Some do not believe that we have a left and right brain. However, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future by Daniel H. Pink explains that the left and right hemispheres of the brain control different abilities. I have learned from this book how society and the economy have shifted from the “Information Age” to a “Conceptual Age,” how the arguments of left brain theorists (L- directed) differ from those of right brain theorists (R-directed), the three A’s of abundance, automation, and Asia, and the six essential aptitudes or “six senses” of Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning. In an Oprah interview, Pink explained that in order to make it today, you have to work hard to outsource and automate. According to the author, “My generation's parents told their children, ’Become an accountant, a lawyer, or an engineer; that will give you a solid foothold in the middle class.’ But these jobs are now being sent overseas.” The author explains that in many businesses, abilities associated with the left side of the brain used to matter the most. These include lin...
A little girl dreams of a white wedding with white doves flying over the ceremony and the fairy-tale honeymoon. Only then to come home to the yellow house in the country, with the white picket fence included. Everyone has daydreamed about their future and having the “perfect” house, with the “perfect” car and the “perfect” marriage- everyone wants to live the “American Dream”. There are many people that believe that the “American Dream” is a concept that they are entitled to and expected to live. Then, there are those who believe that you should use the opportunities that America offers as a stepping stone to earn and create your own “American dream”. However, as time goes on the mainstream idea of “living the American Dream” has changed. This change is mostly due to the ever-changing economy, professions, and expectations of the American people. Throughout the book Working, by Studs Terkel, we meet many diverse groups of people to discover the people behind the jobs that allows American society to operate and how their choice of a career path has changed their lives.
The more a participant preferred their left hand, “the better they were at tests of divergent thoughts” (3). The study also found that “Left-handers were more adept… at combining two common objects” and finding a way “to form a third” (3). The article gives the example that they were better at creating a birdhouse by combining a tin can and a pole. The left-handed group also “excelled at grouping lists of words into as many alternative categories as possible” (3). According to the article, the study found “an increased cognitive flexibility among the ambidextrous and the left-handed,” which tends to lead to a rise in creative thinking (3). This flexibility explains why lefties are over-represented in more creative thinking jobs like music, architecture, and the arts, including famous artists Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. To help Konnikova prove her claim, she makes an underlying assumption that having these skills are beneficial and adds a unique ability to the left-handed
As far as I could remember I was never really any good at school. I couldn’t concentrate on things for no more than 5 minutes at a time I would either get discouraged or find it too easy and just give up. An author by the name of Carol Dweck wrote an article called “Brainology” in it Dweck describes that there are two types of mindsets fixed and growth. Those who are afraid to fail so they never try anything new are ones with a fixed mindset and the growth mindset are those who are not afraid to fail and find a new challenge an opportunity to learn something new. I guess you can say that I had a bit of a fixed mindset growing up I was always too scared to look stupid that I didn’t want to fail because I didn’t want to disappoint my siblings
A growth mindset is the belief that you can learn anything you want without a limit. You will not give up and face any challenge in life until you overcome it. A fixed mindset is the belief that you can learn till you reach a certain point. Also, that you will not succeed in life and as soon as you come across a tough challenge you will let it bring you down and won’t ever get back up or face that challenge. Since reading “Brainology” by Carol Dweck, I discovered that I have a growth mindset and fragments of a fixed mindset my whole life.
Nowadays, it is widely known that the right and left hemisphere have different functions. The two hemispheres are equally important in a daily life basis. Nevertheless, in the 1960’s this was not common knowledge. Even though today the importance of the brain hemispheres is common knowledge, people don’t usually know to whom attribute this findings. One of the people who contributed to form a more defined picture about the brain hemispheres and their respective functions was Roger Wolcott Sperry, with the split brain research. Roger Sperry did more contributions than the split brain research, but this is his most important and revolutionary research in the psychological field. Thanks to the split brain research, Sperry proved that the two hemispheres of the brain are important, they work together and whatever side of the brain is more capable of doing the task is the hemisphere that takes the lead.
Holland, Steven. "Talents in the Right Brain." Hidden Talents. Steven Holland, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. .
In The article “Brainology” “Carol S Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, differentiates between having a fixed and growth mindset in addition how these mindsets have a deep effect on a student’s desire to learn. Individuals who have a fixed mindset believe they are smart without putting in effort and are afraid of obstacles, lack motivation, and their focus is to appear smart.. In contrast, students with a growth mindset learn by facing obstacles and are motivated to learn. Dwecks argues that students should develop a growth mindset.
America was once known as a land of opportunity and prosperity. Now we are seeing that upward mobility is increasingly rare in the US. In fact, many Northern and Western European nations provide greater opportunity than the US. Despite this, many Americans continue to believe that social class is determined by hard work. 69% of Americans in a survey agreed that people are rewarded for intelligence, skill, and effort (139). This is obviously not the case, or millions of Americans would not be in the situation they’re in today. For instance, Terry Neumann strived to find full time work, but she could not afford her house after years of part time jobs and her divorce. The Stanley’s were also very hardworking, but stayed in their class. After years of work from both Jackie and Claude, they still had to put Keith’s college tuition on a credit card. Both of the families illustrate the challenge of upward mobility and America’s declining prosperity.
In Carol Dweck’s “Brainology” the article explains how our brain is always being altered by our experiences and knowledge during our lifespan. For this Dweck conducted a research in what students believe about their own brain and their thoughts in their intelligence. They were questioned, if intelligence was something fixed or if it could grow and change; and how this affected their motivation, learning, and academic achievements. The response to it came with different points of views, beliefs, or mindset in which created different behavior and learning tendencies. These two mindsets are call fixed and growth mindsets. In a fixed mindset, the individual believes that intelligence is something already obtain and that is it. They worry if they
right-brain (Jaynes, 1967). When examining tradition, it is important to question the origins; for they may not prove useful ...
According to Nicholas Carr, the internet changes the way people read and process information, thus diminishing their cognitive function. In other words Carr is saying, that the internet is modifying any intake and output of information to and from the brain. “The brain,” Carr quotes according to Olds “has the ability to reprogram its self on the fly, altering the way it functions.” This means that the brain is capable of easily being changed by the internet.
The excessive work load we’ve become accustomed to here in America, coupled with an ever increasing amount of social change, has left the American middle class workforc...
In majority of individuals, the left half of the brain takes charge of the academic activities. These academic activities break down into logic, words, numbers and reasoning (Gallagher, 1995). These abilities of the left brain are what make humans ...
there has been a lot of talk of left brain and right brain people. Levy's
Unfortunately, there are many Americans out of work in today’s current declining economy. Unemployment can be defined as a person who is out of work involuntary, not by choice. These people are looking jobs and available to start work. Being unemployed can be disheartening and deciding what the next step is can be challenging. Underemployed can be described as being inadequately employed, such as a low-paying job that requires fewer skills than one possess. (Daly, Hobijn, and Kwok 2015) Making ends meet can be difficult for one who has been affected by this economy over the past few years. America still has a high unemployment rate since the decline of the current job market. And many Americans are struggling to establish the skills needed for employment, or the underemployed are force to lower they skill to make a profit. America’s economic status has force the underemployed and unemployed to make ends meet with the current jobs available. And last but not least some have also utilized these difficult times to venture into new discoveries to make life hassle free. So, we wonder is Americans giving up in today’s economy or do they settle for lower end job to establish a steady income to make ends.