I love neuroscience. I just can't believe we don't know that much about how our minds work, why we think the way we do or what perceptions actually are. The human mind is still undiscovered territory because it's hard to apply the traditional standards of objective science to something that is so subjective. We can't peer behind the curtain to see what our minds are doing. But people have been studying the mind using the best scientific tools and approaches available for the last 40 years or so with fascinating results. (Did you know that when you feel the first impulse of an idea towards action, as in "I am going to reach down and take a sip of my drink.", your cortex became active microseconds before the conscious thought arrived? Basically, your brain knows what you are going to do before you do.) Anyway, while stumbling through books that I mostly have a hard time understanding I tripped over Phil Zimbardo, an amazing man. He is an Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, writer, thinker, philosopher and perpetual student of psychology and behavioral science. He became well known for conducting the 1976 Stanford Prison Experiment in which he divided his class of normal every day college students into prisoners and guards. It resulted in a dramatic scenario of abuse, torture and brainwashing. Students literally forgot they were in an experiment and no longer associated with their normal identities. "Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress." One of his latest books is called "The Lucifer Effect" and deals with precisely evaluating the situations in which normal people do Evil things. The results are surprising and disturbing and backed up by a lot of hard scientific research. Yes, any one of us is capable of doing horrible things to another living being (even cute little puppies) given the slightest nudge within certain circumstances. But now he is studying and writing about one of my favorite topics, TIME and our perception of it. His idea is that everyone develops an orientation to interpreting time at an early age that sticks with an individual all his life. And, research shows, what that orientation is (past, present or future) goes a long way into predicting what kind of life a person might have. It even goes a long way in explaining why one country has a particular set of cultural values and traditions that another doesn't. Anyway, its all too much for me to explain here and he does a much better job at it so I will turn it over to him. Ladies and Gentlemen, Phil Zimbardo....
The first video is a short and wonderful animated synopsis of his studies on Time. If you like it, I really really really suggest listening to his the other two lectures. He is good speaker and very entertaining. Perfect for listening to while working. Enjoy!
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