Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Interns
We had an orientation for the new interns in our office today. They seem to be really good and I hope they work hard. I am ready to relinquish some of my responsibility on to them. We are going to let the interns have more responsibility and manage accounts on their own. I will be supervising of course. Welcome to The Walton Group!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Reverse psychology
This video is so funny. I will have to try it on my son. The fact that it is in Spanish makes it so much better.
Oh, yes it does... well, at least on unsuspecting children.
In this popular YouTube video a father and son debate (and I use that term lightly) their mode of transportation.
The dad wants to walk; the son wants to take the car.
After a few back-and-forth yeses from the son and no's from the dad about taking the car, the dad quickly switches and says, "yes!" prompting the little boy to say, "no!" The dad concedes and the pair walks away from the car.
Reverse psychology at its finest!
April 20th, 2011 @ 2:30pm
By Graydon Johns
SALT LAKE CITY -- Reverse psychology. Does it really work?
Oh, yes it does... well, at least on unsuspecting children.
In this popular YouTube video a father and son debate (and I use that term lightly) their mode of transportation.
The dad wants to walk; the son wants to take the car.
After a few back-and-forth yeses from the son and no's from the dad about taking the car, the dad quickly switches and says, "yes!" prompting the little boy to say, "no!" The dad concedes and the pair walks away from the car.
I bet the little guy is thinking to himself, "Ha, my dad's such a sucker. What a pushover" and chalking it up as yet another feather in his cap.
Reverse psychology at its finest!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Interesting University of Utah Study
Watch this video and then read the article that follows. It will not work unless you watch the video first.
That's the foundation behind a new study called 'The Invisible Gorilla' experiment. The study asked 197 students aged 18 to 35 to watch a video where a group of people were passing a basketball to each other. The participants were supposed to count how many passes exchanged between the players wearing white t-shirts. During the sequence of the video, a person wearing a gorilla suit strolls across the scene, stops briefly, pounds his chest and walks off.
The study found that about 58 percent of participants were so intent on counting the passes between the players that they missed the gorilla.
What does this mean for those of us not doing an experiment?
"You can think of it as your ability to deal with a lot of information and to process it and make decisions or make responses," said Seegmiller.
She says having skills like these can be especially impactful when we're doing serious tasks like driving.
"If you're driving and you're really focused on driving and you're doing that really, really well," said Seegmiller, "you still might miss unexpected events that can cause accidents."
Even on a rainy day or with inclement weather, researchers don't know yet how our attention is impacted. But they also say that even on a good day, drivers can still miss something dart out right in front of their eyes.
"Because people are so different in how well they can focus their attention, this may influence whether you'll see something you're not expecting," said Seegmiller.
Researchers tried similar tests on pilots.
"Pilots were crashing into planes on the runway because they were so focused on their screen in front of them," Seegmiller said.
Other researchers say because the human brain can only process so much, we need to pick and choose how much information to upload into our brains at a time.
"What are the cognitive costs of a cell phone, the cognitive costs of doing A, B or C in the car while you're driving?" Said study co-author Dr. Jason Watson, University of Utah, Department of Psychology. "This research really tells us that attention is limited, and so what we're really trying to do is explore the range of devices that may exert some sort of impact or cost in terms of our attention."
Seegmiller says it's just humanly impossible to process everything in our environment -- but if we know what causes our selective attention, we can mitigate some of what we miss when it counts.
The study will be published in the May issue of The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
SALT LAKE CITY -- University of Utah researchers say about half of us can become so involved in what we're doing that we miss the obvious events that flash in front of our eyes.
That's the foundation behind a new study called 'The Invisible Gorilla' experiment. The study asked 197 students aged 18 to 35 to watch a video where a group of people were passing a basketball to each other. The participants were supposed to count how many passes exchanged between the players wearing white t-shirts. During the sequence of the video, a person wearing a gorilla suit strolls across the scene, stops briefly, pounds his chest and walks off.
The study found that about 58 percent of participants were so intent on counting the passes between the players that they missed the gorilla.
Researchers found that the higher memory capacity you have, the more likely you are to see the gorilla.
"They can do the task and do it well and still have leftover resources to kind of monitor their environment," said Janelle Seegmiller, Lead author, University of Utah doctoral student in the Department of Psychology. "Somebody with lower memory capacity may do the task and may do it really well but it's taking up all of their resources that they have to do that task. And so they miss the gorilla." What does this mean for those of us not doing an experiment?
"You can think of it as your ability to deal with a lot of information and to process it and make decisions or make responses," said Seegmiller.
She says having skills like these can be especially impactful when we're doing serious tasks like driving.
"If you're driving and you're really focused on driving and you're doing that really, really well," said Seegmiller, "you still might miss unexpected events that can cause accidents."
Even on a rainy day or with inclement weather, researchers don't know yet how our attention is impacted. But they also say that even on a good day, drivers can still miss something dart out right in front of their eyes.
"Because people are so different in how well they can focus their attention, this may influence whether you'll see something you're not expecting," said Seegmiller.
Researchers tried similar tests on pilots.
"Pilots were crashing into planes on the runway because they were so focused on their screen in front of them," Seegmiller said.
Other researchers say because the human brain can only process so much, we need to pick and choose how much information to upload into our brains at a time.
