Repetition is funny

A Surprise TV Star Embraces His Geeky Side, NYT, by Susan Stewart, 12/04/2006

Technically, Mr. Oka, who has played a number of modest roles in television
sitcoms, said he had learned from the form how to create funny characters by
repeating particular gestures. “Repetition is funny because it’s a character
tag,” he said.

In Hiro’s case the tag is a stiff-armed victory salute, accompanied by an
exultant shout.

“Part of the comedy is he really believes in what he does, Mr. Oka said.
“As long as that point of view’s in there, you’ll always have that comedy,
grounded in truth.”

Sommelier's Social Intelligence

Help Wanted: Must Love Wine, Compassion a Plus

by Eric Asimov, 11/22/2006

“It’s not just really talented, well-educated, eloquent people who are passionate about wine,” said John Ragan, the wine director at Eleven Madison Park in New York, “but also warm, unpretentious people who can convey that passion without uncomfortability. They’re both really different skill sets.”

What separates a barely competent sommelier from a great sommelier, Mr. Johnnes said, is his intuition as much as his knowledge. “It’s connecting with people,” he said, “being a bit of a psychoanalyst, knowing what their budget is, what they like.”

But too many sommeliers try to educate the world about what they like, or recite all they know, like a rock guitar soloist who doesn’t know how to leave space between the notes.

It’s a fine line between offering just enough intrigue to build interest in a new and unusual wine, and becoming a crashing bore.

“How do you get people who just don’t spout off what they know, the bookish side of wine?” Ms. Singh said. “You can memorize the ‘Oxford Companion to Wine,’ but do you have the personal skills?”

Moral Grammar

Building on Noam Chomsky's universal language theory, Marc D. Hauser, a Harvard biologist, has proposed that people are born with a neuralogically based moral grammar. Hauser says that this morality resulted from the survival edge that it provided. It is an example of "group selection and is thought to have emerged during the hunter-gatherer phase of human development.

Examples of innate moral grammar are the "trolley problems" identified by moral philosophers

Suppose you are standing by a railroad track. Ahead, in a deep cutting from which no escape is possible, five people are walking on the track. You hear a train approaching. Beside you is a lever with which you can switch the train to a sidetrack. One person is walking on the sidetrack. Is it O.K. to pull the lever and save the five people, though one will die?

Most people say it is.

Assume now you are on a bridge overlooking the track. Ahead, five people on the track are at risk. You can save them by throwing down a heavy object into the path of the approaching train. One is available beside you, in the form of a fat man. Is it O.K. to push him to save the five?

Most people say no, although lives saved and lost are the same as in the first problem.

The distinction is refered to as foreseen/intended. And it is thought to be innate and not learned because most people can't articulate it.

Other examples of moral grammar:

• It is more acceptable to kill animals than people.
• Events that happen close to us carry more weight than events that occur in a distant place.
• Altruism within the group.
• Fairness.

People are generally unaware of this process because the mind is adept at coming up with plausible rationalizations for why it arrived at a decision generated subconsciously.

Link: NYT

Bob Sutton: Brilliant But Cruel

Bob Sutton: Brilliant But Cruel: "if you look at the evidence on the kind of people that we see as powerful and intelligent, that –- independently of how smart a person actually is –- when they act like an asshole, they are seen as smarter. This “Brilliant but Cruel” effect was demonstrated in a study by Harvard Business School's Teresa Amabile. She did a controlled experiment with book reviews; some reviews were nasty and others were nice. Amabile found that negative and unkind reviewers were seen as less likeable but more intelligent, competent, and expert than those who expressed the same messages in kinder and gentler ways. She summarized her findings by noting, “Only pessimism sounds profound. Optimism sounds superficial.”"

"So, if you want people to think you are smart, apparently you can feed their stereotypes by demeaning others. In Barash’s case, the attack might have been justified, but there are other times when people turn cruel for no good reason, except perhaps for personal gain. I should also warn you that although unleashing your inner asshole may help persuade people of your intellectual superiority, we also show in The Knowing-Doing Gap and Hard Facts that the climate of fear created by such nastiness undermines team and organizational effectiveness. Potential victims become afraid to try (or even mention) new ideas and hesitate to report mistakes or problems out of fear that the resulting anger and humiliation will be aimed at them."

Is It Disease or Delusion? U.S. Takes on a Dilemma - New York Times

Is It Disease or Delusion? U.S. Takes on a Dilemma - New York Times: "Researchers have found that delusions like this can be passed from primary patients to secondary ones, usually susceptible family members or close associates. Psychiatrists call this phenomenon folie a deux.

In one remarkable case, a woman convinced her husband that neighbors were shooting at her with lasers. In another, an elderly woman convinced her live-in sister that they were both being attacked by bugs.

“Parasitosis is a classic form of shared delusion,” said Dr. Mary Seeman, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. “Skin disease is perfect for it. A person gets a rash or something, then the ‘disease’ spreads through any shared space in which there is close contact.”

But the Internet may have greatly altered the dynamics of folie a deux. In the connected, always-on world, separation is no longer so easy, and delusions may be shared and supported far beyond the confines of the home or workplace."

Seduced by Snacks? No, Not You - New York Times

Seduced by Snacks? No, Not You - New York Times: "“To a person, people will swear they aren’t influenced by the size of a package or how much variety there is on a buffet or the fancy name on a can of beans, but they are,” Dr. Wansink said. “Every time.”

He has the data to prove it. Dr. Wansink, who holds a doctorate in marketing from Stanford University and directs the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, probably knows more about why we put things in our mouths than anybody else. His experiments examine the cues that make us eat the way we do. The size of an ice cream scoop, the way something is packaged and whom we sit next to all influence how much we eat. His research doesn’t pave a clear path out of the obesity epidemic, but it does show the significant effect one’s eating environment has on slow and steady weight gain."

How Carly Lost Her Gender Groove - New York Times

How Carly Lost Her Gender Groove - New York Times: "With several of the few high-profile women at the top tanking, it’s interesting to note that Columbia Business School has introduced a new program that teaches the importance of a more empathetic and sensitive leadership style in globalized business, as opposed to the command-and-control style that has dominated the White House and Pentagon for, lo, these many messed up years.

Students learn how to read facial expressions, body language and posture, and get coaching on their brain’s “mirror neurons” — how what they’re thinking and feeling can affect others.

“This less autocratic leadership style draws on capabilities in which women are as good as men,” says Michael Morris, a professor of psychology and management who is running the business school’s new program.

Daniel Goleman, whose new book “Social Intelligence” is being taught in the program, points out that “while women are, in general, better at reading emotions, men tend to be better at managing them during a crisis. Women tend to be more sophisticated in reading social interactions but also tend to ruminate more when things go wrong.”"

The Trials of the Century - New York Times

The Trials of the Century - New York Times: "Fortunately, there are still some members of the American intelligence community who are interested in the terrorist’s whereabouts. Not long ago one of them approached me — not because of my reporting on Al Qaeda but because of my experience as a Hollywood screenwriter, a talent pool the C.I.A. occasionally draws on for futurist thinking. The official asked me to envision what we would do with Mr. bin Laden if we caught him. I said that I didn’t feel comfortable, as a reporter, writing a script for the C.I.A.

"