THIS IS THE EASIEST WAY TO MAKE A DECISION _ Having trouble making a decision? A study (published in the journal Nature Human Behavior) says the easiest way to make a decision is by narrowing down your options to only two choices. In experiments, 140 participants were asked to choose between three different foods throughout multiple rounds with various food choices. During the experiments the researchers found that rather than weigh all three options equally, participants often focused on the two options they saw as the most promising. And narrowing the decision-making process down this way actually led the participants to make faster decisions.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’VE FORGOTTEN SOMEONE’S NAME _ Tips from The Happiness Project.
• Try the “I know your name, but I’m blocked” dodge: “I keep wanting to call you “David,” but I know that’s not right.”
• Then there’s the “Of course I know you — in fact, I want all your information” dodge: “Hey, I’d love to get your card.”
• Or the “The tip of my tongue” dodge: “I know I know your name, but I’m blanking right now.”
• Try the “You’re brilliant!” dodge: “Wow, you have a terrific memory. I can’t believe you remember my name from that meeting six months ago. I can’t remember the names of people I met yesterday! So of course I have to ask you your name.”
• The “Sure, I remember you” dodge: “Remind me — what’s your last name?” If you ask a person for his last name, he’s likely to repeat both names. “Doe, John Doe.”
• The “One-sided introduction” dodge: “Hey,” you say to the person whose name you can’t remember, “let me introduce you to Pat Smith.” You introduce the two and say the name of the person whose name you remember. Almost always, the nameless person will volunteer his or her name.
AVERAGE PARENT’S KNOWLEDGE OF SCIENCE AND MATH TAPS OUT AT SIXTH GRADE _ The average American parent’s science and math knowledge taps out around the sixth-grade level, according to new research. When asked to estimate the grade they’d be placed into for both math and science if they took a test today, the average respondent said sixth grade for each. The survey of 2,000 American parents of school-aged children also found 42 percent of parents said they would be “lost” trying to teach their child the math curriculum for their grade. And 35 percent said the same about the science curriculum.
