I just read a fascinating article about David Allen, author and founder of the organization movement, Getting Things Done (GTD) that appeared this week in the geek-oriented magazine, Wired.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-10/ff_allen?currentPage=all#
I can't say I was surprised to read of Allen's difficult past, or early years of adulthood, and nor was I surprised that there is some kind of "spiritual" underpinnings to Allen's yearnings. Allen and his methods appeal to me for some reason, and although I can't exactly put words to it, I feel I'm half-way there in implementing GTD. When family teases me about my new "cult" membership, I shrug and acknowledge there is some truth to the accusation. But I don't care. I'm sitting in my office and its almost the orderly environment I'm aiming for. I was looking for a chapter of the book I'm writing the other day, and didn't find it right away in a small stack of papers waiting to be processed. I knew it would take no more than two minutes to find the right place to hold the chapters awaiting editing, or input from someone who specializes in a chapter's content. I knew where the glitch in my system occurred, why I couldn't locate the item in 60 seconds or less. This is so far ahead of where I was six months ago, there's no comparison.
What is the spiritual element in GTD? I think the quest for order as a knowledge worker is undeniable. So much of what I do in a day is internally motivated and driven. No one is insisting that I conduct a study, or write up an article reporting on a study I've conducted. I have no CEO driving the ship. I think many knowledge workers are in the same situation, even if they're functioning within a company. I remember reading something that Drucker wrote about the new work environment, where everyone is an entrepreneur. If we are all steering our own ship, that leaves us without the natural mode of organization offered by social hierarchies. Accepting Allen's GTD gives us a "road map" as he calls it, and what person, floating around, working in a socially unstructured environment, wouldn't grasp onto an overarching plan by which to make decisions? I really don't care if I've fallen into a cult-like movement, in fact I'm ready for a refresher course and I wish Allen would plan another stop in the Bay Area.
I recommend to anyone who is interested in GTD, read this article from Wired.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
How to do Research II: What is a Dissertation, what are the pieces of it?
A dissertation is: 1) a long paper, focused on a topic of interest; 2) a review of "the literature" or studies that have been done on this topic in the past; 3) a project or something you actively do, to give you "data" about some aspect of your topic; 4) a write up of what you have done, written so carefully that anyone can read your dissertation and replicate your study 5) a written analysis of what your data tells you, or your "results" 6) a final essay on what your results mean, in the big picture of your topic. If you think of your dissertation as a long paper that includes these six concrete sections, you'll have an overview of the project.
The dissertation project: The "doing" part of the dissertation
Students tend to get frightened by #3, that is by the very idea of actually doing something, that will give them data. In fact this is the easiest part of the dissertation, its just doing research. We all do research all the time. If we're planning to go out for dinner with some friends we make a list in our minds of possible restaurants to go to. We might look up on the Internet one or two that we haven't heard much about. We might ask the friends we're going out with what they feel like eating. In this way we collect some different types of data, and then, based on time, energy, interest, preferences, mood, we make a decision. To decide on the restaurant we've done some research. We do the same thing when we're figuring out what movie to go to, or where to go on vacation, or what classes to take in a semester in school. Doing research for the dissertation is no harder. It might involve more steps, it might take longer, but the process is basically the same.
Doing your project
This part of the dissertation is the easiest and often the most fun. To help you on your way in terms of figuring out what you are going to do, what question you are going to pose and what methods you are going to use to find answers to your questions, it is wise to have a group that you meet with regularly. This is what happens in research groups, and is called the "lab meeting." Everyone fills everyone else in on what they've done that week, what ideas they've had, what they've read, who they talked to, where they're at in the research process. Lab meetings are fun. There is no "right" or "wrong" in a brainstorming session. There is certainly nothing to be afraid of in this part of the dissertation process. What you are going to do doesn't need to be remarkably creative. It often is just another tiny step in finding something out about a topic. Students tend to think they have to do something that is earth shaking, when all they have to do is study one small piece of a big problem. The smaller the objective of the dissertation, the more doable it tends to be. In figuring out what you are going to do, make it small, make it concrete, something you can visualize, imagine in detail.
Think of Outcomes (What is the desired outcome?) Think of Next Action (What is the next action?)
Early in the dissertation its time to start thinking in terms of "Desired Outcome" and "Next Action." What is the desired outcome of your project: Its a completed dissertation (as the large outcome), and at each step of the way, you have many desired outcomes. If you consider the desired outcome at each step of the way, you are then able to break what you need to do down into very concrete and doable "next actions." Learning to think of desired outcomes and next actions will make the whole process move smoothly and continuously. Instead of freaking out about the enormity of the whole dissertation, you will begin to think in a much more concrete and doable framework. Each week you can ask yourself 'what is the desired outcome" for the week. From there you consider "what is the next action" to lead you to your desired outcome. Your brain is a great information processing and planning machine. Whether or not you deliberately try to consider the next actions, once you establish a desired outcome for a piece of the project, or for a period of time, you will automatically begin to consider what might be your next actions.
The dissertation project: The "doing" part of the dissertation
Students tend to get frightened by #3, that is by the very idea of actually doing something, that will give them data. In fact this is the easiest part of the dissertation, its just doing research. We all do research all the time. If we're planning to go out for dinner with some friends we make a list in our minds of possible restaurants to go to. We might look up on the Internet one or two that we haven't heard much about. We might ask the friends we're going out with what they feel like eating. In this way we collect some different types of data, and then, based on time, energy, interest, preferences, mood, we make a decision. To decide on the restaurant we've done some research. We do the same thing when we're figuring out what movie to go to, or where to go on vacation, or what classes to take in a semester in school. Doing research for the dissertation is no harder. It might involve more steps, it might take longer, but the process is basically the same.
