Psychology

Human dignity can seem abstract, but when you are transformed into merchandise, something to be exchanged or bargained with, you need the intellectual, emotional and spiritual tools to cling to your humanity. That's the only way you can retain value in your own eyes.

Former Colombian Presidential Candidate & Hostage Rescue Survivor

My mindset changed from thinking that tomorrow I may be freed, to realising that unless I did something myself, nobody would come and rescue me. One of the ways I gathered strength was by constantly plotting my escape.

Former Colombian Presidential Candidate & Hostage Rescue Survivor

In space, you can only worry about the things you can control – not the constant low-level simmering danger that you might explode and die. If you worried about that, even a two-week flight would be hell, never mind a 200 day one.

NASA Astronaut & International Space Station Commander

The perspective of seeing the Earth from space has rewired our brain. We used to have a 2-dimensional view for hundreds of thousands of years. Then we became 3-dimensional with aircraft and rockets. Now with Hubble we have a 4-dimensional view of our universe. When you see a galaxy that's a billion light years away, you're seeing a billion years into the past in real time.

NASA Astronaut & International Space Station Commander

We must not only use the emotional part of exploration, but also the state of mind of exploration which encourages us to get out of our bad habits, beliefs, everything we know, our comfort zone, and even our way of thinking. The mindset of exploration encourages us to find new solutions.

Swiss Adventurer & Pilot of Solar-Powered Aircraft Solar Impulse

Research tells us that if you have a friend- as a child- who belongs to a group that your own group doesn't get along with, you will never have a bias against that group as an adult.

Psychologist who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence

We have a blind spot about the ways in which the things we innocently buy and use actually are decaying the environment we depend on, the global systems that support life on the planet. We are super-monkeys- super because of the technology, and our monkeys because our brains haven't kept up with the change.

Psychologist who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence

Our brain was designed for survival and was developed in the 99.9% of human history that occurred before culture and civilisation. As a result, there are situations in our lives today where the brain doesn't work so-well. We call this an emotional hijack.

Psychologist who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence

Studies show that to get an MBA and to be a high-level executive you need to be a standard-deviation above the norm (have an IQ of 114 or more). After that, it turns out there's a negative relationship between IQ and leadership effectiveness. Perhaps because at that point people become narcissistic or egocentric.

Psychologist who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence

Emotions are the brain's way of making us pay attention immediately to what is most important so that we can react as quickly as possible. In evolution, that meant 'survival' – the rustle in the bushes may be our next meal or may make us its next meal – something that we have to chase, or run away from – and in either case, we don't want to have to stop and think.

Psychologist who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence

Wherever there's judgement there's noise, and more than you think. In the criminal justice system, we saw variability between judges in the severity of their sentencing for equivalent crimes. In business, you may have a company where someone in hiring says, 'bring everyone in, I think they're great' and you end up with a company full of people who shouldn't be there.

Legal scholar & behavioral economist; Obama administration official; "Nudge" theory pioneer

You can think of the human mind as a measuring instrument. We're making judgements all the time and studies show that on a day-to-day basis, when presented with the same evidence, our judgements may be different. If you see the mind as a measuring instrument, you start to see it as a scale, a bafflingly variable and noisy scale.

Legal scholar & behavioral economist; Obama administration official; "Nudge" theory pioneer

Each person is trapped in their own world and assume that the rest of humanity sees the world the same way that they do. That assumption is incorrect. You see the world differently to me, and that's true for every situation in which we find ourselves. It's a side-effect of how we're built!

Nobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research

The easiest way to understand noise is by thinking about measurements. Suppose you are measuring a line with a very fine ruler. You will expect some variability such that you will not get the same number every time when you measure. That variability is noise. In the mathematics of accuracy, the expression for total error is very simple and quite compelling. It is bias-squared plus noise-squared. Bias and noise are both contributing to error and in that equation, they do so on the same basis.

Nobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research

You have to step back and focus on the merits of the offer- not the person who brought the offer to you. That's how you defend yourself. You recognise that there's something that goes on first as important as the message itself inclining you towards purchase or agreement.

Influence & Persuasion Expert; Author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

I'd been a patsy all my life, an easy mark for the appeals of fundraisers or sales operators who would come to my door. I'd end up with unwanted magazine subscriptions… There must be something other than the features of the offer that got me to say yes, because I don't want those features, it must be the way the offer was presented to me.

Influence & Persuasion Expert; Author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion