The Peculiar Longevity of Thing Not So Bad

When we experience really strong positive or negative emotions, our minds have built-in mechanisms to
help us calm down, which can make these intense emotions fade away faster than milder ones.
However, because we're not aware of these mental processes, we often think that strong feelings will
stick around longer than weaker ones.

In our research, we found that people sometimes predict that they will dislike someone for a longer time
if they really didn't like that person from the start. But when we tested this idea, we discovered the
opposite was true – they actually got over their dislike more quickly. We also found similar results when
people thought about disliking someone who had hurt them a lot compared to someone who had hurt
them just a little.

These prediction mistakes are part of a broader pattern we call the "region-beta paradox." Essentially,
our minds play tricks on us when it comes to predicting how long our strong emotions will last.

Positivism and Constructivism

Positivism and constructivism are two ways people think about knowledge and reality:

Positivism: This is all about using science and facts to find the truth. Positivists believe there's one truth
that we can find through careful, objective methods like experiments.

Constructivism: This perspective says that everyone's truth can be different because it's shaped by their
experiences and the world around them. It's not just one truth but many, and it's influenced by culture
and personal experiences.

In a nutshell, positivism looks for one universal truth through science, while constructivism says there
can be many truths shaped by personal experiences and culture. These ideas are important in fields like
philosophy and social sciences.

Culture: This is about the things a group of people believe, do, and value. It's what makes them who
they are and doesn't change quickly.

Trends: Trends are things that become popular for a short time, like fashion or new gadgets. They
change often and show what's "in" right now.

Popular: When something is popular, lots of people like it for a while. It can last longer than a trend but
isn't forever.

Viral: Viral means something spreads super-fast, especially on the internet. It gets a lot of attention
quickly, but that attention doesn't last very long.

Pluralism is a concept that refers to the coexistence and acceptance of diverse beliefs, values, cultures,
or opinions within a society. It is the recognition that different individuals and groups can hold different
worldviews, ideologies, and identities, and that this diversity should be respected and allowed to
flourish.
Key aspects of pluralism include:

Diversity: Pluralism acknowledges and celebrates diversity in all its forms, including cultural, religious,
ethnic, political, and social diversity.

Tolerance: Pluralistic societies promote tolerance and respect for the viewpoints and lifestyles of others,
even when they differ from one's own.

Inclusivity: Pluralism strives to include marginalized or minority groups in decision-making processes

and social structures, ensuring that their voices are heard and their rights protected.

Dialogue: It encourages open and constructive dialogue among diverse groups, fostering understanding,
cooperation, and peaceful coexistence.

Legal Framework: Many pluralistic societies have legal protections and safeguards in place to ensure
equal rights and opportunities for all citizens, regardless of their background or beliefs.

Political Pluralism: In the context of politics, pluralism can refer to a system where multiple political
parties and ideologies coexist, allowing for a variety of choices for voters.

Pluralism is often seen as a foundational principle in democratic societies, where it is essential for
preserving individual freedoms, promoting social harmony, and facilitating the peaceful resolution of
conflicts among different groups with competing interests or values.

Marxism is a way of looking at society where some people believe that in a capitalist system, the rich
(bourgeoisie) can manipulate and take advantage of the working class (proletariat). They say this
happens through things like controlling the media, setting low wages, and shaping what people think.

Marxists also think that the media is often controlled by big companies and can spread ideas that
benefit the rich. They call this "ideological manipulation."

They also say that in capitalism, companies try to make people want things they don't really need, just
to make money. This is what they call "consumer manipulation."

Some people criticize Marxism, saying that even Marxist governments can be manipulative, especially in
countries that say they follow Marxist ideas.

The idea of manipulation in Marxism is a bit of a debate, and it depends on who you ask and what they
believe.

In the hypodermic needle model, the concept of conditioning was applied to the mass audience who
were seen as passive recipients of whatever message that was injected (or shot) by the media, and who
can be manipulated to react in a predictable, unthinking and conditioned manner.

FAMILIAR REPETITIVE EASY TO DO

The concept of the 'two-step flow of communication' suggests that the flow of information and
influence from the mass media to their audiences involves two steps: from the media to certain
individuals (i.e., the opinion leaders) and from them to the public.

Cool Capitalism – tolerating a certain idea for the sole reason that it will benefit you.
Cultural Hegemony refers to domination or rule maintained through ideological or cultural means. It is
usually achieved through social institutions, which allow those in power to strongly influence the values,
norms, ideas, expectations, worldview, and behavior of the rest of society.

Cultural Hegemony functions by framing the worldview of the ruling class, and the social and economic
structures that embody it, as just, legitimate, and designed for the benefit of all, even though these
structures may only benefit the ruling class. This kind of power is distinct from rule by force, as in a
military dictatorship, because it allows the ruling class to exercise authority using the "peaceful" means
of ideology and culture.

3 Cardinal Sins

1. Sin of Commission (misuse of information)

a. Belief Perseverance – we still believe in something the has been proven wrong
b. Sunk – Cost Biased – where we continue to support our past decisions despite new
evidence suggesting that it isn't the best course of action. We fail to consider that whatever
time, effort, or money we have already expended will not be recovered.
c. Extra – Evidentiary Biased – choosing to use some information despite having been told it
should be ignored.
d. Hindsight Biased – falsely over-estimate the accuracy of and/or the relevance of their past
knowledge of a given outcome.
2. Sin of Omission (overlooking of information)
a. Base – Rate Biased – a type of fallacy in which people tend to ignore the base rate (e.g.,
general prevalence) in favor of the individuating information
b. Fundamental Attribution Error – the tendency people have to overemphasize personal
characteristics and ignore situational factors in judging others' behavior. Because of the
fundamental attribution error, we tend to believe that others do bad things because they
are bad people.
3. Sins of Impression (oversimplification of information)
a. Availability Heuristic – using information that is readily available
b. Conjunctive Bias – connecting two unrelated statements.
c. Representative Heuristic – blaming others to avoid the main issue
d. Confirmation Bias – the tendency of people to favor information that confirms or
strengthens their beliefs or values and is difficult to dislodge once affirmed.