Chinwag Psych - Reading Round-Up
The Chinwag Psych event is just around the corner. You can still get your ticket for May 9 if you are interested in learning about how psychology, machine learning and neuroscience might be helpful to your business.
If you are coming along, you can expect some great presentations from the line up of speakers who will be sharing their knowledge. So, what are you going to talk about in the coffee breaks?
We’ve been gathering a few news articles and further reading for you each week so that you will be right up to date about the topics involved. Consider it a conversational cheat sheet and a few interesting articles you might want to consider if you are not likely to be combing the web while you’re working on other things.
Feeling Stressed?
It’s likely that you will experience some forms of stress from time to time. Hopefully not extreme levels, but it seems to be unavoidable in most people’s lives. The Houstonian has an interesting article talking to a psychology professor about stress in students, exam time, social lives and homework can be a pressure.
Though you might not think this is about you - check out the indicators the professor talks about. The scenario might be different but the results can be quite similar for business people. Deadlines, being overwhelmed and the feeling you might not accomplish what you need to do - sound familiar?
Psychology for Traders
The way we make decisions and the environments we are in when we do can all have an impact upon the result. Naturally we hope we all make the right decisions and hesitate when we want to be sure we won’t do something we might later regret.
Denise Shull, president of the ReThink Group explains a little more about decision making in relation to traders in this article from Business Insider. Surely a line a work where making the right decision is extremely valuable.
Do you Need a Social Media Sabbath?
How often do you check your phone or social networking sites? Really? This article from Refinery29 says Nokia research has shown that mobile users check their phone about every six and a half minutes. That sounds as though a few people might not be present in the moment, even if they are in the room.
Dr Nicole Radziwill, author of Disconnected talks about her own habits and needs to check her phone and what might help to get your free your mind from using networks all the time.
... Is IRL a Fetish?
The issue of being ‘always on’ has created a long conversation spanning years. It’s worth reading Nathan Jurgenson’s article in The New Enquiry (and check the date). There’s a couple of themes there worth recognising, the ‘always connected’, those who make being offline into a particular trait or fetish and the idea of ‘digital dualism’ - lives that now combine being on and offline most of the time without a separation between the two. Where do you fit in? Or do you have another take on how we interact online?
Microsoft on Machine Learning
The Microsoft Machine Learning Summit has just taken place in France and it sounds as though it was quite the gathering.
Financial has reported on the themes at the event and notes how machine learning appears to be growing as a subject with more interesting and useful results emerging.
Google Acquires Another Machine Learning Business
Wired has an interesting look at Wavii, the latest machine learning company to be scooped up by Google for a cool $30 million.
The service works by using machine learning to try and make sense of the huge amounts of information published online, and as the article notes, Google likes to organise information. Will the big G help to develop the technology further or is it more interested in the talent?
Looking at the Brain of a Psychopath
How do the brains of psychopaths and non-psychopaths compare? The University of Chicago has been using fMRI scans to find out.
According to the Verge, it seems that the research is showing that psychopaths process information differently. That might not be a surprise, but it could become important in court cases psychological assessment.
Like the reading list? Then you might need to grab a ticket for the event where there will be more of a focus on business than psychopaths, but there will certainly be plenty of food for thought.
// Get your ticket to Chinwag Psych May 9 here.
Photo (cc) ky_olsen.
