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Paul Bloom

8 months

Check out my new Substack "Small Potatoes". New articles every Friday (or sometimes more often); click below to subscribe for free!

Small Potatoes | Paul Bloom | Substack

Psychology, philosophy, jokes, and more. Click to read Small Potatoes, by Paul Bloom, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net

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Last Seen Profiles

@Ludostrie

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@Parameciumlife2

Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Genius dog solves the marshmallow test

Conor Friedersdorf

@conor64

4 years

Dogs.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

I'm fascinated (& shocked) by the practice of demanding that people publicly apologize for what they say or write. Sure, a heart-felt apology means a lot. But being made to publicly recant one's honest beliefs is degrading, and to demand this is an act of dominance & cruelty.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Many see bullying, piling-on, and mockery on academic twitter as good people trying to make the world a better place. Others dismiss all of this as "grandstanding" or "virtue signaling". Here's a third explanation: Sadism. People often enjoy humiliating and dominating others.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

I am reading people who insist that the president did not actually _tell_ people to drink bleach, he was just raising it as an idea worth pursuing, and I'm starting to take seriously the theory that we are living in a simulation

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

16 days

Such sad news. He was a brilliant philosopher who had a profound influence on cognitive science. And he was hugely supportive to young scholars—including me, long ago. A great loss.

Daniel Dennett (1942-2024)

Daniel Dennett, professor emeritus of philosophy at Tufts University, well-known for his work in philosophy of mind and a wide range of other philosophical areas, has died. Professor Dennett wrote...

dailynous.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Two findings from social psychology that everyone should know about--because knowing them helps with anxiety and increases happiness--are ... (1/3)

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

I wrote ‘Against Empathy’

Kristen

@Kica333

5 years

Ruin a first date in four words or less.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Glass coffins. Will they become popular? Remains to be seen.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Exciting news: In July, I'm moving to the Psych Department at the University of Toronto. Thrilled to be joining such a great university & wonderful community of scholars! Will miss my friends at Yale, where I've been for most of my career. (Once the border is open, come visit!)

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

"About the length of a hockey stick". I love how much Canadians love being Canadian.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Everything you need to know about the psychology of human groups

Chaz Firestone

@chazfirestone

3 years

This week in Intro Psych…

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

Woot! Final (or near-final) cover of new book is complete. Coming in late February 2023.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

I was just interviewed over the phone, and after saying goodbye, I said "Looking forward to seeing you soon". Which made no sense, and so, in a desperate attempt to repair the conversation, I added "Hope all is well!". So I'm not allowing myself to use the phone anymore.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Really pleased to present the title and cover of my new book with @eccobooks , coming out in November. (More details to come, but here's a summary: )

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

MIT Philosophy in the 1970s was quite the place.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

.. and The Focusing Illusion, nicely summed up as “Nothing in life is quite as important as you think it is while you are thinking about it.” We overestimate the significance of what we're worried about. (It's usually not that bad.) (3/3)

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

How Chomsky teaches.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

The Spotlight Effect: People overestimate how much others are paying attention to them and so are too easily embarrassed and too worried about public disapproval ... (2/3)

Spotlight effect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

This is so cool. Since I figure that nobody actually builds and uses a spinner when answering the question (I certainly didn't), does it show that we are tremendously accurate at randomizing?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

Everyone likes 5-star reviews, but sometimes a sharp and wise critic really helps you think better about difficult issues

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 months

A nice example of how LLMs use statistics (a common riddle) and not understanding (what the question actually means).

Colin Fraser | @colin-fraser.net on bsky

@colin_fraser

2 months

A question indicative of (very approximately) 130 IQ

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Thrilling to hold, for the very first time, the actual physical book (UK edition).

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

8 months

One of the smartest and most depressing discussions of psychology I've seen in a long time, by the always-interesting @a_m_mastroianni

I’m so sorry for psychology’s loss, whatever it is

The plane crashed and nobody checked the bodies

www.experimental-history.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

IS THE POLE OF A TRAFFIC LIGHT, A "TRAFFIC LIGHT"? DOES MY FAILURE TO KNOW THIS MEAN THAT I AM A MACHINE?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

This morning I had to reset the password for my Yale account and I put in "beefstew". But the system rejected it because it wasn’t stroganoff.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Agreed: This is an awful abuse of the science of implicit bias. (Certainly the founders of the IAT have long argued against using their method this way).

