Insuring Nothing
By Kevin
Nope, not insured against kids
Tyler Cowen mentioned something about product insurance at one part of his book, Discover Your Inner Economist. He says that one should not argue with his wife when she insist on buying product insurance even when you know that the results are economic analysis are at your favour. Presumably, there are some other cost-benefit analysis taking place, at the level where the cost of winning the argument greatly overwhelms the benefit (which of course is the cash saved on the product insurance). The Economist asked why people continue to buy them even when products are unlikely to fail, which means that these product insurances are immensely profitable for the electronics retail sector. The researchers who examined purchase data from a big electronics retailer for over 600 households from November 2003 to October 2004 concluded that the purchases were linked to the shopper's mood. Of course, a less-than-rational wife might be the explanation, but even the wife has a sound explanation for that:
[...] the emotional tranquillity that comes with buying a new warranty is not in itself without value, even if “rationally, it doesn’t make sense”.
But I find an ingredient missing in this story; the researchers probably falsely assume that all the shoppers have got the same level of perceptiveness. And I believe perception have all to do with the purchase of product insurance. Think about it, when was the last time you had a product which failed and the warranty period was just over and you blame yourself for not buying additional coverage? But how about the last time when you did buy the product insurance and it didn't fail at all within the span of its usage, not once? Just like the belief that we're unlucky enough to always join the slowest queue in the supermarket; our erroneous perception of the frequency we get unlucky can make us more frustrated with a product insurance unextended than a product which didn't fail after we bought the coverage despite the fact that they probably inflicts the same cost on you. Obviously it actually hurts you more when you think back and regret not extending coverage; you probably won't even think back on how stupid you were to buy product insurance for a reliable product since you're using it happily.
This creates a bias for purchasing product insurance. Our faulty perception supplements our faulty memory in suggesting that buying product insurance would be the wise choice, going by the seemingly sound argument of 'if the product fails, I'm protected; and even if it doesn't, I get a peace of mind plus the retailers deserve the reward if they recommended me the durable kind of good'. You could very well have realised that if the product was that durable the manufacturer would already have taken a cut for that on the retail price and that if the product ran a high chance of failure the retailer wouldn't even offer you the product insurance in the first place. And if your wife has anything to say about that, it'll probably be "Must you be that calculative?"
Holding Ideas
By Kevin
All at the same time...
Some students struggle with social sciences and humanities like Economics, Geography and History because they think they can't hold two contradictory ideas at the same time and not take a side. Economist are somewhat famous for being able to do that and often criticized for being that way. As a matter of fact, humans are remarkably capable of doing that; we overrate our consistency of thought and the need for ideas that don't contradict. When we demand scientific proofs for certain claims yet openly express faith in certain religious claims, we're adopting contradictory frameworks of proof.
The reason why these subjects require that we hold contradictory ideas or for us to withhold judgment of these ideas is the lack of a proper quantitative approach to evaluating them. We might be able to come up with pros and cons but we are unable to assign a positive figure to denote the value and significance of the pro and a corresponding negative figure for a con and then evaluate them in an accounting matrix that will tell you which is better and how much better. Any attempts at that will be subjective and arbitrary anyways. As a result, it is important that students of these subjects hold on to them without judging but maintain the ability to dissect and analyse these ideas, zoom into certain features and investigate different aspects of it when necessary. More importantly, we'll have to master our language and internalize the nuances of the typical jargons used in the field to discuss these observations we make.
As humans, we will definitely have preferences for some explanation over others as well as some outcomes over others and this is a reason behind all the disputes that social scientist usually have with each other, including high profile ones by economists. And worst, unlike sciences where there are experiments everyone can agree on to check their ideas and theories to discover 'the truth', the search for truths in social sciences have often ended in vain because of the dynamic nature of the field. Scientists might not agree before a discovery is confirmed (Linus Pauling, a super-Nobel laureate with 3 Nobel prizes famously believed that DNA's structure should be a Triple Helix) but once it is confirmed, we find little delusional souls continuing with their false beliefs unless they are ignorant of the confirmation. Economics had its share of control experiments that happened in the world, often by chance. Unfortunately, they can never be repeated perfectly and their results are never agreed upon by experts in the field.
This is not to say that the subjects offer little value to the world; in fact the dynamic nature of these fields mean that there is always questions to answer and things to explore readily. And that is why we need more people to be able to hold different ideas at the same time and have different opinions on the same issue under different sort of circumstances and be able to see the world this way.
