Last month, we started a most interesting blog series based on a collection of videos posted by Inc.com that features 21 videos worth more than an MBA. It is a very intriguing idea, that spending time efficiently watching very smart videos could help you in your career. The videos are nothing short of amazing! It is incredible what you can learn from these insights in 17 – 20 minute Ted Talk videos; some videos are even shorter with a specific yet informative and insightful brief message. We recapped the first 3 videos on the list that all talked about motivation. The next 3 videos were all about management. Then we looked at 3 videos about marketing. Two weeks ago, the 3 videos in our series are all about economics. Last week, our 3 short new videos were all about creativity. This week, the next 3 videos in the series focus on psychology.

  1. Dan Ariely: Why We Think It’s OK to Cheat and Steal (Sometimes)

Dan Ariely is a behavioral economist who explores the psychology behind why people (sometimes) we think it is OK to cheat and steal.  His experiments into the human psyche and predictable irrationality started after he was hospitalized for severe burns over 70% of his body and his dealings with the nurses insisting that the best way to remove his bandages was to rip them off quickly. He ended up researching the topic of intense pain for a short term vs. less intense pain over a long time and learned that the nurses were wrong in assuming that this was the best way. He learned that very often people have the intuition that they are right and will not change their intuition. However, it was not only nurses, but could be generalized to other parts of the population. He continued to research the human psyche and did research on cheating; prompted by the Enron fiasco. He would administer tests with 20 simple math problems to people and even though they were simple, he would not give them enough time to answer them all. When he collected the papers, on average, 5 questions were answered. When he changed the experiment and told people to rip up the paper and throw it away, their average number of questions they reported to answer jumped to 7. What he realized from this is that there weren’t a few people who cheated a lot but a lot of people who cheated a little bit. In economic theory, cheating is a simple cost / benefit analysis. When the amount of money paid per correctly answered question was varied, the amount of cheating did not vary. Neither did the amount of cheating vary when the probability of getting caught during this experiment. He realized that the reason for this is that people have a personal level of accepted cheating he calls their “fudge factor”. Listen to this very interesting video to hear all about his other research on testing, the norms for testing, and how tokens vs. money or the topic being tested on can affect the level of testing. The conclusion he comes up with includes the following points:

  • We have learned that a lot of people can cheat just a little bit.
  • When people are reminded about their morality, they cheat less.
  • When actual money is further removed from the situation, people cheat more. (As with the stock markets.)
  • When we see cheating as part of our “in group” cheating goes up.
  1. How to Spot a Liar

Pamela Meyer is the speaker in the next Ted Talk: How to Spot a Liar. She begins her talk by explaining that we are all liars and that she knows how to spot deception. Some lies are white lies and other are much more hurtful and damaging. Her talk explains about the truths about lies. Her goal isn’t about nitpicking to find liars, but use knowledge about deception.

Truth #1: Lying is a Cooperative Act

We lie more to strangers than those we know. Yet, we also lie to those we know. Research shows that communication between husbands and wives 1 in 10 interactions are lies.

Truth #2: We are against lying. . . . but covertly for it.

Lying has become ingrained in our society; we live in a post truth society that is very confusing.

Trained lie spotters get to the truth 90% of the time, the rest of us are only 54% accurate.

Here are two patterns of deceptions:

  1. Formal language and distancing language.
  2. Body language.

Finding Hotspots:

  • Withdrawn behavior.
  • Pepper too much details with their explanation.
  • Angry through the whole interview.
  • Recommend lenient punishment for the offense.
  • Shakes head no when saying yes.
  • Shrugs shoulders when indicating certainty.

Of course, these are never proof of deception, but when you see them, continue to ask questions and be suspicious. Do not be too aggressive, always treat someone with respect.

The technology of deception is making improvements but human lie spotters use human tools and don’t need oversized machines. Combining science and art to detect deception helps you avoid being complicit in a lie.

  1. Five Ways to Listen Better

Julian Treasure wraps up our 3rd video on psychology with a Ted Talk entitled 5 Ways to Listen Better. Our world is getting louder and louder and we are losing our listening. Treasure’s 5 ways help you re-tune your ears for conscious listening. We recognise patterns in the noise and filter out what is deemed unimportant. In just over 7 minutes, you can gain a much better understanding about listening. The art of conversation is being replaced by personal broadcasting. We are impatient, we just want sound bites. We are becoming desensitised and the media has to scream at us with sensationalised headlines just to get our attention. That means it is harder for us to pay attention to the subtle and the quiet. Listening is our access to understanding and conscious listening creates understanding. Here are the 5 simple exercises you can take away and improve your own listening:

  1. Three minutes of silence or quiet per day can reset your listening.
  2. The mixer: even if you are a noisy environment, try to pick out how many sounds you are hearing.
  3. Savory: pay attention to mundane sounds like your drier tumbling.
  4. Listening positions: the idea that you can move your listening position to what is appropriate for what you are listening to. Listening positions examples are
    • active | passive
    • reductive | expansive
    • critical | empathetic
  5. An acronym that you can use in listening or communication if you are a leader, teacher, spouse, parent or friend. The acronym is R.A.S.A. and it is a Sanskrit word for juice or essence. It stands for: Receive (pay attention), Appreciate (pay attention and acknowledge), Summarize, and Ask.