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Framing: What You Emphasize is What They Hear

  Framing is the phenomenon where our perception of a choice changes depending on how the information is presented, even when the underlying facts are the same. Imagine a new drug for hypertension. In clinical trials, it lowered blood pressure to a healthy level in 90% of patients. We could say: "This drug is 90% effective!" and it would be seen as a triumph. But we could just as accurately say: "It fails to work in 1 out of every 10 patients." Suddenly, that same drug seems a little less impressive. Nothing about the data changed—only the story around it. This effect extends well beyond numbers. Take side effects: we could frame them as "most people experience none," or as "a significant minority do." Both are technically true. But the emotional and clinical weight those statements carry i...
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The Misplaced Faith in Nurture

 The nature vs. nurture debate persists in the public imagination as if it were an eternal philosophical puzzle driven by my misconstrued feelings. However, the scientific reality is clear: genes are the dominant, systematic force shaping who we are. Of course, the environment (ex. nurture) plays a role, but its influence is instead minor, inconsistent, and often overstated when discussing personality, intelligence achievement, or life outcomes like career success and health. I hope to demonstrate this truth and allow you to see the ridiculousness in giving nature and nurture equal weight as if it were that simple.     To start genes are segments of DNA coding for proteins or regulating their production, serving as biological instructions for building and maintaining the body. A common misconception is the idea of a single "gene for" complex traits like intelligence or depression. Genetic influence is far messier, operating through pleiotropy (one gene affecting mult...
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Personality: what is it and why it's important!

Hey team, Today, I’d like to discuss personality, specifically the aspects we can measure. While personality is complex, we have identified domains that provide meaningful insights into how people think, feel, and behave. Back in January I read Daniel Nettle’s “Personality, What Makes You The Way You Are”  and it did a great job of outlining our current understanding of personality with lots of poignant examples. Nettle explains that personality traits are not absolute descriptors of behavior but rather tendencies that manifest across many circumstances, though not necessarily every single one. Obviously, we can’t predict behavior 100% of the time, but these tendencies offer a useful framework for understanding individual differences.  Despite this variability, personality traits demonstrate a high degree of reliability over time, meaning that individuals tend to maintain their relative standing on these traits across years or even decades. For example, across 12 years persona...
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