Individual Counseling Insights From Westlake Village-Based Patricia McTague-Loft
In Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast, Revisionist History, he devotes two episodes to an exploration of memory. He describes the results of a study by some memory researchers that they began in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11th. On September 12th the researchers were struck by the idea that beginning a study on literally the day after provided a golden if tragically inspired opportunity to test many different theses.
They began their study by interviewing many people, starting with some focused but easy and factual questions about the day before. How did you hear about the attack? Were you with someone? Did you tell anyone the news? And so on. Respondents were asked to handwrite their answers on sheets of paper. Six months later, the researchers returned to these people and asked them the same questions, this time recording the answers themselves.
The researchers were struck not by how many people didn’t have a clear memory of the event but by how many people had a seemingly clear but inaccurate memory. They repeated this process after a year and again noted how many people changed their answers. At this point the researchers confronted people with the inaccuracies. Actually, you didn’t learn about the event watching TV — a friend told you. What then followed was even more striking. Many people said the researchers were wrong and their new version of events was the truth. When the researchers literally handed people their answers written in their own handwriting, some would respond — I don’t know why I wrote that but it’s a lie — what I remember is the truth.
Memory, it turns out, is incredibly unreliable. This is a facet of psychology that is only now being studied in-depth. This shouldn’t surprise us. Psychology as a scientific discipline is generally considered to begin with German physiologist Wilhelm Wundt in 1879. With the complexity of the human mind as its subject, 150 years of study has clearly only begun to give us an understanding of ourselves.
While some people are fascinated by psychological research for its own sake, others are more practical — What does that have to do with my everyday life? Fortunately, many psychologists relate to this perspective and are inspired to write books about how people can apply psychological insights to their everyday life in eminently useful ways. Scotty Hendricks, writing for BigThink.com, identifies five books that do exactly that. Identifying why they’re valuable, he says, “Whether explaining how to use your emotions effectively, describing why we lean on certain biases, or showing why we should accept our ability to grow, these books blend theory and practice in user-friendly, enlightening ways.”
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Nobel-Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman. Making decisions involves thinking. When they make a poor decision, successful people make a habit of considering why. Kahneman offers an answer. He proposed that we have two ways of thinking: System 1 and System 2. The first is fast, intuitive and often unconscious — used, for example when we’re driving on “autopilot” and make a series of familiar turns while we think about something else. The second is used for problem solving, among other things. Kahneman explores the times we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking.
Growth Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck. Thomas Edison famously said that genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Dweck gives weight to this folksy aphorism by developing concepts based on decades of research. The thrust of her argument: people who believe that abilities can be developed are more successful than people who think that abilities are fixed.
Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, by Daniel Goleman. Everyone probably knows someone who is smart but hardly successful in any sense of the word. On the flip side, everyone probably knows someone who is not the brightest light in the room but is a rising star. Daniel Goleman provides insight into an answer to this seeming paradox: emotional intelligence. It consists of self-awareness, self-discipline and empathy, and having these traits can help anyone be more successful. The good news, Goleman argues, is that these traits can be nurtured and he offers tips to do so.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth. Grit and perseverance are great on their own, but they are not markers of success without that third element: passion. Duckworth explores the interplay with fascinating stories about interviews with everyone from Spelling Bee finalists to West Point cadets.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The author developed the concept of “flow” to describe a state where you’re totally in the moment, concentrating on the task at hand and experiencing a sense of total control. In this book, he describes how to identify challenges that will encourage us to enter a state of flow while meeting the challenge.