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Sunday, September 30, 2012
A comment on Szasz
One of the most interesting commentaries I’ve ever read on Thomas Szasz, the long-time critic of psychiatry who recently passed away, has been left as a comment in the obituary we recently published.
The comment is by ‘Aporeticist’ and he or she is clearly a fierce critic of modern psychiatry (to the point of indulging in sweeping generalisations at times) but the analysis of Szasz is remarkably insightful and cuts to the core of both his triumphs and failings.
Many of Szasz’s early critics have over the years quietly come around to some of his basic views. (Karl Menninger was one of his colleagues who acknowledged his change of heart.) The notion that the great majority of people with mental illness should never be hospitalized against their will (even when they are troublesome to those around them) has become common sense. It remains one of the great injustices of history that the psychiatric establishment continues to refuse to credit Szasz with being the first member of his profession who, in the mid 1960s, stated on record — against the unanimous opinion of his colleagues — the revolutionary contention that homosexuality was not a disease, and that it didn’t warrant “treatment” of any kind.
The classical liberal notion of “live and let live” resonates closely with the “first, do no harm” of the Hippocratic Oath that Thomas Szasz took as a young medical doctor. For better or worse, Szasz remained consistently faithful to these principles of negative freedom his whole life. Those, however, who believe that, as individuals and as a society, we have a moral obligation to (somehow) assist the mentally ill even when they don’t reach out for support, would regard Szasz’s characterization of psychiatric paternalism as “cruel compassion” as equally descriptive of his own apparent lack of concern for the welfare of those labelled mentally ill. Szasz tirelessly defended the autonomy of even the most severely disturbed mental patients (so long as they didn’t violate the law), yet seemed to care little whether they live or die if no one infringed on their sacred negative rights.
Recommended. Thanks Aporeticist.
Link to commentary on Szasz’s legacy by Aporeticist.
Allowing Yourself to Receive
The vibe of financial abundance is very similar to that of open relationships. It invites and welcomes from a place of flow, and without attachment to outcomes.
We’re surrounded by opportunities to invite and receive love, money, and more. But when we’re stuck in scarcity thinking, we squeeze this field of possibilities down to a narrow part of the spectrum. And sometimes our intentions are simply too big to be compressed without losing their essence, so we effectively block them.
We intend to increase the flow of love, and then demand that it must come from our primary relationship partner only. We desire more money and require that it must come from our one and only job — or that we must receive a singular job if we don’t have one already.
This attachment to such thin bands of reception pollutes our intentions with fear. Yes, we actually fear receiving through other parts of the spectrum, parts that lie outside our comfort zones.
What if getting paid what I’m worth means that I have to quit my current job? What if there are other beautiful relationships to enjoy than just this one?
We resist the consequences of such changes, and so we resist the changes themselves, thereby receiving the perpetuation of stuckness.
The universe cannot deliver the full package of your desires if your mailbox is too small.
When we open up and allow ourselves to receive through all parts of the spectrum (or at least a bit more of it), we reduce the blocks attached to our intentions, and the flow quickly increases.
Is it really so terrible to welcome multiple income streams… or multiple lovers? Can we not simply relax and allow our desires to show up, without presenting a list of fear-based demands that constricts the flow?
Can you allow yourself to receive through all parts of the spectrum of potential, including the bands that expose your limiting beliefs and make you feel vulnerable and afraid? If you can do that, you will soon forget what it’s like to experience scarcity.
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Getting Rich with Ebooks - Earn passive income from ebooks
Sedona Method - Free Audio - Learn to release blocks in a few minutes
Site Build It! - Start your own money-making website
Lefkoe Method - Permanently eliminate a limiting belief in 20 minutes
Paraliminals - Condition your mind for positive thinking and success
The Journal - Record your life lessons in a secure private journal
PhotoReading - Read books 3 times faster
Life on Purpose - Discover your life purpose
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Sleep Like a Baby
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BBC Column: auction psychology
My BBC Future column from last week. The original is here
The reason we end up overspending is a result of one unavoidably irrational part of the bidding process – and that’s ourselves.
The allure and tension of an auction are familiar to most of us – let’s face it, we all like the idea of picking up a bargain. And on-line auction sites like eBay cater for this, allowing us to share in the over-excitement of auction bidding in the privacy of our homes. Yet somehow, despite our better judgement, we end up paying more than we know we should have done on that piece of furniture, equipment or clothing. What’s going on?
One estimate states that about half of eBay auctions result in higher sale prices than the “buy it now” price. This is a paradox. If the people going into the auction really wanted the item so badly, why didn’t they get it for less by paying the “buy it now” price?
This has nothing to do with the way the eBay bidding system works. In fact, unlike most auctions, the eBay auction process is actually perfectly designed to allow rational outcomes. By allowing you to set a private “maximum bid” in advance, eBay auctions are better for individual buyers than public auctions where everyone has to shout out their bid in public. No, the reason auctions – both on and offline – produce higher sale prices than any bidder originally imagined they would pay is because of one irreducibly irrational part of the bidding process: the bidders themselves.
Auctions push a number of our psychological buttons, and in fact the phenomenon of “auction fever” is well documented. They are social occasions, with lots of other people around, and this tends to increase your physiological arousal, an effect called social facilitation. As your adrenaline pumps, your heart beats faster, and your reactions quicken. This is ideal for something like sports, but makes cool rational decision making harder. The very rich often send delegates to auctions, and as well as avoiding the paparazzi I suspect this is also a strategy to combat the over-excitement induced by being physically present in the situation.
On top of this, auctions are time pressured, and – by definition – you’re bidding on something you value highly. These factors create excitement whether you are in the room or not.
Persuasive powers
Another psychological bias that operates in auctions is the endowment effect, where we tend to over-value things we already possess. By encouraging us to connect the bid (our money) with the sale item, bidding on items lets us fantasise about owning them – stimulating a kind of endowment effect. This is why the auction catalogue (or the item picture and description on a website) is so important. This forms part of the psychological journey the seller wants you to go on to imagine owning this item in advance, so you’ll place a higher value on it, and so pay more to make imagination reality.
Persuasion plays a huge part here, and the best book you can read on the psychology of the subject is Robert Cialdini’s Influence. Cialdini is a Professor of Social Psychology at Arizona State University, and he lists six major ways you can make yourself persuasive. Auctions hit at least two of these six principles square on the nose.
First, auctions use the principle of scarcity, whereby we overvalue things that we think might run out. Auction items are scarce in that they are unique (only one person can have it), and scarce in time (after the bids are finished, you’ve lost your chance). Think how many shop sales successfully rely on scarcity heuristics such as “Last day of sale!”, or “Only 2 left in stock!”, and you’ll get a feel for how powerful this persuasion principle can be.
The other principle used by auctions is that of “social proof”. We all tend to take the lead from other people; if everybody does something, or says something, most of us join in before we think about what we really should do. Auctions put you in intimate contact with other people who are all providing social proof that the sale item is important and valuable.
A final ingredient in the magic-spell cast by auctions was uncovered by researchers from Princeton. Their experiments asked volunteers to play on-line auctions with different rules. Some of these auctions had rules that encouraged over-bidding (like typical open auctions, which most of us are familiar with from movies), and some had rules that encouraged rational behaviour (like the eBay structure). With enough guidance from the auction rules, the bidders didn’t end up paying much more than they originally thought was reasonable – but only if they thought they were bidding against a computer programme. As soon as the volunteers thought they were bidding against other live humans they found it impossible to bid rationally, whatever the auction rules.
This implies that the competitive element of auctions is crucial to provoking our irrational buying behaviour. Once we’re involved in an auction we’re not just paying to own the sale item, we’re paying to beat other people who are bidding and prevent them from having it.
So it seems Gore Vidal had human nature, and the psychology of auctions, about right when he said: “It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”
How to Mind Map in Three Small Steps
Is your head full of ideas or thoughts?
Do you have any confusion around an idea, project or problem? Do you simply wish to get them out of your head quickly and in an organized manner?
Traditionally, you would open a Word or Text document, or take a sheet of paper and start writing in a linear fashion.
This type of document quickly becomes overwhelming. It obviously lacks in clarity. It also makes it hard for you to get a full picture at a glance and see what is missing.
By converting the list above into a hierarchy with a bit of formatting, you are making progress towards organizing your thoughts:
However, even with a hierarchy like that, you quickly lose sight of the big picture.
You always have too much information to look at, and most often you only get a partial view of the information. It’s hard to zoom out, figuratively, and to see the whole hierarchy and how everything is connected.
There is a better way: creating a mind map.
A mind map is a simple hierarchical radial diagram. In other words, you organize your thoughts around a central idea.
