Morris and Robert S. Miller, “The Effects of Consensus-Breaking and Consensus-
Preempting Partners on Reduction of Conformity,” Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology 11, no. 3 (1975), doi:10.1016/s0022–1031(75)80023–0.
Nearly 75 percent of subjects made the incorrect choice at least once. However,
considering the total number of responses throughout the experiment, about two thirds
were correct. Either way, the point stands: group pressure can significantly alter our
ability to make accurate decisions.
a chimpanzee learns an effective way: Lydia V. Luncz, Giulia Sirianni, Roger Mundry,
and Christophe Boesch. “Costly culture: differences in nut-cracking efficiency between
wild chimpanzee groups.” Animal Behaviour 137 (2018): 63–73.
CHAPTER 10
I wouldn’t say, “Because I need food to survive”: I heard a similar example from the
Twitter account, simpolism (@simpolism), “Let’s extend this metaphor. If society is a
human body, then the state is the brain. Humans are unaware of their motives. If asked
‘why do you eat?’ you might say ‘bc food tastes good’ and not ‘bc I need food to survive.’
What might a state’s food be? (hint: are pills food?),” Twitter, May 7, 2018,
https://twitter.com/simpolism/status/993632142700826624.
when emotions and feelings are impaired: Antoine Bechara et al., “Insensitivity to
Future Consequences following Damage to Human Prefrontal Cortex,” Cognition 50,
no. 1–3 (1994), doi:10.1016/0010–0277(94)90018–3.
As the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio: “When Emotions Make Better Decisions—
Antonio Damasio,” August 11, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1wup_K2WN0I
You don’t “have” to. You “get” to: I am indebted to my college strength and conditioning
coach, Mark Watts, who originally shared this simple mind-set shift with me.
“I’m not confined to my wheelchair”: RedheadBanshee, “What Is Something Someone
Said That Forever Changed Your Way of Thinking,” Reddit, October 22, 2014,
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2jzn0j/what_is_something_someone_said_that_forever/clgm4s2
“It’s time to build endurance and get fast”: WingedAdventurer, “Instead of Thinking ‘Go
Run in the Morning,’ Think ‘Go Build Endurance and Get Fast.’ Make Your Habit a
Benefit, Not a Task,” Reddit, January 19, 2017,
https://www.reddit.com/r/selfimprovement/comments/5ovrqf/instead_of_thinking_go_run_in_the_morning_think/?
st=izmz9pks&sh=059312db.
“I’m getting an adrenaline rush to help me concentrate”: Alison Wood Brooks, “Get
Excited: Reappraising Pre-Performance Anxiety as Excitement with Minimal Cues,”
PsycEXTRA Dataset, June 2014, doi:10.1037/e578192014–321; Caroline Webb, How to
Have a Good Day (London: Pan Books, 2017), 238. “Wendy Berry Mendes and Jeremy
Jamieson have conducted a number of studies [that] show that people perform better
when they decide to interpret their fast heartbeat and breathing as ‘a resource that aids
performance.’”
Ed Latimore, a boxer and writer: Ed Latimore (@EdLatimore), “Odd realization: My
focus and concentration goes up just by putting my headphones [on] while writing. I
don’t even have to play any music,” Twitter, May 7, 2018,
https://twitter.com/EdLatimore/status/993496493171662849.
CHAPTER 11
In the end, they had little to show for their efforts: This story comes from page 29 of
Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. In an email conversation with Orland on
October 18, 2016, he explained the origins of the story. “Yes, the ‘ceramics story’ in ‘Art