Calvin Lai

@CalvinKLai

4 years

California just passed a law requiring officers to be screened based on their implicit biases. That's a bad policy. Implicit bias tests aren't diagnostic enough for screening. I study implicit bias & I can't think of a single scientist who'd endorse this.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

I am very excited to say that it's launch day for "Psych"! Please spread the word, retweet, write a review, DM me good wishes, and, uhm, buy the book! (blurbs and amazon link here: )

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

#TurnYourBookIntoAMeme

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

If anyone feels like taking a (free) online Yale course during this period of isolation, here are two of mine that I'm pretty happy with: Moralities of Everyday Life: Intro Psych: (these are fine for high school students, btw)

Introduction to Psychology

Offered by Yale University. What are people most afraid ... Enroll for free.

www.coursera.org

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Best book cover. Penguin Books -- "1984"

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

This is a terrific letter, and it's truly heartening to look at the impressive list of signatories.

Harper's Magazine

@Harpers

4 years

A statement signed by 150 people incl. Bill T. Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Noam Chomsky, J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, and Salman Rushdie expresses concern over the illiberal trend intensified by our national reckoning.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

The hardcover arrived this morning--so happy to finally see it!!! Psych will be coming out on Feb 28. For more, see . There's also a link there for pre-orders, which makes such a difference for the success of a book.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

This is excellent. It gives a nice picture of Chomsky's views on language and mind and politics. And Scott is a great interviewer, asking all the right questions and gently pushing back on some points. Really worth the time.

Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman ⛵🛵

@sbkaufman

3 years

"There are a lot of people like Foucalt and many others who say there is no human nature. First of all, that’s insanity.” - Noam Chomsky on @psychpodcast (see full video at )

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

VERY pleased to announced my brand new "Introduction to Psychology" course on @coursera . (Big thanks to the @PoorvuCenter at @Yale for their terrific work putting this all together -- the videos are amazing.) Please check it out and spread the word!

Introduction to Psychology

Offered by Yale University. What are people most afraid ... Enroll for free.

www.coursera.org

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Hi Everyone -- It's publication day for the "The Sweet Spot"! I'd be very grateful if people would RT and otherwise spread the word. To buy the book: Blurbs, excerpts, interviews, etc.:

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Toronto graffiti. Ok, I get the Jeff Bezos part, but I can't read the rest -- is it "and Kant!"?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Holy Sisyphus!--the North American copy has arrived. For info--and links to Amazon and other sites--see . It comes out on Nov 2, but pre-orders are critical for the success of a book, so very grateful if you RT and spread the word. Thank you!

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

you might think that its obvious that putting yourself in other people's shoes is a powerful force for good but what you have to do here is distinguish empathy from compassion and also--and this is important--to distinguish emotional empathy from cognitive empathy and you also

ManSitChoAzzDown

@AngryManTV

3 years

You’ve been kidnapped. 30 mins later the kidnapper dumps you on the street because you won’t stop talking about what?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

So many developmental psychology papers find support for the hypothesis that, as children grow older, they will become more and more like adults. I'm confident that most of this work will replicate.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Yale has just announced that it's shutting down. Classes are going online.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Any recommendations for a good podcast? Looking for one that is engaging/funny/interesting, but NOT connected to politics, current events, psychology, or philosophy. (I listen to plenty of those--I'm looking for something different.) Thanks.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

Psychology mavens: I'm writing a piece where I talk about some of the major discoveries in our field over the last few decades. Any advice on what to put on this list?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

it's always interesting to see what Hollywood thinks of academic publishing.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

7 months

In the green room before giving a talk. Finally getting the respect I deserve.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

A fascinating article by @avlskies about a 72-year-old who feels no pain & has no negative emotions. Most psychologists (including me) would say that these aversive experiences are valuable & necessary, but, no, she seems to live a great life without them.

A World Without Pain

Does hurting make us human?

www.newyorker.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Guilty

Dorsa Amir

@DorsaAmir

3 years

when professors assign their own articles as readings

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Excellent writing advice.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

8 months

Honoured to be elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Canada!