This article explains how to mind map in three little steps.
This technique is especially useful whenever you need to “dump your brain”, or develop an idea, a project (for example, a new product or service), a problem, a solution, etc.
By capturing what you have in your head, you make space for other thoughts.
Creating a mind map with software is very effective and you get none of the drawbacks of pen and paper. You are only limited by your typing speed.
With mind mapping software, you can easily:
make changes;grow your map as big as you want;copy and paste elements;move things around;insert images, documents and hyperlinks.
You can focus in on a branch:
You can zoom out and show a limited number of levels of branches:
In this article, we are focusing on the basics: mind mapping using pen and paper.
The example mind map below is in its simplest expression. It was created using one pen and as fast as possible, without any drawings, colors or emphasis on words or sections.
As you may notice, though, it looks plain and boring. And you don’t know really where to look.
The opposite of this is to go crazy and use all sorts of pencils, pens and markers in various colors.
Some invest hours in creating complex, visually appealing and time-consuming mind maps, such as those on MindMapArt.com.
To add Oomph to your map very easily, keep it simple by using a black sharpie, a red one, and a regular pen (blue or black).
With very little extra effort compared to the plain original mind map that was done with only a pen, you can produce something much more interesting and clear.
By using markers, the hierarchy of information becomes obvious. You immediately understand what this map is about, and what the main ideas are.
By following the three next steps below, you will be able to create such mind maps easily and quickly.
The three steps are:
Add the central topicAdd branchesAdd sub-branchesTake a blank sheet of paper.
Using a red sharpie (or another bright color), write down the topic for your mind map. That topic can be anything: a problem, a person’s name, a decision to make, an idea to develop, or a project to clarify.Word it in a clear and concise manner.
In our example, we’re brainstorming about Fluent Brain’s new home page video.
Now circle it with the black sharpie.
What is the first idea that comes to mind when you think of the subject for your mind map?
In our example, the first thing that came to my mind regarding Fluent Brain’s home page video was that it needs to give an introduction to what visual facilitation is.
Using the same sharpie (black) than for the circle, draw a line (straight or curved) from the central topic, and write down that idea.
You’re done with step 2. That was easy, wasn’t it?
Then, what does that idea make you think of? What is related to it? List it out next to it in the same way, using your pen. 
You can always add more to it later, but that’s good for now.
In our example, we could detail the sub-branch “Benefits” by listing those benefits in sub-branches of the branch “Benefits”. Unfortunately, we already reached the side of the sheet, so we’re out of space to do so. You could always draw a line to a white space on the page and list them there, but it’s awkward.
Since we created this mind map on a regular letter-format sheet of paper, the quantity of information that fits in there is very limited. That is one of the main reasons why I recommend that you use software rather than pen and paper for most of the mind mapping that you do.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 as many times as you need to flush out all of your ideas around the topic that you chose.
You might have noticed that I added first-level (main) branches around the central topic mostly in a clockwise fashion, from top-right to top-left. That is how, by convention, most pieces of mind mapping software work, as well as how a mind map is read.
Additionally, we added main branches one by one. That is one strategy for creating a mind map.
In the next section, we are covering the three strategies to building your maps.
You can go about creating a mind map in various ways:
Branch by Branch: Adding whole branches (with all of their sub-branches), one by one. You can add those branches in the order that you wish, although most people add them in a clockwise fashion.Level by Level: Adding elements to the map, one level at a time. That means that firstly, you add elements around the central topic (main branches). Then, you add sub-branches to those main branches. And so on.Free-Flow: Adding elements to your mind map as they come to you, in no particular order.Let’s explore each approach.
Let’s take the following map as an example of the outcome. Let’s explore how we would build that map with each strategy.
Start with the central topic:
Add a first branch. Focus on that branch and detail it as much as you can by adding all the sub-branches that you can think of:
Item for the next main branch:
Item for the next main branch:
That’s the last main branch. Now the mind map is complete:
Start with the central topic. This is level zero:
In this “Level by Level” strategy, you first add all the elements that you can think of around the central topic, one level deep only. So here you add elements on level 1:
Then, go over each branch and add the immediate sub-branches (one level only). This is level 2:
Idem for the next level. This is level 3. You can have as many levels as you want in a mind map. In our example, we only have 3 levels. Now the map is complete:
To keep this section concise, I bundled steps together. So each image shows a few additions to the map. Start with the central topic:
Two new branches, and one new sub-branch:
I added a sub-topic to that second branch, as well as a new main branch:
I added sub-branches to two different main branches:
Three new sub-branches for the branch on the left:
And so on:
And so on… Now the map is complete:
I recommend using a combination of the “Branch by Branch” and the “Free-Flow” strategies.
