Everyday learning often starts with a surprise. Something unexpected happens and you use that to change your understanding. You learn the most when you use metacognitive strategies to adapt your mindset. Metacognition is what you know about how you think and learn. It includes knowing what you ...
Does High Intelligence Mean Low Cognitive Bias?
In thinking through any complex issue, there are going to be different possible solutions and perspectives. Ideally, a smart and critical thinker would reason through the pros and cons of the different possibilities and come to a balanced view of the issue. Yet a great deal of research finds ...
Trouble Understanding Others? Read More Fiction
Looking for an excuse to read more fiction? Fiction reading can help with understanding others. A recent study shows that children who read more fiction stories are better at inferring what other people are thinking and feeling. Being good at understanding others is important, not just for ...
What is Expertise and How Can You Develop it?
Everybody’s an expert these days. Pest Control Expert, Plumbing Expert, Weather Expert, and so on. But what is expertise, really? A common conception is that experts know more and perform better than those around them. From this standpoint, expertise refers to the knowledge and skills that ...
Why Overconfidence Occurs and How to Overcome It
Overconfidence happens to all of us. Ever have a plan that just couldn’t go wrong? And then you get a kick in the butt. Ever know that something must be true, only to find out later that you had it backwards? Overconfidence is when you think you are more likely to be right than you actually ...