Think-Thank-Thunk

Boys and girls are different. We all know that. You’ll be amazed at just how different, when you begin to dig into the current research literature. The following 12 book/article annotations summarize just what I’m talking about here.
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An interesting article relating data from a survey done at Careerbuilder.com

“A smile is often the most essential thing. One is repaid by a smile. One is rewarded by a smile. One is animated by a smile.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupry

I’m sure everybody, at one time or another, has wondered what would happen if you combined the geek-like qualities of a psychology professor with the computer nerdiness of a video game creator.

Well wonder no more. Introducing MindHabits: Great Games from Serious Science.

You can read all the juicy details about how the games work at their website, MindHabits.com, but their basic premise is this:

You can read all the juicy details about how the games work at their website, but their basic premise is this:

• Find and click on the friendly smiling face as quickly as you can racking up points as you go.
• Ignore all the frowning faces.
• Reprogram your mind to ignore negativity throughout your day.

The game was developed by psychology professor Mark Baldwin in an effort to determine whether or not a video game can actually change the way you see and even think about the world around you.

“We started with the idea that just as playing the game Tetris over and over for hours can start to shape the way you look at the world (even in your dreams!), playing a specially-designed computer game might also help to improve your thoughts and feelings about yourself.”

And if you think about it, from a brain-based perspective, it makes sense. Everybody’s brain comes equipped with a filter called the Reticular Activating System Reticular Activating System (RAS for short), responsible for filtering significant information from the glut of sensory input we are constantly bombarded with. Without the RAS, every little distraction, noise, tactile stimuli, scent and motion would get through to our conscious awareness and we’d go berserk. Every tick of the clock, every car that passed by, the feeling of every elastic band.

Anyway, my point is that the RAS filters stuff, and for many of us, it is allowing way too much negative information to get through. We get a short response from our boss and we think, “Is she mad at me? Did I do something wrong?” We notice a colleague with a serious face and we worry, “I wonder what he’s upset about. Hope it wasn’t something I did.”

All this because we first noticed, and considered significant, someone’s body language. Obviously, this is stressful. On the other hand, how much better do you feel when you’re greeted with a friendly smile and hello? Tons! Wouldn’t it be nice if we could simply ignore the negative and sanction only the positive? But alas, for many of us these are habits entrenched and reinforced by unending cycles of fear and supported by feedback loops of insecurity.

These are exactly the brain-ruts MindHabits video games claim to break. The following is taken from MindHabits explanation of how the games work.

Not surprisingly, such habits of mind can play a huge role in how we deal with the stresses of modern life . . . Decades of research have shown that people who feel adequately supported by and connected to others, as opposed to being isolated or rejected, are actually physically healthier and cope better with stress.

Recent research . . . indicates that these mental habits can be learned. . . learning to function well and feel confident in the social world requires the development of an impressive collection of psychological abilities.

We all develop our own set of mental habits in the course of growing up . . .but almost everyone could benefit from additional training much as a professional golfer spends hours on the putting green refining an effective stroke. Computer games, with their unique form of interactivity, provide an excellent opportunity to practice helpful habits of mind.

Being developed by science geeks, they didn’t only base their game on theory. They went out and tested it.

“We needed to find a group that was very stressed and, you know, I always hang up on telemarketers frankly, personally, so they’re dealing with a lot of rejection all day long,” said Baldwin in a recent interview. “But after playing the game five minutes a day for a week, something incredible happened. The level of cortisol, or the stress hormone, in their bodies had dropped by 17 percent. Even more remarkable is the employees playing the game were rated as more self-confident and then moreover, they actually made more sales.”

So, what the heck. If you have a spare minute, go check it out. There are a number of different versions and a few different free games you can play even without downloading anything. I played the “click-the-face” game a bit, but I’m certainly not the guy you want to go to for a video game critique. I thought it was sort of fun in a mindless-can-I-beat-the-timer-or-my-best-score sort of way.

But don’t take my word for it. MindHabits recently beat out 69 other games in the Great Canadian Video Game Competition. So it can’t be all bad. Along with more credibility, that also meant an award of (I am not making this up) $1.3 million.

The way I figure–you don’t give 1.3 mill to a crappy game. If it boosts your self-esteem, and you were just going to blow that 10 minutes surfing the web anyway, I say you might as well give it a shot.

The one benefit you’ll have if you get caught playing at work is you can site some research to support the claim that at least playing this internet game can boost your productivity.