Doing your project
This part of the dissertation is the easiest and often the most fun. To help you on your way in terms of figuring out what you are going to do, what question you are going to pose and what methods you are going to use to find answers to your questions, it is wise to have a group that you meet with regularly. This is what happens in research groups, and is called the "lab meeting." Everyone fills everyone else in on what they've done that week, what ideas they've had, what they've read, who they talked to, where they're at in the research process. Lab meetings are fun. There is no "right" or "wrong" in a brainstorming session. There is certainly nothing to be afraid of in this part of the dissertation process. What you are going to do doesn't need to be remarkably creative. It often is just another tiny step in finding something out about a topic. Students tend to think they have to do something that is earth shaking, when all they have to do is study one small piece of a big problem. The smaller the objective of the dissertation, the more doable it tends to be. In figuring out what you are going to do, make it small, make it concrete, something you can visualize, imagine in detail.
Think of Outcomes (What is the desired outcome?) Think of Next Action (What is the next action?)
Early in the dissertation its time to start thinking in terms of "Desired Outcome" and "Next Action." What is the desired outcome of your project: Its a completed dissertation (as the large outcome), and at each step of the way, you have many desired outcomes. If you consider the desired outcome at each step of the way, you are then able to break what you need to do down into very concrete and doable "next actions." Learning to think of desired outcomes and next actions will make the whole process move smoothly and continuously. Instead of freaking out about the enormity of the whole dissertation, you will begin to think in a much more concrete and doable framework. Each week you can ask yourself 'what is the desired outcome" for the week. From there you consider "what is the next action" to lead you to your desired outcome. Your brain is a great information processing and planning machine. Whether or not you deliberately try to consider the next actions, once you establish a desired outcome for a piece of the project, or for a period of time, you will automatically begin to consider what might be your next actions.
Friday, September 21, 2007
From Lifehack: How to read like a scholar
Lifehack has a great blog today, for students about how to read like a scholar. Its one of those blogs that is good enough to repeat here, given that my students are struggling with this right now, as they begin to work on their dissertations.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/advice-for-students-how-to-read-like-a-scholar.html
So here it is:
Reading as an academic exercise involves not just gleaning the content form a book or essay but engaging with it. We read not just to learn some new set of facts but also to learn how facts are put together to form an argument, to learn what kinds of arguments are acceptable in our chosen disciplines, and to prompt us towards further research. Reading of this sort raises as many questions as it answers, or more.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/advice-for-students-how-to-read-like-a-scholar.html
So here it is:
Reading as an academic exercise involves not just gleaning the content form a book or essay but engaging with it. We read not just to learn some new set of facts but also to learn how facts are put together to form an argument, to learn what kinds of arguments are acceptable in our chosen disciplines, and to prompt us towards further research. Reading of this sort raises as many questions as it answers, or more.
While reading, students should keep the following questions in mind:
- What is the author trying to say? This seems obvious, but it seems to be a stumbling block for many students. I’m convinced that the failure to ask this simple question is what leads students to avoid reading, to feel that reading is a chore or, worse, busy-work. Remember, authors — academic or otherwise — aren’t in the business of writing just to bore students; there’s something important they want to communicate. Granted, not all writing communicates well, but regardless of the writer’s skill, if a professor assigned a reading, it’s because there’s something there worth knowing about.
- How does the author say what they’re trying to say? What evidence do they use? What style of argument are they making? How are they positioning themselves? You’d be surprised how many people read an essay about, say, infanticide (the killing of newborn children) and assume the author is advocating this practice instead of simply describing it. These readers totally misread the author’s position.
- Why is the author’s point important? If you can figure out why the author felt he or she needed to write the article or book in your hands, you’re a good way towards figuring out what they’re trying to say. What contribution does the work make to the author’s discipline, to our understanding of society or the world? What problems are they trying to solve?
- Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why? Just because something’s in print doesn’t make it right. As a student, it is essential that you read critically, with an eye towards inconsistencies in an author’s argument or evidence. Are there other explanations for the data they present? Is the author’s interpretation colored by his or her religion, professional background, political orientation, or social position? Note: far too many students seem to think that criticizing style is a good substitute for critiquing substance. It’s not. A lot of academic writing is stilted, difficult (sometimes deliberately so), or just plain bad; this does not mean that the ideas are not good.
- How does this work connect with other works? What’s new about it (or, if it’s an older work, what was new when it was published)? What disciplinary debates is the author engaging? How does this work build on, or refute, earlier works by other authors? How does it fit with the author’s other work? What other work is the one you’re reading like?
- What is the social context of the work? Always consider the historical moment in which a work was created. What kind of person wrote it, and for what kind of audience? What historical events shaped the author’s perceptions and ideas? How was their world different from yours, and how was it similar?
These questions should be on your mind even if you can’t read the whole book. It’s a sad fact of college life that not everything that is assigned can be given the same level of attention. In grad school, for instance, I was regularly charged with reading three (or more) hefty books a week, plus supporting essays and commentaries — while carrying out my own research at the same time. This is not humanly possible. You have to learn to prioritize reading, and to approach it systematically to make sure you get as much as possible out of whatever amount of reading you can manage.
Here’s how you do it:
- Skim the book. Examine the table of contents to get a feeling for the structure and main points of the book. Flip through the chapters, skimming the first few paragraphs of each, and then the section headings. Check the index for any topics you feel are especially important. Then, if you have time;
- Read the Introduction and conclusion. Most of the author’s theoretical position will be laid out in the introduction, along with at least a summary of the chapters and sections within. The conclusion revisits much of these points, and usually gives a good overview of the data or other evidence. Sometimes the conclusion is not marked as such; in this case, read the last chapter. Then, if you have time;
- Dip in. Read the chapters that seem most relevant or interesting. Get a sense for what the author is trying to accomplish. Flip through the rest of the book and look more closely at anything that catches your eye. Then, if you have time;
- Finish the book. Read the whole thing. If you know you’ll have time, skip 1 - 3 and just read, cover to cover.