Practical Intelligence
By Kevin
Not Acting Smart
I got to know about this book through a friend who was exploring topics that ranged from manipulating personality test results to acting smart in front of employers. It's a great boon that this is not the kind of book that teaches you to act smart. Karl Albrecht writes realistically about how we can go about making ourselves more intelligent in practical situations. There are many ideas in the book I've thought about previously but failed to put into concrete concepts as he did. I must say Karl did a wonderful job.
Like most of the other books on thinking, Karl discusses the make-up of the brains, the way different lobes on the brain controls different stuff and how they work together in concert and then he draws some meaningful speculation on the way we think. There are many speculations which are largely unproven in neuro-sciences but are well known in the field of psychology. Never mind the actual theories, Karl shows us how they might be useful for aiding us discover our mind's potential. He firms up the concept of 'Affirmative Thinking', which I think is a very important idea in our lives. We've cease to be gatekeepers of our mind in this media age, often pushed around, influenced by the people who are in turn controlled by others around as well as prevailing culture and fads. To accept that we are often being bombarded by thoughts and ideas of others and we often take them as if they're our own is the first step to controlling our thinking and helping us steer ourselves towards healthy thinking and mental habits.
Karl recommends simple methods to help us regain control of our minds and direct our attention so that we can tap on our mental habits, thinking preferences and styles to aid us with daily thinking, problem-solving and just plain existing in our complex world. I'm interested in the implication of Karl's ideas on education and learning. He has another book I'm looking forward to read, Social Intelligence, which he actually wrote before this book.
Thinking Sharp
By Kevin
Good Fit?
In 2002, the year I entered Secondary 1, I was "forced" to attend a course on Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats - it costs 100 plus bucks and is the first time I took part in such seminar-based sort of course. In the course, I learnt Edward De Bono's ideas and the tools he 'invented' to help us with attention-directing: the Thinking Hats (of course!), the Random Word method and more. The course instructor, Peter Low, introduced me to the idea of teaching creativity/thinking. The following year, a 'Thinking Programme' lesson emerged in our timetable - 40 minutes or so each week is devoted to this lesson. In the class, we learnt the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Critical Thinking and further applications of the Thinking Tools of Edward De Bono.
As I come to experience more of life, I realised more strongly than ever that thinking is a significant skill that sets brilliant people apart from mediocre ones. The intellectual capacity of people and their general talents in matters are often distributed pretty normally, and people do not exactly differ very sharply in these aspects. Thinking is thus what sets people apart and put them on wildly different paths in life. We all experience ups and downs and how we react to them or treat them has all to do with what we think about them; the ability to channel positive energies from circumstances through our thinking thus becomes exceptionally important.
"[F]or there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - Hamlet, in Shakespeare's Hamlet
I've met plenty of 'emo' kids, students who fear just about everything: exams, parents' spanking, loneliness, being ostracized or bullied, fierce teachers, homework, failure, stress and more. These fears often destructive: a kid who is simultaneously fearful of failure and being ostracized by classmates for doing too well in class is going to be mediocre and sad for most of his childhood. Others are caught between losing friends and committing an act they know would earn them some whacking on their butts. These are 'problems' to young children and students but they often are just kid versions of the same things you'll find in adulthood. It is important to learn to 'think in the right way' to overcome these fears and such worries. It is the thinking involved in these circumstances that changes one's life by altering the choices one would make.
Critical Thinking helps you identify problems and appreciate cause-and-effect: if I've been studying hard and yet not scoring well enough, my methods might be wrong and I'll have to review my test-taking techniques as well. Creative Thinking helps you generate ideas for solving problems; cultivating habits of highly effective people helps you organize your thoughts and your work. Thinking allows you to manipulate your emotions as Hamlet has already discovered and your emotions will do the work of motivating or demotivating you. Even when you work, it is quick thinking that is going to save you; alternatively, at least learn the thinking that is going to help you stay calm when trouble arises. Often, uncertainty is more fearsome than 'the worst' and so picture 'the worst' in your mind and eliminate the uncertainty that surrounds - give yourself a pat when 'the worst' didn't happen.
Sharpen your thinking, and see your life change.
Domino Theory of the Mind
By Kevin
Don't let the next topple!
Ever had the experience of failing a long stream of exam or an entire Final Examination? Did you blame it on your luck because you already studied very hard for it? After the first paper which you found particularly difficult, you start to realize you didn't really study hard enough and then you can't do the rest of the papers that came up? The truth turned out to be that the first paper was indeed hard but the rest of the papers were easy and you could have done well if you knew just how to discipline your mind.