"What are the cognitive costs of a cell phone, the cognitive costs of doing A, B or C in the car while you're driving?" Said study co-author Dr. Jason Watson, University of Utah, Department of Psychology. "This research really tells us that attention is limited, and so what we're really trying to do is explore the range of devices that may exert some sort of impact or cost in terms of our attention."
Seegmiller says it's just humanly impossible to process everything in our environment -- but if we know what causes our selective attention, we can mitigate some of what we miss when it counts.
The study will be published in the May issue of The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
Monday, April 11, 2011
GOP Candidates
Who will the GOP pick for the 2012 presidential election?
I was doing a little research today to see who might be at the top of my list and I was so overwhelmed by how many potential candidates there are. This is not the complete list but you get the idea. I think they want us to be so confused that we do not have a chance to be informed and vote on how handsome or beautiful they are!
Here is the list:
Gov. Mitt Romney
Rep. Michele Bachmann
Gov. Mike Huckabee
Sarah Palin
Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Gov. Chris Christie
Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Gov. Mitch Daniels
Rep. Mike Pence
Gov. Haley Barbour
Sen. Rick Santorum
Jon Huntsman
Donald Trump
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
After the Mission
It seems to me that most people do not keep in close contact with mission friends, and I do not know why. I love my mission friends and have become so much more to me than just another acquaintance. This past weekend I was able to travel to Washington State with my dear friend Emily to see one of my favorite mission companions, Kami. We spent four glorious days exploring Seattle and Spokane.
We arrived Thursday night in Seattle and spent the night catching up with each other. Kami's parents were kind enough to let us stay at their house and eat their food. Mark tells the best stories so every time I get a chance I take it. This time he was telling about his new ventures with Sri Lanka travel. Wendy is the biggest sweet heart and would do anything for you. She gave me the cutest bracelet with elephants on it because she know how much I love elephants. Thank Wendy!!!!
We only spent one night in Seattle and had to rise super early to start our journey to Spokane for a wedding. A good friend of mine from the MTC, Tim Odeen, was getting married. It was an interesting experience because Tim's is the only member of the church in his family and for the most part they are Baptist. As we waited out side the Spokane temple for Tim and Amelia, we saw Tim's parents standing outside in the rain. Of course we went and talked with them and let them know they were allowed to wait in the waiting room. It something we members forget to tell people. Most non-Mormons think they have to wait outside but in fact they can go into the waiting room.
The wedding was great and we are so happy for Odeen and his new bride. We stayed the night in Spokane and went "clubbing". It was not our scene obviously but it was still fun to have a girl's night out.
We left Saturday morning and it was so windy We stopped at a look out point for the Columbia river and the wind was howling. The wind caught my glasses and broke them in half. I was lucky to have my contacts with me.
When we got back to Seattle we ate dinner at this awesome Thai restaurant. The will make anything for you if you just call ahead. It was so delicious.
Then we went on a double date with some of Kami's friends. I was of course the 5th wheel but it was still so much fun. Kami has the most interesting and fun friends. The first on we met was Matt. He is a personal injury lawyer but you would never know. He was a blast to talk with. The Second friend was Porter. He is a multisport coach (triathlons) but has a degree in naval engineering. I think Kami should date him but who am I to meddle in her love life.
On Sunday we walked around Pike's Place market and went and saw the Fremont Troll.
We flew home Sunday afternoon and thank goodness because I was worn out. I do not remember ever getting exhausted from playing but I guess it comes with age.
We arrived Thursday night in Seattle and spent the night catching up with each other. Kami's parents were kind enough to let us stay at their house and eat their food. Mark tells the best stories so every time I get a chance I take it. This time he was telling about his new ventures with Sri Lanka travel. Wendy is the biggest sweet heart and would do anything for you. She gave me the cutest bracelet with elephants on it because she know how much I love elephants. Thank Wendy!!!!
We only spent one night in Seattle and had to rise super early to start our journey to Spokane for a wedding. A good friend of mine from the MTC, Tim Odeen, was getting married. It was an interesting experience because Tim's is the only member of the church in his family and for the most part they are Baptist. As we waited out side the Spokane temple for Tim and Amelia, we saw Tim's parents standing outside in the rain. Of course we went and talked with them and let them know they were allowed to wait in the waiting room. It something we members forget to tell people. Most non-Mormons think they have to wait outside but in fact they can go into the waiting room.
The wedding was great and we are so happy for Odeen and his new bride. We stayed the night in Spokane and went "clubbing". It was not our scene obviously but it was still fun to have a girl's night out.
We left Saturday morning and it was so windy We stopped at a look out point for the Columbia river and the wind was howling. The wind caught my glasses and broke them in half. I was lucky to have my contacts with me.
When we got back to Seattle we ate dinner at this awesome Thai restaurant. The will make anything for you if you just call ahead. It was so delicious.
Then we went on a double date with some of Kami's friends. I was of course the 5th wheel but it was still so much fun. Kami has the most interesting and fun friends. The first on we met was Matt. He is a personal injury lawyer but you would never know. He was a blast to talk with. The Second friend was Porter. He is a multisport coach (triathlons) but has a degree in naval engineering. I think Kami should date him but who am I to meddle in her love life.
On Sunday we walked around Pike's Place market and went and saw the Fremont Troll.
We flew home Sunday afternoon and thank goodness because I was worn out. I do not remember ever getting exhausted from playing but I guess it comes with age.
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