Obviously it’s best to read the whole book; you’ll miss a lot reading anything less. But given the choice between not reading at all and skimming to at least get a taste of what you’re missing, I say, go for skimming. And try to keep yourself better organized in the future so that you don’t shortchange your entire education.
How to do Research: Part I
The mystique of research
This is the first of a series on how to do research. Research carries with it a mystique, a vague reputation that it is very hard to do and that you have to be super smart to do it. Reality check here: Research is easier than most things that psychologists do, if you make a mistake its only some numbers and no one gets hurt, you can apologize and correct it. In clinical work if you make a mistake a client might get hurt, there are human lives involved in the endeavor. Research has no such hidden disasters, consequences are small and something anyone can deal with.
Finding a topic: Gathering data about interests
Research begins with ideas about topics, or research begins with topic. How do you find your research topic? You find your topic by being honest with yourself. One of the many myths about research is that you shouldn't’t do anything that is “too close to home” or of great personal interest. This is dead wrong. Most of the great scientists in our field have began with something of personal interest. Seligman began studying depression because his father lapsed into a terrible depression after he had a stroke. Sternberg from Yale had been studying intelligence. Then his marriage broke up and he fell in love with someone. Suddenly his research focus shifted to love. You need to choose a topic of great personal interest. Choosing a topic because you think it will be easy or convenient will never work. Choosing a topic because it is someone else’s interest will never work. I recommend that you walk around for a few months with a small notebook in your pocket. Whenever you find yourself thinking about something of interest, or worrying about something of interest, write it down in your notebook. When you go to a bookstore and you think no one is looking, where do you go? When you go to Amazon and you’re browsing, where do you go, what books are you looking at? When you’re browsing on the interest and time flies by without a trace, where are you anyway, what topic or ideas are you researching? Write these all down in your notebook, and you’re well on your way to coming up with a research topic.
Making a list
Read and re-read the topics you’ve identified. Type them all up on a giant list. If you dare, bring them up in a group and see what discussion ensues. A topic that starts a big conversation is likely to be one you’re interested in. The conversation follows from the excitement you have generated. If you bring up a topic and there is no response, chances are you aren’t really excited by it yourself, and doing research on it will be like pulling teeth.
Go back to your list of topics, and select the ones that most excite you. Remember not to worry about methods, or convenience. Methods will follow after you have studied your topic for a while, and will be derived from you research question, but that is still a way off.
A list of what excites you
Make a smaller list of topics that most excite you. Then go to Google Scholar and put in one of your favorites, use several combinations of words and see what comes up. Print it out. Get the articles that are easily available online. Go through your school’s library/Internet system to get access to the full text of those not readily available. Skim the abstracts of the articles you have. Pay attention to your heart as you skim them –are you instantly bored, or do you want to go back to Google Scholar to search for more articles?
Move on to the next topic on your “most exciting” list, and repeat this process. Do this a few more times, and pay attention to how your experience with each topic feels. Through this process you will discover the topic you want to study.
This is the first of a series on how to do research. Research carries with it a mystique, a vague reputation that it is very hard to do and that you have to be super smart to do it. Reality check here: Research is easier than most things that psychologists do, if you make a mistake its only some numbers and no one gets hurt, you can apologize and correct it. In clinical work if you make a mistake a client might get hurt, there are human lives involved in the endeavor. Research has no such hidden disasters, consequences are small and something anyone can deal with.
Finding a topic: Gathering data about interests
Research begins with ideas about topics, or research begins with topic. How do you find your research topic? You find your topic by being honest with yourself. One of the many myths about research is that you shouldn't’t do anything that is “too close to home” or of great personal interest. This is dead wrong. Most of the great scientists in our field have began with something of personal interest. Seligman began studying depression because his father lapsed into a terrible depression after he had a stroke. Sternberg from Yale had been studying intelligence. Then his marriage broke up and he fell in love with someone. Suddenly his research focus shifted to love. You need to choose a topic of great personal interest. Choosing a topic because you think it will be easy or convenient will never work. Choosing a topic because it is someone else’s interest will never work. I recommend that you walk around for a few months with a small notebook in your pocket. Whenever you find yourself thinking about something of interest, or worrying about something of interest, write it down in your notebook. When you go to a bookstore and you think no one is looking, where do you go? When you go to Amazon and you’re browsing, where do you go, what books are you looking at? When you’re browsing on the interest and time flies by without a trace, where are you anyway, what topic or ideas are you researching? Write these all down in your notebook, and you’re well on your way to coming up with a research topic.
Making a list
Read and re-read the topics you’ve identified. Type them all up on a giant list. If you dare, bring them up in a group and see what discussion ensues. A topic that starts a big conversation is likely to be one you’re interested in. The conversation follows from the excitement you have generated. If you bring up a topic and there is no response, chances are you aren’t really excited by it yourself, and doing research on it will be like pulling teeth.
Go back to your list of topics, and select the ones that most excite you. Remember not to worry about methods, or convenience. Methods will follow after you have studied your topic for a while, and will be derived from you research question, but that is still a way off.
A list of what excites you
Make a smaller list of topics that most excite you. Then go to Google Scholar and put in one of your favorites, use several combinations of words and see what comes up. Print it out. Get the articles that are easily available online. Go through your school’s library/Internet system to get access to the full text of those not readily available. Skim the abstracts of the articles you have. Pay attention to your heart as you skim them –are you instantly bored, or do you want to go back to Google Scholar to search for more articles?
