The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal is perhaps best known for Pascal’s Wager which, in the first formal use of decision theory, argued that believing in God is the most pragmatic decision. But it seems the French thinker also had a knack for psychology. As Brain Pickings points out, Pascal set out the most effective way to get someone to change their mind, centuries before experimental psychologists began to formally study persuasion: When
2. Articles by other Writers
November 22, 2021
A philosopher’s 350-year-old trick to get people to change their minds is now backed up by psychologists
November 15, 2021
Why eight hours a night isn’t enough, according to a leading sleep scientist
For something that we spend a third of our lives doing (if we’re lucky), sleep is something that we know relatively little about. “Sleep is actually a relatively recent discovery,” says Daniel Gartenberg, a sleep scientist who is currently an assistant adjunct professor in biobehavioral health at Penn State. “Scientists only started looking at sleep 70 years ago.” As anyone who has lay awake at night contemplating the complexities of
November 9, 2021
The Myth of Self-Reliance
By Jenny Odell January 15, 2020 Arts & Culture An encounter with Emerson’s essays. Caspar David Friedrich, Woman before the Rising Sun, 1818 There’s a treacherously placed bookstore in my neighborhood. To go almost anywhere from my apartment, I have to pass Walden Pond Books, and it’s next door to my usual coffee shop, so even if I didn’t decide to go in on the first pass, I probably will