What I normally do is I add one branch at a time, and later on I review the mind map and add elements in various places to finish it.
I also sometimes build level 1 (the main branches) first, then use a “Branch by Branch” approach, and later finish the map in a “Free-Flow” manner.
Try each strategy and combinations of strategies, and see what works best for you.
Even though using mind mapping software has a lot of advantages, you might find it easier to think on paper – especially when you’re feeling stuck or when you’re just starting to think about a particular idea or project.
In that case, what works well for me is to start a mind map on paper, and then transfer it to the computer and continue working on it there.
Also, you can apply these steps and strategies just the same when using a mind mapping tool on the computer.
Featured photo credit: Coffee and Abstract Mind Map on Napkin via Shutterstock
Matt is Fluent Brain's CEO and Chief Visual Facilitator. Visual Facilitation supercharges your thinking, brainstorming, and problem-solving, bringing clarity and order to your thought processes. You can follow him on his blog (and via RSS), Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Saturday, September 29, 2012
Bahia Shehab’s newest evolutions of ‘no’
Two years ago, Lebanese-Egyptian artist and historian Bahia Shehab was invited to join an exhibit commemorating 100 years of Islamic art in Europe. The catch: she had to use Arabic script in her work.
“As an artist, a woman, an Arab and a human being living in the year 2010, I only had one thing to say—I wanted to say no,” Shehab says in this powerful talk from TEDGlobal 2012. “In Arabic, we say ‘No and a thousand times no.’”
Shehab decided to focus on the Arabic script for “no.” She collected a thousand different visual representations of the word “no” printed, stitched, molded, engraved and cast over the past 1,400 years on vases, tombstones and walls, in locations as far-flung as Spain and the border of China. She called the installation A Thousand Times No.
A year later, a revolution began in Egypt. “Life stopped for 18 days,” says Shehab. “On the 12th of February, we naively celebrated on the streets of Cairo believing that the revolution had succeeded.”
Months later, as the reaction to the revolution turned violent and the country braced itself for a much longer battle, Shehab began to see a connection between A Thousand Times No and her country’s situation. She took to the streets, spray-painting “no” on walls throughout Cairo.
“I did not feel that I could live in a city where people were being killed and thrown like garbage on the street,” Shehab said, describing her first image, which read “no to military rule” in a script taken from a tombstone. “A series of ‘no’s came out of the book like ammunition.”
Some of the “no”s that followed: No to a new pharaoh. No to violence. No to killing men of religion. No to burning books. No to the stripping of veiled women.
To hear more about Shehab’s art, and the specific meaning of these “no”s, watch her beautiful talk and read the TED Blog’s Q&A with her. After the jump, read about two new projects Shehab has been creating in Cairo.
Shehab tells the TED Blog:
This is a campaign that I sprayed before the presidential elections, in May and June of 2012. The mass sentiment was very low and there were a lot of anti-revolution feelings in the air, even by people who were strong supporters of the revolution. I did this campaign to remind people of the aims of the revolutions and the sacrifices that people made for us to get to where we are. It is called “There are people” and the five stencils read:
There are people who have had their head put to the ground so that you can raise your head up high.
There are people who have been stripped naked so you can live decently.
There are people who have lost their eyes so you can see.
There are people who have been imprisoned so you can live freely.
There are people who have died so you can live.
The authorities erased this campaign three days after I sprayed it, which proved to me one thing—the faster they erase, the stronger the message. So I sprayed it again a month later, this time with bigger images and clearer text.
Two weeks after that, somebody took a photo of it and the campaign went viral. Three weeks later, it was featured on the third page of one of the leading local newspapers, right under the image of Mubarak. The message has surpassed the medium and I was very proud.
This is a campaign I did on speed bumps in August of 2012. I took a street that leads out of Tahrir Square, and I painted a message before the speed bump: “Beware of Speed Bumps.” After the bump, I painted: “Long live the revolution.”