Move on to the next topic on your “most exciting” list, and repeat this process. Do this a few more times, and pay attention to how your experience with each topic feels. Through this process you will discover the topic you want to study.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Early to Rise..Its become a habit
I woke up at 4AM this morning, without an alarm clock or wake up call. I've been doing this for about 30 days. Finally I think its becoming a habit. When I awake now I go right into my office. I leave my computer in my office in the evening, so that I have to go to my office (out of bed) when I awaken in the morning. I used to take my computer to bed, which meant that I stayed in bed with it in the morning. Now I am forced to go to my office. My first action is to check my email to see if anything important has come in. I respond to any emails I have to answer. Then I write. Sometimes my writing is focused on the book I'm writing "How to help almost anyone: A psychotherapy Primer" and sometimes on something else; an article, this blog, a letter, notes for my wiki, etc. The point is that I am using the early morning hours for writing. I have been writing every day since 1970, this is a very old and well-established habit. Writing early in the morning is a brand new habit. It far surpasses writing in the evening. Checking my email and writing early in the morning have become my morning scaffold.
I have once again followed David Seah and joined a gym. Its luxurious, and includes a "junior Olympic swimming pool." I am swimming, and suddenly remembering how much I love swimming. As a child I fell in a pool at age 3, and began to swim naturally. Swimming was my favorite activity as a child. I am swimming again, it feels wonderful. However it takes too long to get to the club, work out, and drive home to go every day. I am alternating days in the gym with Kundalini Yoga so I do some physical activity every day. This is the habit I am working on now, for the rest of September and the first half of October. I am doing the Seinfeld trick of marking each day I do my new habit on a calendar, hung up on the bulletin board behind my bed. Tracking progress on a new habit makes it concrete, tangible. Making things tangible is how to make things work. Be concrete about everything you do, and you will make progress.
I have once again followed David Seah and joined a gym. Its luxurious, and includes a "junior Olympic swimming pool." I am swimming, and suddenly remembering how much I love swimming. As a child I fell in a pool at age 3, and began to swim naturally. Swimming was my favorite activity as a child. I am swimming again, it feels wonderful. However it takes too long to get to the club, work out, and drive home to go every day. I am alternating days in the gym with Kundalini Yoga so I do some physical activity every day. This is the habit I am working on now, for the rest of September and the first half of October. I am doing the Seinfeld trick of marking each day I do my new habit on a calendar, hung up on the bulletin board behind my bed. Tracking progress on a new habit makes it concrete, tangible. Making things tangible is how to make things work. Be concrete about everything you do, and you will make progress.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
MCEP (Mandatory Continuing Education for Psychologists): Rereading a Great Book
What You Can Change...And What You Can't
It's license renewal time, and to renew I had to take courses to make sure I'm keeping up with my field. I admit, I love continuing education. It gives me an excuse to read some psychology and to attend meetings/workshops/classes that I want to go to but wouldn't allow myself the luxury if I didn't have it as "mandatory." Those who have followed my ongoing story might remember I attended a great three day conference on "learning and the brain" which allotted me 19.5 units of my 36 mandated units. The past month I've done "online" courses, and I loved most of them. Most recently I took a course in Marty Seligman's book, What you can change...And what you can't. I read this years ago and loved it, and reading it again was even better. Seligman may have his weaknesses, like being a salesman at moments. But the story he's selling is spectacular, music to my ears. He's the daddy of "positive psychology," and before that new school in my field, he was the scientist and then popularizer of "learned helplessness" and "Learned Optimism." Seligman's basic message is that how we explain things that happen to us, or our "attributional style" defines how we feel about ourselves and the world. If we explain negative events and experiences as our own fault, likely to effect everything in our lives, and likely to go on forever (or for a long time anyway we're pessimistic and likely to be prone to depression. If we explain positive events as due to something outside of ourselves (someone else, luck, chance), unlikely to have much of an effect on our lives, and likely to be short lived, we're pessimists. If however, we take credit for good things that happen, if we think the good thing will have a powerful effect and that it will go on for a long time or even forever, we're optimists. Seligman focused primarily on how we explain negative events and the link these explanations have to depression. In research carried out in my lab we found out that how we explain positive events is equally important to depression proneness. If I can't take credit for some terrific event or experience, I'm in trouble, I'm at high risk for depression. Seligman's theory of attributional (or explanatory) style is, bottom line, a gem of a psychological theory and one that has been of use to me in understanding our psychology.
In this short and easy-read book, Seligman talks to us about the problems we can fix, and those we are stuck with. He chases after major myths in psychology (and in the whole culture) and lays them out starkly --there is no way to miss his message.
Experiences in childhood do not cause psychological problems
Weight is based on genetics, not psychology
Dieting backfires, if you diet, you'll gain it all back more easily each time
No treatment for alcoholism/addiction is better than a natural course of recovery
Childhood experiences are not correlated with proneness to problems with alcohol or other drugs
Obsessive compulsive disorder can't be effectively treated by talk therapy alone
Sex abuse is not necessarily the source of psychological problems
Sexual identification and orientation are not up for change
Sexual preferences show up in first adolescent experiences and rarely change later
Seligman holds on to the fundamental significance of a person's biology, while promoting psychotherapies that help change those pathogenic beliefs that are changeable. There's hardly a line in the book that misses the mark, and that isn't grounded in psychological science. He first published it in 1993, and its still right on almost all accounts, 14 years later. How many books can claim that?
The beauty of continuing education is that we are able to get credit for sitting around reading something like "What you can change...and what you can't..." It reminds me of how much I love to read in my chosen field, and that I have a passion for psychology. We get so ground down with the tasks we have to do, the nitty gritty of our daily lives. I thought "oh no, I have to get my MCEP units this month, my license has to be renewed by September 30th" forgetting that this was a chance to have some fun. I think I might extend this and take "just one more" online course...
