Think Like a Freak

  • Admit what you don’t know, don’t pretend
  • Heart attack rates of African Americans higher than on others. Hypothesis: salt retention – linked to slave selection. Better salt retention made it more likely to survive the journey.
  • Making these claims is difficult with fear of being wrong.
  • Small problems are often overlooked. Gansu only 57 of 2500 students who needed glasses wore them. Giving them glasses increased learning 25-50%.
  • Give control: charity donation rates doubled when giving people control of # of mail to receive.
  • To persuade, acknowledge flaws, keep insults to yourself, use stories (not anecdotes).
  • Storytelling is a very important art. It makes concepts come alive. Makes people learn and organize. It brings us all together. Makes us feel a certain way.