What makes the internal workings of Facebook different from Google? Or a small business unique from a large corporation? The differences go beyond the products they create. Companies or businesses can have distinct cultures in their workplace environments. This can give a business a unique personality. Since the workplace is drawn from the outside world, …
Life doesn’t always give us neat choices. For a little more of something, you may have to settle for a little less of something else. Economists recognize this and so they came up with a word: a trade-off. Trade-offs simply mean forgoing something good in exchange for something else you may need or want. Trade-offs …
DEFINITION: The placebo effect is a phenomenon where a person experiences a perceived improvement in symptoms or conditions after receiving an inactive substance or treatment, often attributed to psychological factors or expectations. EXPLANATION: Medicines aren’t too exciting, especially when we think of the negative side effects they may cause. But what if we could swap …
The name Ivan Pavlov stirs strong images for many people. He is the famous Russian psychologist who performed experiments that made his dogs salivate each time they heard the bell ring. But why should dogs salivate at the sound of a bell when there is nothing delicious about it? The answer is that Pavlov had …
Game theory is a process or framework that defines how several interacting choices affect the outcome of something. It can also be considered to be a science of strategy or to some extent—the optimal decision-making of competing but independent actors in a strategic setting. The primary focus of game theory is the game, which often …
How do our visual senses organize stimuli and make meaning of our complex world? A group of German psychologists in the early 20th century introduced the principle of continuity which tries to explain how vision is used to perceive and process elements in our surroundings. Continuity is the idea that people view stimuli (i.e., objects) …
DEFINITION: Utilitarianism is an ethical theory emphasizing actions that generate the greatest overall happiness or utility for the largest number of people, focusing on maximizing collective well-being or benefit. EXPLANATION: Utilitarianism is a moral theory about what should be good or right in a society. Famously expressed through the maxim “the greatest amount of good …
Deontology is a theory of ethics that suggests that actions can either be bad or good when judged based on a clear set of rules. This theory suggests that actions that follow the set of prescribed rules are ethical or good and those that do not are considered unethical or bad. The word is derived …
In behavioral psychology, the operant conditioning theory is critical in comprehending how animals and humans learn new behavior. From instrumental learning experiments, we learn that the consequence of an action determines if a person will repeat the action in the future. Operant conditioning can be employed in experimental settings such as labs, natural settings, and …
In every society, there are fundamental principles that guide how things are done. These principles point us to expected ethical obligations. Theories that attempt to explain what we are obligated to do are known as ethical theories. Ethics help to clarify expected moral values with respect to right and wrong. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory …