuals who with their non profit organizations  helped change the life, educated, saved the life of millions of people.

My summary for this article is not long because I believe I have to read the book, the article was more like another summary. But it is definitely a topic that I’m interested in writing about.