Notes from a Psychologist
Dr. Mel Whitehurst

WHAT Did ALBERT EINSTEINS BELIEVE ABOUT HIMSELF THAT MADE HIM DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHERS?

He deemed that he stayed with problems considerably longer than everyone else.  He did not believe he was smarter but was more persistent.

​WANT TO FEEL CHIRPY?

Go listen to the birds.

A behavior research study reported in SCIENTIFIC REPORTS suggests that listening to chirping birds, especially while outside, significantly improved people’s mental well-being for up to 8 hours, even those with major depressive disorder.  Participants in the study were more likely to feel confident, relaxed, happy, connected to other people, and energetic, and less likely to feel anxious, stressed, down, and lonely listening to chirping birds. 

Source

Reported in Monitor on Psychology, April/May, 2023, Page 13

Study included 1,292 participants reporting 26,856 hours of listening to birds.

TAKEN FROM THE WRITINGS OF JOSEPH GOEBBELS, NAZI PROPAGANDA MINISTER

Here is a brainwashing tactic of the Third Reich.  Tell a lie.  Make it a BIG LIE, and tell it over and over again.  Eventually the lie teller will persuade significant numbers of people to believe the lie when, in fact, it is plainly a lie. 

Why do people believe an obvious lie?  One reason (among many others) is people are vulnerable to repetition.  (“It must be true and accurate if they keep talking about it repeatedly.”

Could this same persuasive tactic be used more constructively in reverse?  Tell a TRUTH and tell it over and over again.

SOURCES 
Arielly, Dan, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty:  How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves, Harper Collins Publisher, New York, New York, 2012.

Houston, Phillip, Floyd, Michael and Carnicero, Susan, Spy the Lie, St. Martin’s Press, 2012

Ringuist, Evan & Dasse, Carl, Lies, Damned Lies, and Campaign Promises?, Social
Science Quarterly, 2004

WHY DO WE BELIEVE IN WHAT WE DO NOT BELIEVE?

When surveyed nearly half Americans had at least one superstitious belief.  (See study below.) Knocking on wood, avoiding walking under ladders, rituals, etc. are exceedingly common. 

For myself, I’ve been looking for a four leaf clover most of my life.  If I had a horse shoe I’d probably throw it over my left shoulder.  A certain unnamed member of my immediate family always must serve black eyed peas on New Years’ day to have good luck the next year.  Superstitions are all around me.

Holding a superstition may not be all that bad.  Superstitions can be beneficial.

By holding a superstitious belief we may be creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, a belief something beneficial will occur in the future.  The beneficent belief then sets in motion a series of conscious and unconscious behaviors facilitating the belief to come true.  And so, believing the superstition will contribute significantly to make it happen.

A superstitious belief might also foster hope that something positive will happen even if the odds are an extremely longshot.  We all need hope even if it is an illusionary hope.

I have the superstitious belief that if I find a four leaf clover it will let me know which number to pick for the winning lottery ticket.  If this doesn’t work, then I will have to try the old horse shoe over-the-shoulder throw.  I’ll let you know if I become megabucks rich.

SOURCE
Jane Risen, Believing What We Do Not Believe:  Acquiescence to Superstitious Beliefs and Other Powerful Intuitions, Psychological Review, 2016, Vol. 123, No. 2, 182-207

RULES

Rule:  13: When in doubt: THINK  

(Learned to do this together with my wife anytime we had a difficult decision to make during our 60 years of marriage.)

Rule 2:  When given one choice between two…take both.  

(Learned this from my oldest daughter)

Rule 6:  When forced to compromise, ask for more.

(Learned this from my youngest daughter.)​

PREPARE, THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END SAYS THE DOOMSDAY CULT

Most people when directly confronted with proof that they are wrong, do not generally change their point of view or course of action but justify it even more tenaciously.  Instead of being open to new and better ways of doing things, we resolutely hang on to our old ideas. 

Several years ago a Doomsday Cult walked around carrying signs indicating that the world would end on a certain date.  When that day came and the world did not end, guess what happened?  Doomsdayers actually became more adamant in their belief that the world would end, but decided they simply had the wrong date.

Source
Influence by Robert Cialdini

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