Ideas aren't Cheap, They're Free: Guest Post

Twice in my education I had the exam question "Why?" The first was my senior year of high school for Philosophy, the second was for my "Contemporary Philosophy" course my sophomore year of college. Both times I responded with a word or two - the first time "Why Not?" and the second time "Because". Both times I received an A on the essay question. When my fellow students heard about this, they challenged my college Professor and he gave a great response: "Anyone who writes that answer on a final exam is creative, courageous and demonstrated the ability to express themselves in a way few people can."

Your Success Depends On Changing Behavior

A friend of mine recently sent me this quote heard on NPR in an interview with a Venture Capitalist:

"It's a bit like not getting dessert until you've had your vegetables. Maybe this all sounds incredibly simplistic, but venture capitalists say one of the trickiest things about this new world of investing is that their returns, in many cases, hinge on humans changing their behavior. And that's a lot harder than building a robot."

The Fallacy of Social Proof

Herd behavior is an epidemic in our society today. Known as large groups conforming to choices which may be either correct or mistaken as a result of social influence, psychology research goes pretty deep into this phenomenon. One definition I read for social proof is people assuming the actions of others to reflect correct behavior for a given situation. This effect is prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation. Regardless of semantics, social proof is in every part of our world.