Posts tagged as:

risk

The Science of Fear – Part II

by Stephen Mills January 13, 2010
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Most of our exposure to dangers or risk in the media leaves out a crucially important factor. What is the likelihood of it actually happening to you? If you are told taking a new kind of birth control increases your risk of breast cancer by 20% compared to an existing type, that may sound bad but you have learned nothing useful.

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The Science of Fear – Part I

by Stephen Mills January 10, 2010
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Fear is an important emotion that had extremely important survival value in the world in which our brains developed. Much of that value is now being misdirected. The emotional makeup of fear is now a big part of what leads to our miscalculation of risk. Further, those with economic or political value to be gained, use the emotion of fear to influence us. It’s easy to motivate people by scaring them. So to truly understand and react to risk in a reasonable manner, we must approach it in a cold and calculating way.

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Should You Trust Your Intuition? – Part II

by Stephen Mills November 7, 2009
Intuition

Clearly our intuitive or non-conscious mind is a powerful tool as long as we understand when it is likely to be effective and when it is likely to lead us astray. I think science has barely scratched the surface when it comes to understanding the power and the perils of the non-conscious mind. The tools for peering into the human brain while the owner is still alive have only recently become available. The future is bright as far as I’m concerned.

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Should You Trust Your Intuition?

by Stephen Mills November 4, 2009
Coin Flip

I’m a strong believer in the power of human intuition, but at the same time I want to understand it from a scientific point of view. I want to know when and if I can trust my intuitive sense. I don’t want to just intuitively accept intuition as a reliable form of knowledge. In this article and the next, I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned about intuition and under what circumstances science has found it to serve us well or not serve us so well. A lot of credit for this material goes to David G. Myers and his excellent book Intuition: Its Powers and Perils.

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Develop the Courage to Take Risks

by Stephen Mills April 3, 2009
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You will seldom lose anything of value by pursuing your dream and if you do you can simply replace it. You might need a source of income, but you don’t need one particular source of income. You might need a place to live, but you don’t need one particular place to live. You might need relationships, but you don’t need one particular relationship. You might need support, but you don’t need one particular instance of support.

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