Apr
Dissecting psychological principles to understand the motivations for social commerce.
Mar
The Brain on Love
A relatively new field, called interpersonal neurobiology, draws its vigor from one of the great discoveries of our era: that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on daily life. In the end, what we pay the most attention to defines us. How you choose to spend the irreplaceable hours of your life literally transforms you.
All relationships change the brain — but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self.
via @curiositycounts
Feb
So you don’t think you’re creative? Think again.
I’ve never considered myself a creative person. I don’t crank out idea after idea in a brainstorm, theatrically waving my hands in the air and selling in novel concepts with conviction and passion. That’s just not my personality. Apparently it’s not how my brain works either.
Creative thinking is actually based on our brain’s activity and how we process information, according to Lebanonese psychologist Arne Dietrich (2004). It depends on which part of our brain we’re using and in what context we’re processing information.
Our brains have developed two different neural systems to extract information:
Emotional - attaches value and evaluates significance
Cognitive - performs detailed feature analysis and constructs sophisticated foundation for information processing
Couple that with the different environments for which thinking can take place:
Deliberate - conscious or intentional
Spontaneous - without premeditation or stimulus
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SO that brings us to four different kinds of creativity:
Deliberate & cognitive - Makes connections between bits of information stored in other parts of our brain. Requires a high degree of knowledge, enough prerequisite information to process, and ample of time to work on a problem.
Deliberate & emotional - A-ha moments related to our feelings and emotions. Mandates personal, quiet time and stimulus to process and ponder.
Spontaneous & cognitive - Unconscious mental processing that happens when we’re not thinking about the task at hand. Best when we set up a problem, walk away from it, and then it will come. This does not require any existing body of knowledge related to the problem.
Spontaneous & emotional - Spontaneous ideas and creations emerge. There is no designing for this and is the tendency of artists, musicians, and the like.
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This helps me recognize that I’m a deliberate & cognitive creative thinker, which makes perfect sense considering my knack for making connections, understanding the relationship between ideas, and the need to always ask questions to understand other facets of the problem. So I AM a creative thinker after all.
Now I can stop trying to be the off-the-wall, ideas-coming-out-of-my-nose and at-the-drop-of-a-hat creative thinker I will never be.
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Sources:
Dietrich, A. “The cognitive neuroscience of creativity.” (2004).
Weinschenk, S. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People. (2011). — a must read!
Dec
Behavior Grid
What are various ways in which we can change our behaviors? This behavior grid details 15 ways that behavior can change on the spectrums of degree of change x sustainability of change.
The grid is outcome-driven, based on the change we want to exhibit. It would also be interesting to understand how we achieve those various outcomes and the nuances and challenges in achieving the various degrees x lengths of change.
Is it easier to stop a behavior once versus an ongoing bad habit? Are we more satisfied in engaging in a new activity once or in creating a routine of a familiar behavior? What are the cognitive challenges we experience when starting versus stopping a behavior?
Just some food for thought…
Behavior Grid was created by Dr. BJ Fogg, Director of Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University.
Nov
Persuasive Design: Encouraging Users To Do What You Want Them To | Presentation by Andy Budd
Insightful piece on the importance understanding your audience’s motivations to drive engaging digital design and change human behaviors.
