The illusion of control rests at the heart of superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs. It is a belief that we are controlling events which are actually occurring independently of our behavior. This is a very common illusion that occurs in most people, particularly when desired events occur frequently though uncontrollably. Examples abound not only in real […]
Imagine you are invited to a demonstration at the local shopping center. You are shown a new product, a little ring made of a very special material that has been developed in a highly regarded research center. The scientists who are describing the ring provide all types of information and answer your questions convincingly and […]
At my workplace, we received recently a survey to measure our engagement at work. We were asked to evaluate different aspects of our daily job, such as the work atmosphere, productivity, performance…, and each question would accumulate points for our working team. For those items in which our team scored less, we were required to […]
Think about yourself for a second: how did you react to the epidemic of the avian or the swine flu (H1N1) a couple of years ago? Did you go through special cares or measures in order to avoid the infection? Did you even really consider changing your everyday habits because of the fear and panic […]