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

How Derek Parfit worked.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

We like clear answers to Qs like “Why did Trump win?”, “What caused the Civil War?”, “Why did she leave him?”. But reality doesn’t work this way-actual events are caused by a crazy mishmash of multiple causal forces. Any good discussions of the limits of historical narratives?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

7 months

A lot of people are mocking SBF's quote about Bayes theorem and Shakespeare, but it's worth noting that he wrote this when he was ... a junior in high school.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Amazon review: "Paul Bloom has hoist himself on his own petard. ... It is so frustrating to see someone of unquestionable erudition, such as himself, coming up with what is little more than a dish of red herrings and begged questions." Me: "Unquestionable erudition" YESSSS!!! 🥳

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 months

"Ever since I first learned about confirmation bias I've been seeing it everywhere." (from @jonronson )

Chris Hewitt

@ChrisHewitt

5 months

I just found out about recency bias, and I’d have to say that out of all the biases, it’s my favourite.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 months

Self-plagiarism isn't really plagiarism

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

I don't usually use twitter to share personal information, but I did want to announce some good news, which is that I'm doing very well financially. I'd also like to invite all my followers to watch "Most Extreme Airports", where I play an air traffic controller with a dark past.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Looking forward to talking with @jessesingal about why he hates psychology so much

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

I think you are. To say math is "constructed" implies that mathematical claims are like rules of baseball--they wouldn't be true without us. Do you think this is so? My own sense is that, say, "There is no largest prime number" was discovered by Euclid, not invented by him.

sean illing

@seanilling

5 years

As a language of signs and symbols, math is constructed. Its physical referents are not. Am I missing something?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Very interesting article by @sbkaufman , including some provocative thoughts about how calm and mindfulness might not be the best recipe for a life well lived.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Freud's daily routine (from the excellent biography by @PeterKramer )

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

This is a wonderful thread. (ht: @amyalkon )

Rebecca Baumann

@arkhamlibrarian

5 years

I believe I have found the worst book cover ever printed. Discuss.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Such a cool study! (And a real challenge to all those cynics out there ...)

Joe Henrich

@JoHenrich

5 years

A great study of impersonal honesty using the lost wallet paradigm in 355 cities spanning 40 countries (17,000 lost wallets). Big variation across cities, but (almost) everywhere people were MORE likely to return the wallet when it had MORE money in it. @MichelAMarechal

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

. @peez and I are thrilled to announce our podcast "Psych", where we discuss every aspect of the mind. Based on my book of the same name (), but you can listen without doing the reading. On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and right here:

Psych: Chapter 0: An Introduction

In this episode Paul and David talk about who they are and what they're doing with this podcast. Learn about their background, why they teach intro psych, and their personal biases about theories in...

psych.fireside.fm

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

new semester, so here is my (sometimes controversial) Informal Teaching Advice for new college and university profs. Additional suggestions welcome.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

A stranger just emailed this picture to me, without comment. I figure it's a dramatic portrayal of me fondly waving goodbye to all my colleagues at Yale as I set off to the University of Toronto.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

Hedonism is overrated – to make the best of life there must be pain, says this Yale professor

The most satisfying lives are those which involve challenge, fear and struggle, says psychologist Paul Bloom

www.theguardian.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

My (somewhat qualified) defense of Sigmund Freud, in @WSJ

Essay | Why We Should Keep Reading Freud

Today’s psychologists find him embarrassing, but the founder of psychoanalysis had powerful insights into the way our minds work.

www.wsj.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Are you an undergraduate (from anywhere in the world) interested in pursuing graduate studies in developmental, social, or cognitive psychology? Please consider applying for a paid 2021 Summer internship at the Yale "Mind and Development" lab!

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Many people agree that selective universities should accept the "best" students--and then argue bitterly about the fairest way to determine who these students are, about SATs, diversity, etc. But why do we accept the premise? An university education shouldn't be a prize. 1/3

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 months

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

This poll by @Aella_Girl is pretty amazing.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Excellent discussion by @robertwrighter of yet another study showing that empathy often makes us nastier toward out-groups.

WIRED

@WIRED

4 years

Is it possible that we're caring too much?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Uhm, I'd like people to buy the book, but, honestly, it's not much of a dating guide ...

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

My new TED talk is now available -- on the powerful impulse to do the wrong and the immoral. I love the topic so much that I'm going to write my next book about it.