It's license renewal time, and to renew I had to take courses to make sure I'm keeping up with my field. I admit, I love continuing education. It gives me an excuse to read some psychology and to attend meetings/workshops/classes that I want to go to but wouldn't allow myself the luxury if I didn't have it as "mandatory." Those who have followed my ongoing story might remember I attended a great three day conference on "learning and the brain" which allotted me 19.5 units of my 36 mandated units. The past month I've done "online" courses, and I loved most of them. Most recently I took a course in Marty Seligman's book, What you can change...And what you can't. I read this years ago and loved it, and reading it again was even better. Seligman may have his weaknesses, like being a salesman at moments. But the story he's selling is spectacular, music to my ears. He's the daddy of "positive psychology," and before that new school in my field, he was the scientist and then popularizer of "learned helplessness" and "Learned Optimism." Seligman's basic message is that how we explain things that happen to us, or our "attributional style" defines how we feel about ourselves and the world. If we explain negative events and experiences as our own fault, likely to effect everything in our lives, and likely to go on forever (or for a long time anyway we're pessimistic and likely to be prone to depression. If we explain positive events as due to something outside of ourselves (someone else, luck, chance), unlikely to have much of an effect on our lives, and likely to be short lived, we're pessimists. If however, we take credit for good things that happen, if we think the good thing will have a powerful effect and that it will go on for a long time or even forever, we're optimists. Seligman focused primarily on how we explain negative events and the link these explanations have to depression. In research carried out in my lab we found out that how we explain positive events is equally important to depression proneness. If I can't take credit for some terrific event or experience, I'm in trouble, I'm at high risk for depression. Seligman's theory of attributional (or explanatory) style is, bottom line, a gem of a psychological theory and one that has been of use to me in understanding our psychology.
In this short and easy-read book, Seligman talks to us about the problems we can fix, and those we are stuck with. He chases after major myths in psychology (and in the whole culture) and lays them out starkly --there is no way to miss his message.
Experiences in childhood do not cause psychological problems
Weight is based on genetics, not psychology
Dieting backfires, if you diet, you'll gain it all back more easily each time
No treatment for alcoholism/addiction is better than a natural course of recovery
Childhood experiences are not correlated with proneness to problems with alcohol or other drugs
Obsessive compulsive disorder can't be effectively treated by talk therapy alone
Sex abuse is not necessarily the source of psychological problems
Sexual identification and orientation are not up for change
Sexual preferences show up in first adolescent experiences and rarely change later
Seligman holds on to the fundamental significance of a person's biology, while promoting psychotherapies that help change those pathogenic beliefs that are changeable. There's hardly a line in the book that misses the mark, and that isn't grounded in psychological science. He first published it in 1993, and its still right on almost all accounts, 14 years later. How many books can claim that?
The beauty of continuing education is that we are able to get credit for sitting around reading something like "What you can change...and what you can't..." It reminds me of how much I love to read in my chosen field, and that I have a passion for psychology. We get so ground down with the tasks we have to do, the nitty gritty of our daily lives. I thought "oh no, I have to get my MCEP units this month, my license has to be renewed by September 30th" forgetting that this was a chance to have some fun. I think I might extend this and take "just one more" online course...
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Fascinating Interview: "Green Guilt"
Linkedin
I received an E-mail last week, "Someone in Linkedin wants to contact you." For those of you who don't know what "linked in" is --its some kind of connection service that I joined a while ago. I read that a blogger, Matt Cornell, had put out to the universe a question about "How do you start a consulting service"? Having developed my thoughts about how to start a private practice (in my case, a psychotherapy practice) I felt like writing a response to the question, and this meant joining Linkedin. It was an investment, something like $2oo, more than I should spend, but I was too curious too just forget it. I joined, having no idea of what it was. It turned out to be a service that connects people. Linked in went through my address book, and told me every person who was there who was also a member of Linkedin. I then was given the option of being able to invite anyone on that list to become one of my Linkedin connections. I invited everyone I felt comfortable inviting. From there it showed me everyone who my connection was also connected to, and of course it turned out to include many many people. It is built on the idea of degrees of connection, or whatever that is called. It is based on the theory that everyone is only six degrees away from connecting to what should be very distant other people. So if I know 50 people (for example) and each one of them knows 50 other people, I can get to those other people relatively other easily. And of course those 2nd degree of connection also know 50 other people, and this is then a rapidly growing chain of connections --its an exponentially growing list of connections. I was instantly intrigued by the possibilities of Linkedin, and I was glad I had moved on my impulse to join the Linkedin fraternity (or sorority), although what use it would ever be for me remained unknown.
Then, on the first day of my large class last spring, a young man who was a student in the class came over to me at the break and said "I saw you on Linkedin and invited you to become one of my connections." I then remembered getting an invitation from someone I didn't know. I had accepted the invitation, still having no idea of who the person was. Mystery solved. I have continued to get invitations to be people's connection in Linkedin, and the list of spiraling connections continues to grow. However how this might be useful to me had not shown itself until this past week when this E-mail arrived in my in-box, saying that someone wanted to get in touch with me.
A USA Reporter on "Green Guilt"
I responded and this took me to a message from a reporter at USA Today, Janet Kornblum. She was writing an article about "Green Guilt" or the guilt that many of us are experiencing when we feel that we are failing to be "green" enough. As a member of Linkedin, she had done a search there, using the term "psychologist" and "guilt." I don't often write about my life as a scientist here, but in my professional life I have been conducting research on guilt for over a decade. So Janet's search brought her right to my doorstep. She wanted to interview me on the topic, and I accepted her invitation. People often complain about what the press does to them, but I have generally had good experiences with the press, and so I didn't hesitate in accepting Janet's invitation, I thought it would be fun. It was.
How to change public attitude
We had a great conversation about the guilt many of us feel about our various environmentally wasteful habits. We branched out to discuss how one changes public opinion about social issues. I discussed the change we have all seen in attitudes about smoking (for example); it used to be considered cool and "adult" to smoke. Today smokers feel like junkies, sneaking their cigarettes in back alleys so to to speak. It used to be considered cool to beat your wife if she "misbehaved." When police officers were called out to deal with a domestic violence situation, they would take the guy out to walk around the block and express their sympathy for them, living with such a difficult woman. Today batterers get arrested. Public attitudes have changed, domestic violence is a punishable crime. Women who are being beaten don't always keep it such a secret, and this all is the result of the women's movement and a massive national campaign put on by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, centered in San Francisco. Public attitudes have changed dramatically, much as attitudes about smoking have changed. And so it goes with environmental issues; a focus on the environment used to be the baby of a fringe group in our society. Today it is increasingly everyone's baby. The result thus far is a growing massive public movement and awareness of global warming and the tenuous state of our planet. Some months ago I wrote a blog about global warming, while feeling guilty about my own horrendous overuse of paper. I have plenty of green guilt and I had fun talking to Janet about the issue.
Guilt-induction is not an effective vehicle of social change
Making people feel guilty about a social issue is not an effective strategy for promoting change. Those so-called trainings based on making European Americans feel guilty about "white privilege" in order to decrease racism are doomed to failure. When people are made to feel guilty, the effect is to raise their defenses. Defensive people can't hear about other's experiences. Raising defensiveness is a terrible strategy for anything. This has to be as true about environmental issues, as it is for overcoming racism or sexism.
How guilty are we feeling as a nation about polluting the environment and using up natural resources? I used to think there were no private solutions to public problems. I still believe this, but with less conviction. It may be that if enough of us were environmentally conscious and were willing to act on our belief, there might be a small dent in the massive damage we are doing to the environment. But how great would that be, if nothing bigger happens? Probably very limited. Most people have no disretionary income. They don't have the personal resources to buy the part-electric car which is so expensive. Most of us don't have the money to buy or rent a home in the city, so instead we have to live in the suburbs where housing is cheaper, and commute to work in the city, adding to the environmental burden. How much good is it for us to recycle? What does it mean to the environment for large numbers of people to recycle? How is our garbage adding to global warming? What effect is our recyling our household garbage having on the larger environment? I don't have an answer to these questions. I suspect that things we are able to do as private individuals are relatively ineffective in saving our planet from the bigger effects of a basically non-sustainable economic organization. How many of us are feeling guilty for the fact that the United States uses more energy than any other nation?
A Mind Experiment about Guilt: What are the benefits and what are the shadows?
What is the benefit of feeling guilty about how we live? Does feeling guilty really change behavior? There are various types and degrees of guilt. Some kinds of guilt allow us to live in social groups peacefully. Here's a mind experiment. Imagine that someone has harmed you. Then imagine that the person who harmed you feels guilty about it. Next imagine that someone has harmed you and feels no guilt about it. Now imagine in what condition you could or would forgive the person. In the first condition, when the person feels guilt about harming you, there's a good chance you would be forgiving. But in the second condition, when the person who harmed you feels no guilt about it, you'd be far less likely to forgive them. Guilt is an essential ingredient in the process of forgiving. This is the positive function of guilt. But ruminative guilt, or guilt for imaginary crimes, is connected with depression. Too much guilt is inhibiting and life destroying. What about the environment? Does it make sense for me to feel guilty about my use of paper? I don't have the answer to this one, but if someone reading this has some ideas about it, please leave a comment.
I received an E-mail last week, "Someone in Linkedin wants to contact you." For those of you who don't know what "linked in" is --its some kind of connection service that I joined a while ago. I read that a blogger, Matt Cornell, had put out to the universe a question about "How do you start a consulting service"? Having developed my thoughts about how to start a private practice (in my case, a psychotherapy practice) I felt like writing a response to the question, and this meant joining Linkedin. It was an investment, something like $2oo, more than I should spend, but I was too curious too just forget it. I joined, having no idea of what it was. It turned out to be a service that connects people. Linked in went through my address book, and told me every person who was there who was also a member of Linkedin. I then was given the option of being able to invite anyone on that list to become one of my Linkedin connections. I invited everyone I felt comfortable inviting. From there it showed me everyone who my connection was also connected to, and of course it turned out to include many many people. It is built on the idea of degrees of connection, or whatever that is called. It is based on the theory that everyone is only six degrees away from connecting to what should be very distant other people. So if I know 50 people (for example) and each one of them knows 50 other people, I can get to those other people relatively other easily. And of course those 2nd degree of connection also know 50 other people, and this is then a rapidly growing chain of connections --its an exponentially growing list of connections. I was instantly intrigued by the possibilities of Linkedin, and I was glad I had moved on my impulse to join the Linkedin fraternity (or sorority), although what use it would ever be for me remained unknown.
Then, on the first day of my large class last spring, a young man who was a student in the class came over to me at the break and said "I saw you on Linkedin and invited you to become one of my connections." I then remembered getting an invitation from someone I didn't know. I had accepted the invitation, still having no idea of who the person was. Mystery solved. I have continued to get invitations to be people's connection in Linkedin, and the list of spiraling connections continues to grow. However how this might be useful to me had not shown itself until this past week when this E-mail arrived in my in-box, saying that someone wanted to get in touch with me.
A USA Reporter on "Green Guilt"
I responded and this took me to a message from a reporter at USA Today, Janet Kornblum. She was writing an article about "Green Guilt" or the guilt that many of us are experiencing when we feel that we are failing to be "green" enough. As a member of Linkedin, she had done a search there, using the term "psychologist" and "guilt." I don't often write about my life as a scientist here, but in my professional life I have been conducting research on guilt for over a decade. So Janet's search brought her right to my doorstep. She wanted to interview me on the topic, and I accepted her invitation. People often complain about what the press does to them, but I have generally had good experiences with the press, and so I didn't hesitate in accepting Janet's invitation, I thought it would be fun. It was.
How to change public attitude
We had a great conversation about the guilt many of us feel about our various environmentally wasteful habits. We branched out to discuss how one changes public opinion about social issues. I discussed the change we have all seen in attitudes about smoking (for example); it used to be considered cool and "adult" to smoke. Today smokers feel like junkies, sneaking their cigarettes in back alleys so to to speak. It used to be considered cool to beat your wife if she "misbehaved." When police officers were called out to deal with a domestic violence situation, they would take the guy out to walk around the block and express their sympathy for them, living with such a difficult woman. Today batterers get arrested. Public attitudes have changed, domestic violence is a punishable crime. Women who are being beaten don't always keep it such a secret, and this all is the result of the women's movement and a massive national campaign put on by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, centered in San Francisco. Public attitudes have changed dramatically, much as attitudes about smoking have changed. And so it goes with environmental issues; a focus on the environment used to be the baby of a fringe group in our society. Today it is increasingly everyone's baby. The result thus far is a growing massive public movement and awareness of global warming and the tenuous state of our planet. Some months ago I wrote a blog about global warming, while feeling guilty about my own horrendous overuse of paper. I have plenty of green guilt and I had fun talking to Janet about the issue.
Guilt-induction is not an effective vehicle of social change
Making people feel guilty about a social issue is not an effective strategy for promoting change. Those so-called trainings based on making European Americans feel guilty about "white privilege" in order to decrease racism are doomed to failure. When people are made to feel guilty, the effect is to raise their defenses. Defensive people can't hear about other's experiences. Raising defensiveness is a terrible strategy for anything. This has to be as true about environmental issues, as it is for overcoming racism or sexism.
How guilty are we feeling as a nation about polluting the environment and using up natural resources? I used to think there were no private solutions to public problems. I still believe this, but with less conviction. It may be that if enough of us were environmentally conscious and were willing to act on our belief, there might be a small dent in the massive damage we are doing to the environment. But how great would that be, if nothing bigger happens? Probably very limited. Most people have no disretionary income. They don't have the personal resources to buy the part-electric car which is so expensive. Most of us don't have the money to buy or rent a home in the city, so instead we have to live in the suburbs where housing is cheaper, and commute to work in the city, adding to the environmental burden. How much good is it for us to recycle? What does it mean to the environment for large numbers of people to recycle? How is our garbage adding to global warming? What effect is our recyling our household garbage having on the larger environment? I don't have an answer to these questions. I suspect that things we are able to do as private individuals are relatively ineffective in saving our planet from the bigger effects of a basically non-sustainable economic organization. How many of us are feeling guilty for the fact that the United States uses more energy than any other nation?
A Mind Experiment about Guilt: What are the benefits and what are the shadows?
What is the benefit of feeling guilty about how we live? Does feeling guilty really change behavior? There are various types and degrees of guilt. Some kinds of guilt allow us to live in social groups peacefully. Here's a mind experiment. Imagine that someone has harmed you. Then imagine that the person who harmed you feels guilty about it. Next imagine that someone has harmed you and feels no guilt about it. Now imagine in what condition you could or would forgive the person. In the first condition, when the person feels guilt about harming you, there's a good chance you would be forgiving. But in the second condition, when the person who harmed you feels no guilt about it, you'd be far less likely to forgive them. Guilt is an essential ingredient in the process of forgiving. This is the positive function of guilt. But ruminative guilt, or guilt for imaginary crimes, is connected with depression. Too much guilt is inhibiting and life destroying. What about the environment? Does it make sense for me to feel guilty about my use of paper? I don't have the answer to this one, but if someone reading this has some ideas about it, please leave a comment.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Labor Day Evening
The Sopranos
I've been watching the Sopranos with family for weeks now. The last few days we moved on to Year 5 (and yes we've gone all the way from week 1, year one) and today I decided I'm out of the playing. In year 4 an edge of gratuitous violence crept in, and I wasn't just sickened, I got bored. That means, I suppose, it made me too anxious and I couldn't stand it any more. Year 5 is even worse. So I bow out. I think my household made a decision to move with me, and in the name of togetherness, we're moving on to watching House (which I have never seen). The oddest thing is that I never watch TV, but for a month or two over the past 15 years. I had an Ex-File summer the way this has been the Soprano season. I ordered Bones to take a look at it while I'm at it, I think it might be related to the X-Files in style. Or maybe its time I get back to work. Being a knowledge worker feels like an expressed aversion to labor. It's difficult to remember that teaching writing, continual reading of the scientific press are their own form of labor.
I've been watching the Sopranos with family for weeks now. The last few days we moved on to Year 5 (and yes we've gone all the way from week 1, year one) and today I decided I'm out of the playing. In year 4 an edge of gratuitous violence crept in, and I wasn't just sickened, I got bored. That means, I suppose, it made me too anxious and I couldn't stand it any more. Year 5 is even worse. So I bow out. I think my household made a decision to move with me, and in the name of togetherness, we're moving on to watching House (which I have never seen). The oddest thing is that I never watch TV, but for a month or two over the past 15 years. I had an Ex-File summer the way this has been the Soprano season. I ordered Bones to take a look at it while I'm at it, I think it might be related to the X-Files in style. Or maybe its time I get back to work. Being a knowledge worker feels like an expressed aversion to labor. It's difficult to remember that teaching writing, continual reading of the scientific press are their own form of labor.
