Category: stories
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The Science of Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work (And What To Do About It)
How many New Year’s resolutions have you made in your life? How many have you successfully accomplished? The estimate is that less than 10% of New Year’s resolutions are actually achieved (University of Scranton Psychology Professor John C. Norcross, Ph.D.). There’s a lot of homespun folksy advice out there this time of year about how…
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Your Brain On Stories
Why does a good story grab us? In this HumanTech podcast episode we talk about what happens in your brain when you hear a story, why stories are powerful, and which aspects of stories are the most effective if you want to grab and hold attention, and get people to react and engage. HumanTech is a…
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Would People Rather Give Themselves a Shock Than Sit And Think?
Dr. Timothy Wilson is a social psychologist at the University of Virginia. He joins us in this HumanTech podcast to talk about research on how self-stories affect our behavior, and his new research on the things people are willing to do to not have to just sit and think. And you’ll also hear how Dr. Wilson’s first…
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The Next 100 Things You Need To Know About People: #114 — Great Stories Release Brain Chemicals
George Lucas and the Hero’s Journey — In 1975 George Lucas had written two drafts of Star Wars, but the story had not yet “come together”. He then re-read a 1949 book by Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Lucas had read the book first in college, and now he re-read it. He decided to…
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Your Brain On Stories
One day, many years ago, when I was early in my career, I found myself in front of a classroom full of people who didn’t want to be there. Their boss had told them they had to attend the class I was giving. I knew that many, even most, of them thought the class was…
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365 Ways To Persuade And Motivate: #11 Identify The Operating Self-Story
Someone knocks on your door. You recognize him as a kid from your neighborhood. He’s selling popcorn as a fundraiser for a club he belongs to at school. The club is trying to go to the state convention. How do you react? It depends on the story, or persona, you have of yourself when it comes to topics…
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100 Things You Should Know About People: #56: People Process Information Best In Story Form
One day, many years ago, when I was early in my career, I found myself in front of a classroom full of people who did not want to be there. Their boss had told them they had to attend the class I was giving. I knew that many, even most, of them thought the class…
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100 Things You Should Know About People: #23 — You Are Hard-Wired For Imitation and Empathy
If you put your face right in front of a young baby and stick out your tongue, the baby will stick out his or her tongue too. This happens from a very young age (even as young as a one month old). So? What does this have to do with anything? It’s an example of…
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Sell with Stories
It’s all about stories. Finca is a micro loan company. You give them some money and they loan it to people around the world who are trying to improve their lives. It’s a great organization doing vital work. Their website has good photos, but they could be even more effective if they would focus focus…