The mind is a pattern-recognition system and it has a huge catchment area, meaning that slight semblance of a pattern can activate your mind to conceive it. This is why when you experience something traumatizing that affects all your senses, the fear stays around for very long time and it is very hard to forget the trauma - every little sign or stimulus that resemble anything you experienced during that event would cause your mind to conceive/imagine and thus relive the entire experience. Overcoming this takes a lot of mental courage and discipline.
The same is true for whatever that goes in the mind that cause the 'Domino Effect' for exams. The first paper during the examination period becomes the traumatizing experience and in subsequent papers, you relive the experience, at times even amplifying the fears in your mind. When you encounter a difficult question at the start of the next paper, you start panicking, and after wasting some time calming yourself down you spend too much time trying to prove yourself by attempting the question. This is just one of the ways this effect manifest and cause you to perform poorly for one paper after another. Losing focus, forgetting facts, mis-reading questions, dwelling too long over a particular question you found tricky are all means your experience with the first paper was taking a toil on you.
To avoid getting affected by the 'Domino Effect', we need to isolate the initial domino from the rest. That way when it falls, it does not trigger the other dominos. We should thus clear our minds after each exam to 'reset' our emotion state. This also mean seeing every paper as separate and treating exam-taking objective. You have studied for every subject separately and you've worked hard, there's no reason why you should allow one paper to affect your performance in any others. In your mind, isolate every test-taking or exam-taking experience so that you can treat them fairly and not shortchange yourself.
Use Your Tests!
By Kevin
Let's say you get back your examination papers today - perhaps for mid-years, a prelim paper, or perhaps promos; alright, maybe it's just a common test - what do you do with the paper? For most students, they just chuck it aside feeling despair or elated with the results; more hardworking ones will probably try and look through the mistakes, see which are the parts they got wrong or calculate the total scores. After all, what done cannot be undone, better to move on to the next phase or life (ie. the next test or exam or subject).
So is that the right way of doing things? NO! Absolutely wrong! Every test, exam or any sort of controlled assessment are valuable experience and tools that you have to use to the fullest in education. The entire process of learning about the exam/test/quiz, taking the paper, getting the papers back and the emotions you experience from there are all points where you can learn about your abilities and come up with ways to overcome any problems you have with school work. Today, I'm going to teach you how you can 'Use Your Tests!'
Pre-Exam Preparation Work
A student who can't be bothered about school never knows when tests are coming; one who cares a bit simply notes the date; the type who bothers note the date, subject, possibly venue. Hardworking students will probably find out the topics covered in the test on top of that and store that information in some sort of planner or notebook. But we all want to strive to be smart students and what do we do? We note down all that information, record them in a planner, look out for free days prior to the test where we can invest some time studying, systematically plan out how are we going to cover all the topics that will be tested. We go an extra mile by coming up with a checklist containing the list of topics and a label stating how confident we are with that area of work and we proceed to write down specific task that we are going to undertake to improve ourselves. These specific task should be like this:
Read up page 46 to 54 of the 'World of Physics' textbook and work out all the example questions.
Check Lecture Notes for any unfilled blanks and ask Tommy what for the missing information.
Go through tutorial mistakes for 'Electromagnetism' and note down concepts that I'm still unclear with.
It's up to you to make a choice whether to do these or not based on how important you view the test/exam. More important is that you actually discipline yourself to carry out your 'To-Do List' since you've already spent the effort to pen these matters down. As you study you might decide that there are more things to do than you previously planned - you might decide to do more practice on an assessment book or go through a guidebook that your Mum just got for you. Go ahead as long as it doesn't interfere with what you have originally laid out for yourself.
The Exam
Just work on the exam paper as best as you can; as long as you feel you are adequately prepared, your stress levels should be acceptable. What we have done before the test is to prepare you in terms of knowledge tested and also to convince your mind that you've been working and there's thus no need to fear. Many people tend to be smart enough to handle test without much studying but they actually fail to convince themselves that they are adequately prepared; this causes them to fumble easily during the test and panic when they see foreign-looking terms on their papers.
Post-Exams & Results
Right after each exam, clear your mind and stop thinking about it until you get back your paper. This way, you don't allow an 'domino effect' in your mind (a description coined by Spiffy), where a single exam paper at the start occupies your mind so much that you lose focus and morale for the subsequent papers leading you to flunk the entire exam.
