Tag Archives: psychology

6 levels of mitigation

When I am reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outlier, his main concept is not that great, but I picked up something else that is very useful. When you want to persuade someone, there are many ways to say it. Depending on the power distance between you and your target, you may want to phase your words differently. In the book, Malcolm outlined 6 levels of mitigation, from direct and explicit to soft and subtle. For example:

Command: Turn right at the stop sign.

Obligation Statement: I think we need to turn right at the stop sign. (The key word is we, less specific, softer tone)

Suggestion: Let’s turn right at the stop sign. (Implicit suggest we are doing it together)

Query: Which direction would you like to turn? (the speaker is concede that he is not in charge)

Preference: I think it would be wise to make a turn.

Hint: There is a stop sign.

Late genius

Malcom Gladwell’s writing is often very inspiring. I liked his booked Blink and Tipping Point. I visit his website once a while to catch up his articles on The New Yorkers. His article titled Late Bloomer seems strike a chore in my mind. In this article he questioned are genius always shine in early age. Almost all famous artist, scientist, philosophers we remember finish their greatest work in early days. Gladwell went through historical data and show that although rare, there are indeed some late bloomers, whose genius are not recognized until their forties or fifties. There are two types of genius. The first kind is the young genius we all familiar with, who shine bright and then fate fast. The second kind is a late genius, he perfect his work through years of experiment with his thoughts. The young genius seems come around more often because it is pure economic. Young genius gain their fame quick so they can support themselves. The successful late genius often have love ones supporting them whiling wait for their talent come to the full potential. However, more often unsuccessful late genius just simply giving up and live a mundane life. I know for sure I am not a young genius. (That’s quite obvious) Maybe I am a late genius, I can accomplish something great if I just keep trying. If I continue my studies in philosophy, maybe one day I will write a master piece and become a famous philosopher. Most of the great philosophers in history made their name early in their career, but maybe there are still rooms for a late genius.

Why do people collection stuffs?

I am moving soon, so I have to start packing my stuff.  Today, I spend whole day putting my toys back into their boxes.  I have already spent a day last week and I guess I may need another day.  I know I have lots of toys, but I still surprise by how many boxes I have.  People love to collect things, just like I like to collect toys.  I have been thinking about why people do collect things for quite some time, but I fail to come up with any good explanation.  Collections are not investments, most of time your collection are just old junks to other people.  Collections are not something you can use daily, they just sit there doing nothing.  Collection suppose to bring you joy, but you only need to have a few to experience the joy.  There is something special about the shear size of the collection.  When I am admiring my fleet of Valkyrie and armies of Gundam, I have a sense of satisfaction.  Where this sense of satisfaction comes from, I have no idea.  It doesn’t make any logical sense to feel happy about something that has no objective value, can’t be used and pretty much just various duplication of one another.

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

Politically correct may makes people feel good about themselves, but it is the enemy of the Truth.

Continue reading Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature