This post comes as an interesting follow up to the last post. I have always believed that a good last performance is just that, a good last performance. There is no reason t0 believe that the streak will continue. You have to work hard and push for it at all times.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201006/when-will-streak-end
“Eugene Caruso, Adam Waytz, and Nicholas Epley looked at this issue in a 2010 paper in the journal Cognition. They find that you are most likely to assume that a streak will continue (the hot hand) when the cause of the streak is seen to be someone's intentions. You believe the basketball player will keep hitting shots, because he intends to make the shots.
When the streak is caused by some kind of mechanical device, then people believe the streak will end (the gambler's fallacy). The roulette wheel is a mechanical device that does not intend for the ball to land on either black or red numbers.”
While it is an interesting and erudite study, what set me thinking is the effect on our thinking given our tendency for anthropomorphism. That is giving inanimate objects human traits and mental characteristics. This seems to affect us more than what we think.
I guess all this while I assumed I was being clever while giving life to so many objects. We talk of many things as if they were living creatures. Like many Parsis will tell you that you must name your car if you want it to run smoothly. Of course here naming your car or your cricket bat will only ensure you feel more for it and that you will treat it a bit better. You might think a bit more before you run it over a ditch or you throw it around after you get out on a duck. These might actually nudge you into taing better care of your stuff and it will only come back to your advantage. But on the other hand, companies… sigh… giving companies (yes your job included) people like qualities misleads you into thinking that they are real. I have always told people don’t love your job, you might then expect it to love you back. A sure fire recipe for disaster. But I guess thinking of it as a person we might expect it to behave in a pattern and we might be blindsided to the randomness associated with an inanimate object.
As this author says at the end “At times, it may make sense to treat a company like a person. Companies have managers who make decisions and these decisions may properly be cast as intentions for the strategy that will be followed in the future. At other times, though, this language may get in the way. There is a tremendous amount of randomness in the stock market. When we talk about it in human terms, we gloss over all of that randomness.
In the end, we should try to be a bit more mindful about when we assume that streaks are the results of an agent's intentions.”
Small note: the other day Jasmine was telling Jispa not to sit on her raquet while playing badminton. I explained to her that you must treat your sports equipment with respect. They give you pleasure and you rely on it to play well. You must always treat it with kind affection and never mistreat it. I firmly believe that. There is discipline required in sports and taking care of your equipment is an essential ritual of this discipline. I guess we never had rich access to all sorts of hep equipment and the fact that you must take care of what you have is something has gotten ingrained in my system. Jispa is obviously mush better off but a discipline on the ground will go a long way for sure.
Over a period of time I have tried clearing my mind of all the illogical processes that might have crept inside. Removing it of all superstition. Be it praying for an occurrence or playing the bhajans (prayers) the first thing when I start the car. Slowly but surely I might dare say I am 98% cleared. Touch wood. God willing the rest 2% might go or they might stay to keep my sanity in face of unpredictability.
Yesterday we shifted to the second floor. I had to choose my seating from four seats. I hate this. I prefer someone making the choice for me. I don’t want to choose an unlucky seat. But this time I had the choice, which I did not really want. One lady told me to take a particular seat. You must face north or something like that. I was tempted to go with the choice. But it took some amount of resolve for me to think clearly. These guys had converted two cabins into four cubicles. They basically removed the doors of the cabins, left the glass wall on the one side (too expensive to remove) and added the extra desk. Thinking logically, I choose the brighter cabin, the bigger desk and the place which might allow me to put an extra chair for people who might be required to come and discuss stuff with me.
Here it is. Since the next person who is to share the space with me isn’t around yet (not yet hired) as of now I am getting used to a large space all to myself.
Here it is!
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201006/when-will-streak-end
“Eugene Caruso, Adam Waytz, and Nicholas Epley looked at this issue in a 2010 paper in the journal Cognition. They find that you are most likely to assume that a streak will continue (the hot hand) when the cause of the streak is seen to be someone's intentions. You believe the basketball player will keep hitting shots, because he intends to make the shots.
When the streak is caused by some kind of mechanical device, then people believe the streak will end (the gambler's fallacy). The roulette wheel is a mechanical device that does not intend for the ball to land on either black or red numbers.”
While it is an interesting and erudite study, what set me thinking is the effect on our thinking given our tendency for anthropomorphism. That is giving inanimate objects human traits and mental characteristics. This seems to affect us more than what we think.
I guess all this while I assumed I was being clever while giving life to so many objects. We talk of many things as if they were living creatures. Like many Parsis will tell you that you must name your car if you want it to run smoothly. Of course here naming your car or your cricket bat will only ensure you feel more for it and that you will treat it a bit better. You might think a bit more before you run it over a ditch or you throw it around after you get out on a duck. These might actually nudge you into taing better care of your stuff and it will only come back to your advantage. But on the other hand, companies… sigh… giving companies (yes your job included) people like qualities misleads you into thinking that they are real. I have always told people don’t love your job, you might then expect it to love you back. A sure fire recipe for disaster. But I guess thinking of it as a person we might expect it to behave in a pattern and we might be blindsided to the randomness associated with an inanimate object.
As this author says at the end “At times, it may make sense to treat a company like a person. Companies have managers who make decisions and these decisions may properly be cast as intentions for the strategy that will be followed in the future. At other times, though, this language may get in the way. There is a tremendous amount of randomness in the stock market. When we talk about it in human terms, we gloss over all of that randomness.
In the end, we should try to be a bit more mindful about when we assume that streaks are the results of an agent's intentions.”
Small note: the other day Jasmine was telling Jispa not to sit on her raquet while playing badminton. I explained to her that you must treat your sports equipment with respect. They give you pleasure and you rely on it to play well. You must always treat it with kind affection and never mistreat it. I firmly believe that. There is discipline required in sports and taking care of your equipment is an essential ritual of this discipline. I guess we never had rich access to all sorts of hep equipment and the fact that you must take care of what you have is something has gotten ingrained in my system. Jispa is obviously mush better off but a discipline on the ground will go a long way for sure.
Over a period of time I have tried clearing my mind of all the illogical processes that might have crept inside. Removing it of all superstition. Be it praying for an occurrence or playing the bhajans (prayers) the first thing when I start the car. Slowly but surely I might dare say I am 98% cleared. Touch wood. God willing the rest 2% might go or they might stay to keep my sanity in face of unpredictability.
Yesterday we shifted to the second floor. I had to choose my seating from four seats. I hate this. I prefer someone making the choice for me. I don’t want to choose an unlucky seat. But this time I had the choice, which I did not really want. One lady told me to take a particular seat. You must face north or something like that. I was tempted to go with the choice. But it took some amount of resolve for me to think clearly. These guys had converted two cabins into four cubicles. They basically removed the doors of the cabins, left the glass wall on the one side (too expensive to remove) and added the extra desk. Thinking logically, I choose the brighter cabin, the bigger desk and the place which might allow me to put an extra chair for people who might be required to come and discuss stuff with me.
Here it is. Since the next person who is to share the space with me isn’t around yet (not yet hired) as of now I am getting used to a large space all to myself.
Here it is!
