Daniel H. Pink's Blog, page 27
February 21, 2010
What happens when a dad pays his kids to play videogames?
Kevin Nalts is a very funny guy with a penchant for social psychology. In this video, he announces an experiment in which he'll pay his kids to play videogames in a seemingly peculiar effort to reduce their playing time.
Think it'll work? We'll report the results in a few days.
February 20, 2010
Factoid of the day: Ah, this explains the crash
"In 2007, 47 percent of Harvard grads went into finance or consulting."
(Source: David Brooks, "The Power Elite," NY Times, 02.18.10)
BONUS! Quote of the day from the same column:
"The meritocracy is based on an overly narrow definition of talent. Our system rewards those who can amass technical knowledge. But this skill is only marginally related to the skill of being sensitive to context. It is not related at all to skills like empathy. Over the past years, we've seen very smart people make...
February 15, 2010
Is perfectionism a problem or a plus?
Call someone a "liar," and it's clearly an insult. Call someone a "genius," and it's almost always praise. But how about calling someone a "perfectionist"? Is that a diss or a kiss?
The answer, it turns out, depends on what kind of perfectionist the person is. And that depends, in turn, on the person's motivation.
According to research reported in this Miller-McCune article, perfectionism comes in two varieties: adaptive and maladaptive. And one of the key determinants of the type of...
February 14, 2010
Factoid of the day: Beyond co-ed
In 2007, American women earned about 166 associates degrees and 135 bachelor's degrees for every 100 earned by men. Among African-Americans, women earned 219 associate's degrees and 192 bachelor's degrees for every 100 earned by men.
(Source: WSJ via Dep't of Education, 2/12/10)
February 8, 2010
An emotionally intelligent . . . unsubscribe link?
Here's a new one, courtesy of Eddie Garcia. Take a look at this unsubscribe link from Groupon. Pretty clever. I have a feeling it could actually get people to reconsider ending their subscription.
(Note: Because Groupon is apparently overwhelmed with visitors today, I had to link to a ScreenR video of unsubscribe page rather than the page itself.)
February 7, 2010
Factoid of the day: Super Bowl edition
"According to an operational study of National Football League teams prepared for The Wall Street Journal by Boston Consulting Group, the typical NFL season requires 514,000 hours of labor per team. That's about eight times the effort it took to conceptualize, build and market Apple's iPod, according to BCG, and enough time to build 25 America's Cup yachts. If both Super Bowl teams dedicated themselves to construction rather than football, their members could have built the Empire State...
February 3, 2010
Can watching Pong make you more creative?
Brandon Schauer at Adaptive Path has put together a 49-second video designed to invigorate your corpus callosum and fire your creative powers.
In a blog post, he says that his creation builds on research showing that side-to-side eye movement, by increasing communication between the left and right hemisphere, can increase creativity.
If you're facing a creative challenge today, I'm not sure watching Schauer's nifty video beforehand will work. But I am sure it can't hurt. If it doesn't bring...
February 2, 2010
Who wants to design the NEA's new logo?
In an inspired act of crowdsourcing, showmanship, and democratic participation, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman has turned to us to refashion the NEA's visual identity.
Yesterday Landesman announced that his modest but mighty federal agency was accepting submissions to redesign the logo for the NEA's "Art Works" initiative.
As the NEA blog explains:
"'Art works' is Rocco's guiding principle for his work at the NEA. The phrase has three meanings: 'art works' are the...
Factoid of the day: Generational divide
"According to Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution, the (U.S.) federal government now spends $7 on the elderly for every $1 it spends on children."
(Source: NY Times, 2/2/10)
January 29, 2010
Pictures from the road: Harry Potter edition
Turns out there really is a Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross station in London. Here I am escaping my other obligations and racing to board the Hogwarts Express.
(King's Cross railway station, London, 28 January 2010, 9:30pm)
