Psychologyspeaking topic
Insufficient justification: when people do a boring task for a tiny reward, why do they start finding it genuinely enjoyable? Why does being paid less change our minds more?
— Festinger & Carlsmith, insufficient justification experiment
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- The language of thought: could we think without knowing any words at all? Does the mind have its own inner language, independent of the one we speak?
- A group has never thirsted after truth. They demand illusions, and cannot do without them.
- Looking in the mirror you say 'this is me', but that image is the exact reverse of what everyone else sees; it's why you look 'off' to yourself in photos. Is the face we know as our own a face no one else has ever seen?
- Why you should not throw away your playful, wandering mind for the sake of productivity.
- Semantic priming: after hearing 'doctor', why do we recognize 'nurse' faster? Are the concepts in our head wired together in a network?