Explain to a friend how they could use If-Then planning in their effort to get healthier.

Why might it be rational for some children to not wait very long before eating the marshmallow? Explain to a friend how they could use If-Then planning in their effort to get healthier. Explain James Watson’s statement that a predisposition does not a predetermination make. How could you get people to view their future selves as continuous with their current selves rather than being strangers? Why might you want to do this? Why could relying on the cool system when planning something in advance cause you to choose something that you might later regret? (For example, consider the case of someone deciding whether to learn about their DNA) What are some of the benefits of viewing your experiences from a “fly on the wall” perspective? Can you think of any reasons why you might ever want to instead take a self- immersed perspective? What is rejection sensitivity, and why may it lead to negative life outcomes for people with low self-control (but not for people with high self-control)? Give an example of when optimism is likely to lead to a good outcome and an example of when optimism may instead lead to a bad outcome. What is Walter Mischel’s explanation for why public figures who seemingly have high self- control can also have major lapses in self-control? If you posed this same question to Roy Baumeister, what might you expect his answer to be? Imagine that you are trying to find someone to watch over your home and pets/children while going out of town for a few days. How could you maximize the chances of hiring someone who would do a good job? Using what you have learned from this class and from The Marshmallow Test, what would likely be helpful/unhelpful for making a good decision? What is likely to happen when the standards that are modeled for children are the same as the standards that are directly imposed on them, and what is likely to happen when the standards differ? What are the potential implications for when you reward yourself for performing desirable behavior or exhibiting self-control? What is the relationship between If-Then plans and System 1 and System 2? What are precommitment strategies, and why might they be effective or ineffective? Short-Answer Lecture Questions Explain why you would be likely to notice and remember behavior that is consistent with a particular personality label once you have attributed it to someone. Describe two criticisms of personality tests. How might belief perseverance affect how a clinician uses a prior diagnosis when seeing a new patient? Think about the pros/cons of different mindsets and what you learned about groupthink. If you were to start a new business, what qualities would you try to have as a leader and how would you try to build a successful team? Explain why you would try to lead with these qualities and how this is likely to help the business succeed based on what you’ve learned in class. What about Anna Wintour’s leadership style seems to be consistent with a fixed or growth mindset? Briefly explain the relationship between perceptual salience and the fundamental attribution error. Imagine you have been working really hard to earn a starting position on your soccer team. You just had your first game and discovered that you didn’t make the cut, and you spent the first half of the game on the bench before your coach finally put you in the game. How would you interpret this type of setback if you have a fixed mindset? How would your interpretation change if you instead had a growth mindset? How would your coping strategies differ if you had a fixed vs. growth mindset in this scenario? What is the Weber–Fechner Law, and what are its implications for estimating how much food we have consumed? What is set point theory, and why might it be easier for the set point to rise rather than fall? Describe the process by which a new food product is developed for supermarkets. What are some strategies to avoid overeating? Why are scores on the grit scale likely to be higher for older people (relative to younger people)? Describe some factors that would increase or decrease the likelihood of someone becoming a world-class expert. What is the relationship between grit and a growth mindset? Describe the relationship between deliberate practice, flow, System 1, and System 2. What are three judgment “heuristics” that suggest humans may not behave fully rationally? Provide an example illustrating each. What features of decisions make them particularly good contexts for the use of nudges? Explain the two distinct ways in which Stickk.com facilitates commitments and goal achievement. Provide examples of both financial and nonfinancial commitments, and discuss how these approaches address the challenge of commitment. Explain the main concept behind the “Give More Tomorrow” program and how it addresses the common challenge of individuals wanting to be charitable but struggling to follow through. Explain the key components of the CARES program and how it differs from traditional smoking cessation methods. Lectures 1–6 Material Suppose your boss is known for constantly rejecting requests for time off during the summer. Given what you’ve learned about decisions and self-control in class, when would be the best time to approach your boss to request time off? Mary is very proud of her disciplined behavior during lunch, adhering strictly to her diet and resisting the temptation to eat the cookies in her pantry. According to the concept of moral licensing, what could this lead to? Be able to solve prisoner’s dilemma/coordination games. Be able to solve sequential games. Know basic properties of exponential and hyperbolic discounting curves and the implications for self control.

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