850 Quotations Found

Motivated ignorance differs from the more familiar concept of rational ignorance in that ignorance is motivated by the anticipated costs of possessing knowledge, not acquiring it. That is, it is not simply that the benefits of accurate political knowledge may be less than the cost of attaining it and thus not worth pursuing but that the costs of having accurate information exceed the benefits.

When expressed … [ Read more ]

Author: Gary C. Jacobson | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Facts | Bias, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

In 1944, best-selling author and scholar C.S. Lewis delivered the Memorial Lecture entitled, The Inner Ring, at Kings College in London. His speech focused on the innate human desire to belong and the extent to which we will strive to be included, even in groups that don’t serve our highest good. Lewis warned that our desire to belong could unwittingly lead us to actions that … [ Read more ]

Authors: Alaina Love, C.S. Lewis | Source: SmartBrief | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior, Sociology | Anthropology

Human ethics based upon love and personal sympathy only have contributed to narrow the comprehension of the moral feeling as a whole. It is not love to my neighbour — whom I often do not know at all — which induces me to seize a pail of water and to rush towards his house when I see it on fire; it is a far wider, … [ Read more ]

Author: Peter Kropotkin | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Concepts, Ethics | Integrity | Morality, Life & Society, Love, Psychology | Behavior

Anti-Semitism itself is a conspiracy theory: a story about a tiny, malign group that masterminds world events, from the killing of Jesus to the creation of capitalism (and—never mind the contradiction—the spread of communism). Anti-Semitism differs in this respect from racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and homophobia. Those other bigotries are founded on contempt. Anti-Semitism, like all forms of conspiracism, is founded on paranoia. Which is why … [ Read more ]

Author: David Frum | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Prejudice and Stereotype, Psychology | Behavior, Race Relations

Across the animal kingdom, dominance hierarchies inform the way social creatures interact. And while people might think that our more evolved brains and advanced social dynamics put us above the kinds of behavior seen in dogs or apes, our actions are still very much steered by primal drives.

Authors: Deborah H. Gruenfeld, Kevin Cool | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Life & Society, Sociology | Anthropology

Knowing that people value hierarchies, one of the most important skillsets I would say that human beings have is to figure out where they belong and how to contribute in a way that’s valued so they can be part of the group.

Author: Deborah H. Gruenfeld | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Life & Society, Sociology | Anthropology

We are desperate to belong in groups… many individuals prefer lower ranks in a hierarchical group to not being in the group at all. So, they accept those positions. It is oddly a strange source of security to know who’s responsible for what, who’s going to lead, who’s going to follow. And it gives everyone a script to follow so they know how to behave … [ Read more ]

Author: Deborah H. Gruenfeld | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior, Sociology | Anthropology

Time baffles us with its elasticity, the way it slows down when we’re afraid and speeds up as we age. It harrows us with its stagnancy, the way waiting twists the psyche. It haunts us with its demand for meaning. Time is the breath in the lungs of life, the marrow in the skeleton of space, the substance we are made of… But while we … [ Read more ]

Author: Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Productivity & Time Management

So much of life isn’t about intelligence or luck but putting yourself in a position for success. The cash-rich investor thrives in crashes. The well-rested athlete outperforms the exhausted star. The student who studies daily aces the pop quiz. The employee who leaves early gets to the meeting with the CEO on time while the other person sits in the unanticipated traffic. All seem lucky, … [ Read more ]

Author: Shane Parrish | Source: Farnam Street | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement

We say, “Alright, the only way I can live with inequality is to see it as the fault of those who have failed to do as well as I.” To do otherwise leads to a dangerous idea: that the system itself fosters inequality.

Author: Stephanie Coontz | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

Democracy was established in part as a reaction to the notion that there should be any preset order to the world, with rich and poor, sovereign and ruled. But, especially when paired with capitalism, democracy still creates winners and losers. The resulting dissonance between the ideals of democratic life and the reality forced new explanations for inequality.

Author: Brian Alexander | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

The average marriage contract is made by the Child, which understands love as something you feel and not something you do, and which sees happiness as something you pursue rather than a by-product of working toward the happiness of someone other than yourself.

Author: Thomas A. Harris | Subjects: Love, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships

A relationship of intimacy between two people may be thought of as existing independent of the first five ways of time structuring: withdrawal, pastimes, activities, rituals, and games. It is based on the acceptance by both people of the I’m OK – You’re OK position. It rests, literally, in an accepting love where defensive time structuring is made unnecessary. Intimacy is a game-free relationship, since … [ Read more ]

Author: Thomas A. Harris | Subjects: Love, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships

You can buy people’s skills but not their hearts.
You can buy people’s time but not their loyalty.
The most valuable things must be earned.

Author: Shane Parrish | Source: Farnam Street | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement

The quality of attention we pay something or someone is the measure of our love.

Author: Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Love, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships

It’s pretty horrifying to realize that at the end of our lives, one of our biggest regrets will almost certainly be that we wasted so much of our attention, that we cared about the wrong things. And yet very few of us live as though we’ve internalized that insight… Most of us live as though we think we’re going to live forever because that would … [ Read more ]

Author: Sean Illing | Source: Vox | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Productivity & Time Management

People want good jobs, affordable products, and a better life for their children right now, not sacrifice and deprivation in service of a hazy future.

Author: Yossi Sheffi | Source: Management Business Review (MBR) | Subjects: Consumerism, Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Material Possessions, Psychology | Behavior

Once you give up the principle of equality, you have given up the whole game. You have admitted the principle that people are unequal, and that some people are better than others. Once you have replaced the principle of equality with the idea that humans are unequal, you have stamped your approval on the idea of rulers and subjects. At that point, all you can … [ Read more ]

Author: Heather Cox Richardson | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln, then a candidate for the Senate, warned that arguments limiting American equality to white men and excluding black Americans were the same arguments “that kings have made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world…. Turn in whatever way you will—whether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or … [ Read more ]

Authors: Abraham Lincoln, Heather Cox Richardson | Subjects: Concepts, Freedom | Liberty, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Race Relations

One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire.

Author: Hindu wisdom | Subjects: Concepts, Ethics | Integrity | Morality, Life & Society, Personal Improvement