Medium Psychology Highlights (Issue 1)
On the Why and How of this series, child and adult development (kind of), and behavioural economics
Why
I love psychology. If you know me personally—thanks for being here, you’ve made my day!—this is no surprise. You’ve probably heard me speak about psychology ad nauseam and might have even read my posts despite the annoying parenthetical references (gotta please that APA, y’know). If you don’t know me personally, you might be here because we share a different passion: I love Medium, too. I love it for the editor, the brilliant posts I get to read, the brilliant people I get to connect to.
Unfortunately, Medium is far from perfect, and the community has noticed. For example, Lisa Wilton shared her thoughts on Why Medium is more Meh than Yeah for me, lately. Other posts with a similar message abound. My response to Lisa was that writers should keep trying to post the content we want to see and reward good content with claps and recommends. When enough people do that, the argument went, Medium will start taking notice and make appropriate changes to their mysterious algorithm. Now I’m convinced that’s not enough. Is there a way writers can have a more active role in shaping the content that is featured and rewarded on Medium?
Enter Vico Biscotti. For a few months he has been publishing a monthly “You May Have Missed on Medium” series (here’s the latest one, for January). In short, every month Vico promotes pieces of good writing by authors who may not have had a chance to be picked up by The Algorithm. When I first noticed the series I thought it was a cool idea; a few days ago I realised it might be much more. Vico saw that it was difficult to find high-quality posts beyond the ones that show up on one’s homepage, and he did something about it. Makes sense, doesn’t it? If Medium doesn’t show us what we want to read, why don’t we show it (him? her?) and other writers what we want to read?
And boom, this idea was born.
I know that many of the voices complaining about the endless stream of listicles and “THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO SUCCEED”–ticles are fiction or poetry writers. And while I do like fiction and poetry, that’s not the main kind of content that I seek on Medium. What I love is–
You know what it is. And so I had an itch. A purpose bigger than writing about psychology: I want to help the Psychology tag on Medium become the best it can become. I want people to be able to read psychology articles that go beyond writers’ opinions or reflections (we like to call psychology a science for a reason), and I want authors who put time and effort into researching and writing interesting and informative posts to see their work be recognised by the community.
I can’t do that on my own. I can’t do that in one day. But if I put in the effort week upon week, if I throw enough stones into the Medium-ocean, if you support this endeavour with ripples of your own, we might just be able to nudge the tides into a different direction.
That’s Why.
How
Simple. As per the title of the series, I want to highlight a few posts about psychology that caught my attention and might be worth your while. During the week I’ll keep an eye out for posts from those I follow and from the Psychology tag in general. Quasi-weekly I’ll compile them into a Highlights post and share them with all of you.
The format will be loose. I might lump posts into categories one week, but have a list of unrelated posts the next. Most posts will have been published in the previous week, but older posts will make an appearance as well. Sometimes I’ll recommend a particularly nice book I’m reading, or point you to a free PDF of a scientific article that’s chilling around the web. Maybe I’ll link to something Adam Grant has written. Really, I don’t know. But I know it will be fun, interesting, and all about that Psych.
That’s How.
Ready? Let’s get to it.
Highlights
Today I have two sets of posts for you.
Children, Adults = Humans
The following five posts remind us to treat each other more humanely. They are especially dear to my heart because of how intimately their messages are connected with self-determination theory (SDT, which I’ve written about here)—can you spot the links between them and SDT?
- Mathijs Koenraadt’s The roots of evil (6 min) uses psychology to argue that all violence is learned behaviour. Do you think some people are just inherently evil? Maybe this piece will change your mind, or at least bring some nuance to your worldview.
- Mikala Streeter is interested in unschooling—interest-driven learning—and has devoted an entire series to the topic. This latest instalment asks: But what if they don’t have any interests… (8 min)? Citing relevant research articles and her personal experience, Mikala rejects the fear that children might not have any interests at all and instead delves into the psychology of how interests are discovered and nurtured.
- With Let’s get off the bad parenting bandwagon, shall we? (4 min) Muffie Waterman criticises a specific Thrive Global article and a general tendency to scare parents into believing that they are ruining their children’s lives. She proposes that we change the way we approach these topics from one of negativity and fear to one of positivity and empowerment. A worthy addition to the “what should Medium aim for” debate.
- Shadi Mirza might just convince you to Stop putting your kids in time out (3 min) if you give his latest piece a chance; even if you’re not ready to give up this technique, it’s worth paying attention to Shadi’s arguments.
But wait, doesn’t this article contradict Muffie Waterman’s advice? Only you and the authors can sort this out, but I suggest that perhaps “negative” articles may be useful, depending on the tone and message. It certainly gave me something to think about. - In How to change other people (12 min) Tyler Kleeberger beautifully guides you through a Korean folktale, some theology, and an interesting psychology study that suggests how you might approach changing others. A lot of wisdom there, definitely worth the 12 minutes!
Homo Economicus?
The next three posts are, in a way, related to behavioural economics*. Can you find the commonalities?
- Melissa Chu brings an interesting twist on a strange phenomenon. Read her post Bronze Medalists Smile More Than Silver Medalists, Here’s Why (6 min) for two reasons: to find out why (duh) and to discover what this finding has to do with your life. (hint: it’s all about perspective)
- Next up, Melis Ozoner asks, Why do we pay to not go to the gym? (8 min) If that sounds weird, read on; if you are someone who pays not to go to the gym, definitely read on! And please give Melis some applause for her first post!
- Ever heard about nudging? It’s all the rage now (*cough*Nobel Prize*cough*), but in case you haven’t heard, you’re in for a treat. As a short introduction, Sandhya Shyamsundar’s Deciphering the Nudge Puzzle — How does It Influence Decision Making? (4 min) explains the concept and gives you three useful illustrations of nudging effects.
A final word:
Thank you to all the writers who’ve helped fill Medium’s Psychology tag this week with engaging and interesting content, keep it up guys and gals!
And please let me know what you think of this endeavour. Worth it? Useful? Let me know! And of course, clap to show support and follow me for more :)
Next issue:
Want more of my writing without having to dig for it? Check out the Archive.
