Realizing that everything that happens online is just going to be different, we need to understand what works better and under what circumstances. Read more
With due respect to the previous article and its suggestions for convincing people to mask up, most people don’t understand numbers very well. People who routinely work with numbers like numbers a lot, but for most other people, numbers need to be explained in context and with relevance. Data and facts, especially very large numbers… read more →
There’s an old saying that You do not need a parachute to skydive, you only need a parachute to skydive twice, which I think relates nicely to the face mask debate. Science says wearing face masks in public will prevent a lot of coronavirus illness and death and many of us take that advice to… read more →
We’ve talked a lot here about risk assessment – the science of measuring the bad things that happen and the magnitude of harm – vs. risk communication, the art of helping people understand and act (or not) on the science and the math of risks. Some risks are high probability with big consequences, like roller… read more →
I’m quite sure that you’ll agree that 2020 is one for the books. 20-20 hindsight may be forever ruined as a positive reference. But on top of everything else going on, this may end up being known as the year of apology. There are a lot of obvious and not so obvious sins being atoned… read more →
Regardless of how smart or “woke” we think that we might be, the facts are that humans are driven by emotion first and logic second. And our emotional brains push us to be biased in lots of interesting ways. We’re inclined to think we’re smarter than we are, that people will naturally agree with us,… read more →
We’re not on the same page. People in the U.S. aren’t even in the same library, it seems. Having or facilitating conversations between people who differ so dramatically in their views feels like an insurmountable task but there are better and worse ways to approach them so consider this. Read More
I suspect you know someone who doesn’t buy into the COVID-19 issue as that big of a deal or they actually believe that it’s some kind of manufactured hoax. You’ll hear statements like, It’s just like the flu, in fact the flu’s killed more people so far than the coronavirus. It’s just a Boomer disease. As frustrating as it may be, it’s important that… read more →
As the novelty of camping at home slowly evolves into growing agitation and anxiety, we’re all going to have to learn how to better deal with it. Some thoughts. Read More …
As people rely more and more on email, text, social and all other impersonal ways to connect to others, we know we’re losing something in translation. If you’re wondering what this means to you, consider the research from Western University that says face to face requests are 34 times more effective than emailed ones. We… read more →