Book review
Games People Play
A brief note on Eric Berne’s Parent, Adult, and Child ego states and the roles people adopt in conversation. Floris works from a summary and explicitly leaves a fuller review for a future reread.
Psychology
Why do we think and act this way?
Mental models, motivation, persuasion, and the mistakes we make with confidence.
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Book review
Humankind
Rutger Bregman makes a case for human kindness and cooperation by revisiting familiar studies and stories. Floris finds the argument compelling while questioning whether some evidence has been selected to fit the thesis.
Book review
Rationality From AI to Zombies
Eliezer Yudkowsky’s collection ranges across cognitive biases, probability, and ways of tracking truth. Floris describes a substantial learning journey and identifies individual essays to revisit for more detailed notes.
Book review
How The Mind Works
Pinker explains the mind through interacting processes and increasingly complex forms of learning. Floris finds the account useful but remains unconvinced by the suggestion that consciousness may be beyond human understanding.
Essay
The 5 Chemicals of Happiness
Drawing on a Simon Sinek talk, this article uses a five-chemical account of reward, social bonds, and stress to discuss leadership. It applies that framework to building trust and reducing stress in a workplace.
Essay
Elaboration Likelihood Model
The Elaboration Likelihood Model offers two routes to persuasion: weighing arguments or responding to peripheral cues. This explainer connects those routes with motivation, ability, authority, liking, and social proof.
Book review
Talking to Strangers
Gladwell considers our tendency to trust people, misread outward behaviour, and miss context. Floris highlights the call for humility in judging strangers alongside the recognition that everyday society depends on trust.
Essay
Fredkin’s Paradox
Why can an almost trivial choice feel so difficult? Fredkin’s paradox introduces a discussion of nearly equal options, choice overload, and the cost of indecision, ending with a case for spending less time on small decisions.
Essay
Why Optimism Bias Is Not Good
Why do we expect our own future to turn out better than other people’s? Starting with housing-market predictions, this essay examines the mechanisms, benefits, and costs of optimism bias in judging personal risk.
Essay
Gameful Mindset
A gameful mindset treats difficulties as challenges to engage with rather than reasons to retreat. Drawing on Jane McGonigal and game-inspired tools, the essay considers why taking on a challenge can be worthwhile even without winning.
Essay
Striving for Contentedness
How can ambition coexist with being content now? Drawing on Tim Ferriss and Brené Brown, Floris considers defining success for yourself and focusing on the steps available in the present.
Essay
Value Self-Worth
A reflection on four possible foundations for self-worth: other people’s opinions, possessions, actions, and personal values. Floris favors values as a steadier foundation while acknowledging the pull of approval and accomplishment.
Essay
Search for Freedom
A reflection on the freedom of being fully absorbed in skiing and extreme sports. Drawing on the idea of flow, Floris asks whether clear goals and feedback could help create similar experiences beyond sport.
Essay
Choice Architecture
The context around a decision can change the choice itself. Defaults, reminders, clearer options, and incentives illustrate how choice architecture shapes behaviour, from organ-donation forms to forgotten email attachments.
Essay
Stress and Work Impairment
An essay on the relationship between work stress, attention, and performance. It uses the Yerkes-Dodson law and burnout research to consider the difference between too little pressure, manageable challenge, and feeling overwhelmed.
Essay
Workaholic or Work Engaged?
A comparison of workaholism and work engagement: compulsion and guilt on one side, energy and enjoyment on the other. The article considers their different relationships with health, personal relationships, and burnout.
Essay
Why We Do What We Do
An introduction to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, using interest, competence, pay, and the candle problem as examples. It considers why rewards may work differently for straightforward tasks and creative work.
Essay
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for Leaders
An introduction to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator’s four preference scales and sixteen types, followed by a discussion of business leaders. An added note questions the tests’ validity and practical value.