This Or That: How Useful Are Dichotomies Really?

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This Or That: How Useful Are Dichotomies Really?

Last week I posted an article about prevention vs promotion thinking, and how most people will largely fall into one category or the other, which you can read here. A lot of people really resonate with this kind of thinking, because it makes everything simple. The simpler things are the better we like to feel we understand things, especially when it comes to human motivation and behavior. But is this kind of dichotomous thinking always a good thing? 

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Which One Are You? Promotion and Prevention Focus

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Which One Are You? Promotion and Prevention Focus

If you ask most people, they'll tell you there are two types of people on this earth: one with x quality and one with y quality. There are people who love cats and people who love dogs, people who are masculine and people who are feminine, and people who drink coffee every morning and

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Are You Irrational? Behavioral Economics Explains Decision-Making

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Are You Irrational? Behavioral Economics Explains Decision-Making

Do you consider yourself an irrational person? Most people would say no, they're a highly rational person. This is because we usually don't like to perceive ourselves in a seemingly negative light. Rationality is defined as "the quality of being based on or in accordance with reason or logic". However, we are human and with that comes human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. So surprisingly

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Can You Convince Me? The Art Of Persuasion

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Can You Convince Me? The Art Of Persuasion

Have you ever been in an argument with someone and thought to yourself, "Why can't they just see my side?" The frustration we’re faced with when trying to persuade somebody else is widely experienced across the world. Persuading someone to see your side on something is sometimes a quite difficult thing to do, but

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Who Do You Think You Are? How Labels Influence Identity

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Who Do You Think You Are? How Labels Influence Identity

Are you a nerd? Maybe you're an athlete or an extrovert. Or perhaps you're a, dare I say it, vegan. When you read all of those words some conception of what those things are popped into your head. You probably have some kind of idea what a "nerd" or an "extrovert" does and tendencies they have. A nerd is someone who is really into a certain type of thing, an extrovert is someone who is very outgoing, and a vegan

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Why Are All My Friends Getting Married? Relationship Contingency And Marriage

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Why Are All My Friends Getting Married? Relationship Contingency And Marriage

Does it seem like everyone you know is either in a relationship, married, or engaged? In an age where we use social media daily to present the idealized versions of our own lives to the entire world, we're constantly inundated with relationship statuses, proposals, wedding pictures, and other romantic gestures that have those

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