Once you get back your paper, the first thing you should be concerned about is not the scores itself but whether it has been calculated properly. Then analyze your paper. When I say analyze, I mean it. Look at the mistakes you have made, identify the reason for the mistakes. These reasons can usually be found in the following list:
Didn't know that was in the syllabus
Didn't study that part of the topic (Didn't know it's tested or didn't bother)
Studied the topic but forgot the concept on the spot
Understood the topic but unable to apply the concepts
Insufficient substantiation in explanations or unable to cover all the points needed in the question (problems associated with answering techniques)
Read or interpreted the question wrongly; questions might have been poorly phrased
Careless on your part
Jot down these reasons beside each of the questions you made mistake for. Apparently for every reason you got a question wrong, there's a logical and effective means of overcoming the problem. In some cases (like in the first point), the exam/test itself solves the problem. Now you know that particular knowledge is required in the syllabus. When you didn't study a topic because you didn't know it is going to be tested or can't be bothered, then you have to review your Pre-Exam preparation techniques.
When you studied but still got things wrong like in the 3rd, 4th and 5th point, it means that your studying methods, application and answering techniques are not correct. Attempt to correct them by asking around with your friends about how they managed to solve the questions and studied the concepts involved. Sometimes it's just about remembering things better but it can also be about understanding the theories from a fresh perspective.
In the last 2 cases, you can count yourself unlucky but it also means your examination techniques are not well established. Do more practice and look through questions as well as your answers carefully. Often we are angry with ourselves for such mistakes but then we can try and re-live that moment during the exam and ask ourselves if we could have avoided it. Perhaps it wasn't possible that time, but in future it'll not be the same. We are not saying that you must attain perfect score all the time; it's just that marks should never be wasted because of such trivia reasons. As far as possible, we want the test/exam to be an accurate assessment of your abilities and your efforts.
After all that analysis, come up with a plan to overcome all the flaws in your techniques and also learning so that you have a good head start for the challenges to come. This way, your tests/exams are not wasted even if you attained a trashy score. If your exams are just over, don't wait till you find out about the next test/exam before embarking on the methods I introduced, start right now by analyzing that paper you screwed up!
Slack Later
By Kevin
Laze around, but not now...
The mind is sometimes so overwhelmingly smart that you have to trick it to discipline it. God has given us such a wonderful tool for thinking that we often waste it for purpose no more than entertainment and pleasure-seeking. Laziness combined with the love for pleasure easily combines to impair the foresight of our minds. And this is really why we skip lectures to play foosball in the student cafe or hang out with friends at Timbre till pretty late even when we know that there's a important test coming up the next day at the first period.
The attitude-correcting technique I'm introducing today, known as 'Slack Later' is an important skill that will carry you far in life because postponing a moments gratification could easy save your life or determine your success for the next decade, it guides you in decision-making big or small; choosing between having a sandwich at 10am and a plate of economic mixed rice at 1pm or making your university choices.
Now to discipline your mind to 'slack later', you have to come up with reasons why you will end up on the losing end when you make the choice to slack now, or to satisfy yourself at the moment. Here's an example I always use to force myself to attend lectures:
Sometimes I find attending lectures stupid because I can easily read lecture notes at home myself and understand most stuff. It's only a couple of harder concepts that I've to clarify with tutors later. However, if I choose not to attend lecture for an entire day, it means I have to waste my precious time at home reading lecture notes for 3 lectures (assuming there's 3 in that day) instead of playing Red Alert 2 with a friend. Wait a minute, I need to watch Spongebob Squarepants at 5pm and I might not even have much time left for playing computer games after reading those notes so I might as well attend the lecture and read them on the spot - at least I get the blanks filled on the spot and I can clarify anything I'm unsure about on the spot with the smart friends rather than disturb them later when I get home.
'Slack Later' essentially extends your foresight. Often we are only concerned with what happens immediately and this sets the basis for procrastination, as if there is infinite time in the future for us to expend. Thinking about how the consequences of your action now would affect your pleasurable experiences later would force you to reconsider your decisions. Often in our mind, decisions can be categorized into the ones that you hope you could make and the decisions you would want to make. They are different because the decision you hope you could make is often the difficult way out that will help relieve your woes later but the decision you would like to make often postpones problems to later (sometimes couple of years down the road).
Big, important decisions would show this phenomenon very clearly. For example, when you consider between US and Singapore universities, you realized that US college applications take too much hassle and so even if you might enjoy a US college education experience better, that's something that happens later and thus less important. You probably hoped that you would apply to US but then the hassle presents an inertia that you didn't manage to overcome and eventually you end up in a Singapore university education experience. I'm in no way making generalizations about education experiences but trying to present how a simple decision resulting from the desire to make your life easier now can have a negative long term impact on later life.
'Slack Later' technique gives you the motivation to make 'smarter choices' for yourself and make decision based on consideration for a longer time frame than just attempting to achieve immediate gratification. Start practicing it now! Good Luck!
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