The Revelation

Some Folks will Swallow all sorts of Shit

Best Evidence of The Paranormal and Aliens

Receptivity

Senator
Russell Pearce

I have a theory. People who rate themselves as highly ‘consistent and uncompromising’ on issues are slower to adapt to the unexpected and less likely to learn from their mistakes. To put it bluntly, “I think inflexibility leads to arrested development” (take for example John Boehner’s “Hell, no!” anti-Obama strategy, or Senator Russell Pearce’s claim that all opposing views are “treasonous”). I talked to Dr. Thompson about my theory. Although he generally thinks theories are a dime a dozen, he knows I’ve been entertaining this one for a while now. Out of consideration, he says it merits looking into and suggests some ‘assessment tools’ I could use to measure ‘willingness to yield’ on issues. I didn’t think it would be hard getting people to admit to having an uncompromising nature and I have tests that measure how swiftly people handle unexpected events in a narrative. Now I’m interested in getting started and seeing what the literature turns up. Perhaps it’s already been done. I mean, you’d think it’d be a factor in Alzheimer’s or something. If nothing turns up, the good doctor says he’ll sign a research proposal and, who knows ..there might even be research money available. I’m not counting on it though. But in the political atmosphere we’re in .. there’s bound to be some interest in the subject.

Anti anxiety

Sian Beilock

Writing has been shown to replace ruminating. Ruminating is generally thought of as the mental activity devoted to replaying past traumatic experience. It is a well-known contributor to clinical depression. That’s why writing workshops are often included in the treatment of depression. However, ruminating over future events, such as taking a high-stakes exam or something, can be equally disruptive. In this case, ruminating often leads to “choking” where students perform more poorly than expected given their skill level, especially when there are large incentives for optimal performance and negative consequences for poor performance. University of Chicago Psychologist Sian Beilock has found that the simple act of writing about anxiety can significantly reduce students’ chances of choking, especially if it’s done just prior to test-taking [link]. She says that when students are able to express their fears in writing, they’re given the satisfaction that they’ve dealt with them enough to move on and stop ruminating over them. This, in turn, releases space in working memory ..making it available to work on the task at hand.