Labor Day: The Weekly Review
The Weekly Review
Yesterday I finally did my first complete weekly review. The "Weekly Review" as its called by the GTD people, is a time set aside to empty inboxes, gather in one place and enter into a data base all those index cards, circa notebook items, Molskine notebook items, and misc data from my computer (that's yet another data "collection" point.) Then, I print out my calendars from last week and the two weeks ahead of me, print out my "next action" list that I keep on Vitalist (www.vitalist.com) , print out my "tickler list," the "waiting for list," topping this off with a complete list of projects. I keep my list of "maybe/someday" in Vitalist, as I like to review it weekly to see if there is anything I want to get too soon, or even now. With everything now in hard copy, I read through it all. This way I keep abreast of what I am supposed to be doing, what I am in fact doing, and what I don't want to be doing yet. I also followed Allen's 2 minute rule. When I ran into anything in my in-boxes that I could deal with (meaning actually do) in 2 minutes or less, I did it right then and there, as soon as I ran into it. By mid-day my office was about as organized and efficient as I have ever seen it. Its time for another picture, the "After" picture of my work space.
Now that I've done the weekly review thoroughly I think I can keep it up weekly. What stopped me until yesterday was the amount of "stuff" that had gathered in my two wooden "in-baskets." I was afraid of the "stuff." I started the review at 6AM which left me plenty of time, no matter how long it took. I followed David Allen's recommendation to deal with only 1 piece of paper at a time, and deal with it then and there (throw out, file in references, file in ticker file for dealing with later (whatever day I file it in, in the tickler file). As I went, I added next action items to lists on Vitalist so I wouldn't forget any piece of paper representing an activity that I put into the tickler, references, "to read" folder, etc. I am almost there, I almost have a mind like water, the promised outcome of following the GTD method of life organization.
The difference GTD has made in my life is astounding. After planning things for years, I am finally getting them done, even while spending much more time on the "defining" of work phase of my work process. I never thought I would enjoy organizing so much. Allen suggests keeping your inbox and next action lists attractive, and I have done this. When my to do list on Vitalist begins to look stale, with ambiguous items, or otherwise overwhelming, I freshen items up, delete them, throw them into the Maybe/Someday category. As those of you who read this blog know, it has taken from March 1st to now to really get into this process as thoroughly as I have --six months to carry out a thorough weekly review, in fact six months to really understand the week review, what it means, and that I can do it.
How can I take this into my clinical work and my teaching?
I am thinking about how I can bring this method into my clinical work, with clients or into my teaching when students don't ask for it? I have many clients who are upset about their lack of organization. I quietly mutter about GTD, but if they don't immediately pick up on it, I drop it. Most of my students in most of my classes and seminars over the years have struggled with poor organization skills. Last year I tried to bring GTD into my seminar and failed. The students simply weren't interested. School begins next week, maybe I'll give it another try. I think that implementing GTD, if only for the dissertation process, might yield terrific results. Since my seminar is for third year doctoral students who are beginning to work on their dissertations, I wish they'd give me a chance to teach them GTD. Its only by teaching does one really get to know anything, any skill, any area of knowledge. If I can be "doing GTD" anyone can and I'm ready to begin passing it on.
Yesterday I finally did my first complete weekly review. The "Weekly Review" as its called by the GTD people, is a time set aside to empty inboxes, gather in one place and enter into a data base all those index cards, circa notebook items, Molskine notebook items, and misc data from my computer (that's yet another data "collection" point.) Then, I print out my calendars from last week and the two weeks ahead of me, print out my "next action" list that I keep on Vitalist (www.vitalist.com) , print out my "tickler list," the "waiting for list," topping this off with a complete list of projects. I keep my list of "maybe/someday" in Vitalist, as I like to review it weekly to see if there is anything I want to get too soon, or even now. With everything now in hard copy, I read through it all. This way I keep abreast of what I am supposed to be doing, what I am in fact doing, and what I don't want to be doing yet. I also followed Allen's 2 minute rule. When I ran into anything in my in-boxes that I could deal with (meaning actually do) in 2 minutes or less, I did it right then and there, as soon as I ran into it. By mid-day my office was about as organized and efficient as I have ever seen it. Its time for another picture, the "After" picture of my work space.
Now that I've done the weekly review thoroughly I think I can keep it up weekly. What stopped me until yesterday was the amount of "stuff" that had gathered in my two wooden "in-baskets." I was afraid of the "stuff." I started the review at 6AM which left me plenty of time, no matter how long it took. I followed David Allen's recommendation to deal with only 1 piece of paper at a time, and deal with it then and there (throw out, file in references, file in ticker file for dealing with later (whatever day I file it in, in the tickler file). As I went, I added next action items to lists on Vitalist so I wouldn't forget any piece of paper representing an activity that I put into the tickler, references, "to read" folder, etc. I am almost there, I almost have a mind like water, the promised outcome of following the GTD method of life organization.
The difference GTD has made in my life is astounding. After planning things for years, I am finally getting them done, even while spending much more time on the "defining" of work phase of my work process. I never thought I would enjoy organizing so much. Allen suggests keeping your inbox and next action lists attractive, and I have done this. When my to do list on Vitalist begins to look stale, with ambiguous items, or otherwise overwhelming, I freshen items up, delete them, throw them into the Maybe/Someday category. As those of you who read this blog know, it has taken from March 1st to now to really get into this process as thoroughly as I have --six months to carry out a thorough weekly review, in fact six months to really understand the week review, what it means, and that I can do it.
How can I take this into my clinical work and my teaching?
I am thinking about how I can bring this method into my clinical work, with clients or into my teaching when students don't ask for it? I have many clients who are upset about their lack of organization. I quietly mutter about GTD, but if they don't immediately pick up on it, I drop it. Most of my students in most of my classes and seminars over the years have struggled with poor organization skills. Last year I tried to bring GTD into my seminar and failed. The students simply weren't interested. School begins next week, maybe I'll give it another try. I think that implementing GTD, if only for the dissertation process, might yield terrific results. Since my seminar is for third year doctoral students who are beginning to work on their dissertations, I wish they'd give me a chance to teach them GTD. Its only by teaching does one really get to know anything, any skill, any area of knowledge. If I can be "doing GTD" anyone can and I'm ready to begin passing it on.
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