Psychology
The Nature and Perception of Fluctuations in Human Musical Rhythms
In this PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science) article, Holger Henning et al discuss that although human musical performances represent one of the most valuable achievements of mankind, the best musicians perform imperfectly. Musical rhythms are not entirely accurate and thus inevitably deviate from the ideal beat pattern. Nevertheless, computer generated perfect beat patterns are frequently devalued by listeners due to a perceived lack of human touch. Professional audio editing software therefore offers a humanizing feature which artificially generates rhythmic fluctuations. However, the built-in humanizing units are essentially random number generators producing only simple uncorrelated fluctuations. Here, for the first time, we establish long-range fluctuations as an inevitable natural companion of both simple and complex human rhythmic performances. Moreover, we demonstrate that listeners strongly prefer long-range correlated fluctuations in musical rhythms. Thus, the favorable fluctuation type for humanizing interbeat intervals coincides with the one generically inherent in human musical performances.
Consumer Soverignity in an age of Republicanism
June 6th 2011 - Ruby Hutchison Memorial Lecture by Ross Gittins, Sydney Morning Herald Economics Editor.
@katiecouric: Digital Philosophy - CBS News Video
Katie Couric speaks with author William Powers about his new book, "Hamlet's Blackberry," and the new age of digital philosophy.
Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better.......
In our louder and louder world, says sound expert Julian Treasure, "We are losing our listening." In this short, fascinating talk, Treasure shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening -- to other people and the world around you.
'Incognito': What's Hiding In The Unconscious Mind
An NPR interview with neuroscientist Dr David Eagleman where he discusses his book: 'Incognito: The Secret Lives Of The Brain'- Pantheon Press -, an excerpt follows:
"The first thing we learn from studying our own circuitry is a simple lesson: most of what we do and think and feel is not under our conscious control. The vast jungles of neurons operate their own programs. The conscious you — the I that flickers to life when you wake up in the morning — is the smallest bit of what's transpiring in your brain. Although we are dependent on the functioning of the brain for our inner lives, it runs its own show. Most of its operations are above the security clearance of the conscious mind. The I simply has no right of entry. Your consciousness is like a tiny stowaway on a transatlantic steamship, taking credit for the journey without acknowledging the massive engineering underfoot. This book is about that amazing fact: how we know it, what it means, and what it explains about people, markets, secrets, strippers, retirement accounts, criminals, artists, Ulysses, drunkards, stroke victims, gamblers, athletes, bloodhounds, racists, lovers, and every decision you've ever taken to be yours."
Dorothy Rowe: Why We Lie
Do you tell the occasional white lie? Well psychologist Dorothy Rowe believes you could be doing more harm than good. At the 2011 Perth Writers Festival, Dorothy Rowe sits down with fellow psychologist Leah Giarratano to talk about why we lie. This conversation ranges from the everyday lies, to the lies global leaders tell that have devastating global impacts. Parents, religious institutions, Tony Blair, Muammar Gaddafi all go under Dorothy’s microscope in this fascinating talk. Dr Dorothy Rowe, born in 1930, is an Australian born clinical psychologist who lives in England. From 1972 until 1986 she was head of the North Lincolnshire Department of Clinical Psychology. She has written several books on psychology and mental health including “Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison”, and her most recent book “Why We Lie: The Source of Our Disasters” was published in 2010.
TEDxSydney - Genevieve Bell - The Value of Boredom
Genevieve Bell talks about the value of boredom at Tedx Sydney in May 2011.Genevieve Bell is a Corporate Anthropologist, recently named one of the top 50 most creative people in Business (Fast Company), Genevieve Bell is an Intel Fellow and director of the Interaction and Experience Research Group within the Intel Labs. Bell joined Intel in 1998 and has come to lead an R&D team of social scientists, interaction designers and human factors engineers to drive human-centric product innovation in Intel's consumer electronics business.
Thinking about Thinking
In this BBC World Service interview, Peter Day talks to two academics from the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Hilary Austen and Professor Roger Martin discuss design thinking and artistry in business.
How Social Influence can Undermine the Wisdom of Crowd Effect
In this research article from the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science", Jan Lorenz et al. examine various aspects of group psychology, which have application to investment markets.
Synchronicity, Instant Messaging, and Performance Among Financial Traders
Detecting Deception in Conference Calls
This 2010 Stanford University article is a must read for financial analysts. It provides a useful list of clues to look out for as potential signs of deception.
Patience in Finance
In this 2010 "Cognition" journal article, Lars Hall et al. highlight how fickle our mind is and how easily it can be manipulated.
Steve Joordens on Critical Thinking
Investors need to remain sensitised about market psychology and how it affects their own decision making.
Lessons from a Faraway Land: The Effect of Spatial Distance on Creative Cognition
This 2009 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology provides valuable ammunition for those asking their boss for an extended holiday. It shows that spatial distance improves creative cognition...
What Makes Us Human?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JvNwEMXLD8
This 2009 video is by The Leaky Foundation, whose mission it is to increase scientific knowledge, education, and public understanding of human origins, evolution, behaviour, and survival.
Dan Ariely: Irrational Economics
http://poptech.org/popcasts/dan_ariely_irrational_economics
This 2009 seminar is presented by MIT professor Dan Ariely who believes that the starting point for making better decisions, particularly with financial matters, requires understanding the impulse to act irrationally. Here Ariely discussed an excerpt from his new book, The Upside of Irrationality, about the role of emotions in the workplace.
Do Buy-Side Analysts Out-Perform the Sell-Side?
This 2008 "Financial Analysts Journal" paper by Boris Groysenberg et al., looks at differences in earnings forecast optimism and accuracy between buy-side and sell-side analysts.
In this 2006 "Journal of Accounting and Economics" article, Amanda Cowen et al. examine to what extent analysts' forecasts and recommendations vary depending on the business activities used to fund the research. Perhaps surprisingly they discovered that analysts at firms that funded research through underwriting and trading activities actually made less optimistic forecasts and recommendations than those at brokerage houses who performed no underwriting.
The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information
http://www.musanim.com/miller1956/
This is a fascinating analysis of human capacity to process different types of information. A key finding is that more information can be processed if information is drawn from a multi-dimensional array of experiences, than if one attempts to process lots of information from just one dimension to data source.
The Web and the Wisdom of Crowds
Malcolm Gladwell delivers a lecture discussing his fantastic book "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" at the University of Toronto, in February, 2005.
Loss Aversion and Seller Behaviour: Evidence from the Housing Market
In this 2001 Quarterly Journal of Economics, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics Hebrew University of Jerusalem, David Genesove, and his co-author, Economist and Senior Vice Dean of Columbia Business School and Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Christopher Mayer, discuss non-rational behaviour of sellers who are selling at a loss.
How Emotion Affects Our Thinking
This 1996 ABC Radio National discussion looks at how emotion can impact on the decisions we make - always something to be cognisant of in an investment decision context...
C.G. Jung - death is not the end
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, influential thinker, and founder of analytical psychology. Here he speaks about Death and the Human Psyche.