Palm oil trader pressured to end deforestation
Palm oil fruit The world’s largest trader of palm oil announced December 5 that it would make strides to end its role in the deforestation of Indonesia. According to a … Continue reading
More evidence for social norms affecting behavior
A majority of hotel guests forego daily fresh towels for environmental reasons. A 2008 study from the Journal of Consumer Research provides further evidence that people change their behavior to conform to … Continue reading
Crocodiles use tools, so what?
Editorial The Huffington Post recently reported new research that suggests that alligators and crocodiles use tools. Specifically, these animals perch sticks on their heads and use them to lure nesting … Continue reading
Environmental optimism increases eco-friendly behavior
This revamped eco-version of chutes and ladders (above) encourages environmental action through fun. The people of the environmental movement are realizing that it takes more than worrisome facts about climate … Continue reading
UK solves social policy problems with human nature insights
Above: The Skinner Box, an artistic rendition of a behavioral modification experiment conducted by B.F. Skinner in the 1920s or 30s. Skinner believed that the root of most behavior was … Continue reading
My Doubt is My Innocence
Moral Laziness and Milan Kundera’s Farewell Waltz Eyes transfixed, your fingernails dance a repetitive beat on the tabletop. Reclining, but not relaxed, your mind goes through a repetitive pattern of decision … Continue reading
Guanxi and a Typhoon
The art of the interview in Taiwan In the last week of August, in the middle of typhoon season, I found myself trudging through gale force winds in an industrial … Continue reading
A social science approach to learning
Beating a Path through Your Intellectual Ambition: A Social Science Approach to Learning X –> Y In social science research, this is the most basic expression of relationship. It can loosely … Continue reading
Pessimism and Redemption? Thoughts on Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad
Good news for the jaded out there- the sighing mourners for correct comma usage, modern music naysayers, and peak oil enthusiasts: pessimism is still in style. Jennifer Egan’s 2010 Pulitzer … Continue reading
Imagine Educational Utopias: The calm before the storm in Arthur C. Clark’s Childhood’s End
[Spoiler Alert: Arthur C. Clark conceals the meaning behind his story till the end of his short book (214 pages in paperback). In my synopsis below, I chose to reveal part … Continue reading
Think Out Loud 