To the taxi drivers — who were thanking me for highlighting the problem at 4 in the morning of a Ramadan day — I was doing a socially responsible act. I was doing the work the government should do to keep them from harm by highlighting a speed bump on a busy street. But to someone with more insight, they will understand that I am highlighting the fact that for us as people leaving Tahrir Square and heading towards a new phase of the revolution, we should be aware of speed bumps and we should keep the main aims of the revolution very clear in our minds.
Upcoming Events
Here’s a quick update regarding a few events that may interest you.
If you’re interested in passive income, here’s a very timely deal that’s going on now.
This weekend SBI kicked off a 72-hour Buy-One, Get-One Free special on their Facebook page. To access the special, go to this page, click “like” to join, and then click on the icon for the special.
I’ve been recommending SBI for several years since it’s an easier way to make money online than blogging in my opinion. Be sure to read my full SBI review if you haven’t already seen it.
There isn’t much time left in this special, so if you want to take advantage of it, definitely look into it now. You may want to follow their Facebook page anyway, so you’ll be alerted to other specials they may run. This 2-for-1 is the very best deal they offer.
Learning Strategies is hosting a free online event called Meditationfest which begins on Monday, Sep 10th. It features 7 different meditation experts. Each will share a different style of meditation along with a lesson to help you understand the meditation and its benefits.
I’ve met 4 of the 7 teachers of this program, and I know the people who are hosting it, so I’m confident it will be a quality event. It should give you a nice introduction to different styles if you’re new to meditation, and if you’re already experienced, it will expose you to other styles you may not have tried before.
The Meditationfest is totally free, so it won’t cost you anything. When you register for it, which only takes a minute, you’ll receive your first meditation right away. They also have some pretty nice prizes you could win.
Visit the Meditationfest website to sign up and get started. I’m signed up for it myself.
I’m going to Oslo later this month (my first time in Norway!) to speak at the Morten Hake Summit. This will be a awesome weekend to be sure!
Most of the attendees will be men, so the sales page is geared towards them, but the conference itself is for men and women alike — anyone who wants to learn to communicate and connect more authentically.
This conference is very inexpensive for what it offers — only $199 USD for the whole weekend — so if Oslo is an accessible destination and you’d like to hang out with dozens of cool growth-oriented people while learning to improve your social skills, I encourage you to attend.
This is a non-profit event, so I’m speaking there for free. The proceeds go to help schoolgirls in Africa.
I’ll be hanging out in Norway for a few extra days after the conference. I’d really like to see the fjords, and I know others who are interested as well, so perhaps we can get a group together to do that. 
Steve Recommends
Here are my recommendations for products and services I've reviewed that can improve your results. This is a short list since it only includes my top picks.
Getting Rich with Ebooks - Earn passive income from ebooks
Sedona Method - Free Audio - Learn to release blocks in a few minutes
Site Build It! - Start your own money-making website
Lefkoe Method - Permanently eliminate a limiting belief in 20 minutes
Paraliminals - Condition your mind for positive thinking and success
The Journal - Record your life lessons in a secure private journal
PhotoReading - Read books 3 times faster
Life on Purpose - Discover your life purpose
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Finding Happiness in the Midst of Grief
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Unwritten rules of the road
The latest edition of The Psychologist has a fantastic discussion on the psychology of how drivers, cyclists and pedestrians interact.
Rather appropriately, it’s with psychologist Ian Walker, who makes lots of interesting points about how different road users are perceived and how that affects behaviour.
…the lack of understanding of the cyclist outgroup seems to produce measurable changes in other road users’ behaviour. A few years ago I did a study which showed that changing the appearance of a cyclist led to notable changes in how much space drivers left when passing the bicycle. The specific changes seen make sense given the small body of research on non-cyclists’ stereotypes of cyclists. The two extant studies – the Lynn Basford et al. one, and research by Birgitta Gatersleben and Hebba Haddad, in 2010 – both found that non-cyclists view bicycle helmets as an indicator of an experienced rider, and in my data we saw riskier behaviour from drivers when they passed a cyclist who was wearing a helmet, which fits the idea they saw the rider as more capable.
The positive lesson from this, I feel, is that drivers do adjust their behaviour to the perceived needs of the non-drivers they are interacting with. The problem is that they do not always understand how to read these other people and judge their needs.
The whole issue of The Psychologist is a special and transport psychology and all of it is open-access this month.
Link to interview with Ian Walker.
Link to September issue of The Psychologist.
Declaration of interest: I’m an unpaid associate editor and occasional columnist for The Psychologist and a low-skilled pedestrian.
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