Paul Bloom: The surprising psychology behind your urge to break the rules

We all experience it: that desire to do something wrong just for the sake of it. Whether it's walking on manicured grass or sticking your finger in a friend's ice cream, psychologist Paul Bloom...

www.ted.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

At the end of his oral exams at Cambridge, Wittgenstein gets up, cordially touches the shoulders of his two examiners—Moore and Russell—and says: "Don't worry, I know you'll never understand it." -- great beginning of "Time of the Magicians", by Wolfram Eilenberger

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

8 months

New semester coming up (!!!!), so here is my (sometimes controversial) Informal Teaching Advice for new college and university profs. Additional suggestions are welcome.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

Interested in doing a postdoc with me at the University of Toronto, on morality and development? Please apply! (And please spread the word to others)

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

This is wise

C Thi Nguyen

@add_hawk

3 years

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got, delivered by a wise person while I was fuming over a parking ticket: "3% of your income is for mistakes. If it's too much over, you're too sloppy. If it's too much under, you're sweating the smalls stuff too much."

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

A few years ago, @chris_starmans and I decided to put our disagreement about this critical issue into meme format (sadly, she gets the last word)

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

One of the perks of faculty meetings on Zoom is that I get to look at my colleagues' faces while they read their email

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

My favorite scene in any movie is when one character turns to another and snaps, "This isn't a movie. This is real life."

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

.... this type of hard and honest advice can be immensely useful, a real selfless act of caring, and people who do this deserve a little bit of love.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

So I'm working on my book and I just looked over a 10 page section that took me a VERY LONG TIME to write and decided that, nope, it doesn't really fit, have to cut it, all that writing and research for nothing. And how is your early afternoon? 😡

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

Broke: Everything interesting is learned. There are no innate ideas--the brain just doesn't work that way. Woke:

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Screw minimalism. This is where real work gets done.

Amanda Lees

@amandalees

3 years

If someone ever criticises your tidiness, show them this, the New York Review of Books office.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Philosophers use the word "hedons" to refer to units of pleasure. But I had a really bad day yesterday, and I think we also need a term for units of misery. I vote for "peedons" #Peedons

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

The Banality of Empathy, by @namwalien in @nybooks , is a brilliant and beautifully written critique of those who think of stories as empathy-elicitors. Best article I've ever read on this topic.

The Banality of Empathy | Namwali Serpell

The idea that art promotes empathy has become a platitude. This idea is particularly prevalent when it comes to those works of art described as “narrative”: stories, novels, TV shows, movies, comics....

www.nybooks.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

Mercurial? MERCURIAL? A very enjoyable conversation--that went in some strange directions--with the always-provocative @SamHarrisOrg

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

I have a joke about theory of mind but maybe it's really about puppets.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

I just finished "The Idea of the Brain" by @matthewcobb , and loved it. Great stories, wonderful reviews of different domains of neuroscience, and it's bracingly honest about what we know and don't know. A gem.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

6 years

21 profs (including me) answer the question: "What's the most influential book of the past 20 years?" (some great reading recommendations here)

What’s the Most Influential Book of the Past 20 Years?

Scholars from across the academy give us their picks.

www.chronicle.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

Sometimes I'm asked whether I think any of my books make a difference, and I say I hope so but I don't know, but someone just sent me this, and wow.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

Re-reading an excellent & enjoyable @BBSJournal paper (by @fierycushman on rationalization) and it's reminding me of the value of good writing in academia. "Good writing" in the sense that the author knows that there's another person who is going to read this and makes a serious

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

I'm a believer in lifehacks, morning routines, writing routines, bedtime routines, and stuff like that. But everything is easy when life is going well. Mike Tyson had wise words here: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

5 years

A friend of mine told me that if he was on a plane that was about to crash, he'd put on his headphones and listen to music. This seems like a good idea. Any recommendations about what to listen to?

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

3 years

I really try to appreciate other views, even if I find them incomprehensible or repellent. But there are limits:

The Original Matrix is Pretty Bad

and that doesn't really seem contrarian to me

freddiedeboer.substack.com

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

4 years

In "Everybody Lies", @SethS_D discusses data showing that almost nobody finishes non-fiction books (novels are different). They read the first chapter or so and then put it down. This has two important implications ...

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

2 years

When you read the psych literature, you get the impression that believing in conspiracies is irrational/pathological. But real conspiracies do exist, and so _some_ degree of conspiratorial thinking is reasonable. You can be too prone to think this way--but also too low.

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Paul Bloom

@paulbloomatyale

1 year

Using ChatGPT to help with reference letters. To get it warmed up, I asked it to write one for Thanos and explicitly address the main thing people might be worried about. I think it did well.

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