Marty Nemko's Blog, page 175

Steven Pinker and His New Book: Rationality

Eminent Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker has written a new book, Rationality .  My Psychology Today article today presents my interview of him.

When You've Failed Too Often With People

My Psychology Today article today describes a composite person whose angry personality has hurt his professional and personal relationships. It goes on to ask questions that can help such people unearth  wise options. 

Secular Advice from 5 Religions: Useful life lessons, even if you're an atheist

 
True, no-religion is the fastest-growing religion. But that's no reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Religions offer wise secular advice on how to live. My Psychology Today article today are my favorites, plus my comment on each.

Questions to Ask Yourself in Deciding Whom to Keep Dating

A number of my clients have lamented that they didn’t trust their first instinct about a potential romantic partner. It might help to ask yourself the questions I offer in my Psychology Today article today.

Choosing a Topic for a Talk, Article, Etc.

 
That's my Psychology Today article today.

Sketching for Personal Growth

 That's my Psychology Today article today.

When You're Feeling Hopeless: Some questions that may help

 
That's my Psychology Today article today.;

How to Be a Capitalist in a Changing America

Society’s mind-molders—schools, colleges, news media, and entertainment media—are moving us to believe in a "we not me," community, collective approach to policy and individual behavior.

Yet some people, often cowed by the 3 Cs of Censure, Censor, and Cancel, quietly believe that greater net good accrues from the primacy of the individual and largely free-market capitalism.

Such people believe that the freedom to decide where best to devote their time and treasure will yield more good than surrendering it to the state or even to social pressures. They point to Communist countries, with shortages rife because too many people wouldn’t sustainably work hard when they would get the same pay for doing minimal work. 

Pro-capitalist people may support a taxpayer-paid safety net but fear that additional forced redistribution from society’s taxpaying contributors yields a net negative, eating our seed corn. Thomas Sowell wrote, "One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain."

My Psychology Today article today may be helpful to people who are swimming against the tide.

Choosing a Topic for a Talk, Article, or Post

Whether it’s giving a talk or writing something, the topic is the driving force. My Psychology Today article today may help you choose a topic that will work well for you.

Radical Honesty, Applied: 2 personal and 3 professional examples.

A recent post made the case for radical honesty: that to get what we want, we too often succumb to deception and out-and-out lying.

A skeptical reader provided two personal and three professional examples of where he felt radical honesty was unrealistic. My Psychology Today article today offers examples of how it might be applied in situations when it would seem undesirable or unrealistic.