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Is someone in your firm blaming others for his or her actions? Beware of blame contagion

The media are giving a fair amount of attention to this recent research article entitled "Blame contagion: The automatic transmission of self-serving attributions" (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) [pdf]. Here's the abstract:

When people blame others for their mistakes, they learn less and perform worse. This problem is magnified when blame becomes embedded in the shared culture of groups and organizations. Yet, little is known about whether—and, if so, how—the propensity to blame spreads from one person to another. Four experiments addressed this issue, demonstrating that blame is socially contagious: observing an individual make a blame attribution increased the likelihood that people would make subsequent blame attributions for their own, unrelated, failures (Experiments 1, 2, and 4). Results also indicated that this ‘‘blame contagion” is due to the transmission of goals. Blame exposure led to the inference and adoption of a self-image protection goal (Experiment 3), and blame contagion was eliminated when observers had the opportunity to alleviate this self-image protection goal via self-affirmation (Experiment 4). ...

You may find of interest other articles linked to here by the co-author of this article. For example: "When the Boss Feels Inadequate: Power, Incompetence, and Aggression" (Psychological Science) [pdf].

Want to live a long life? Listen to music or volunteer

An article in today's New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal summarizes some of what we know about possible longevity enhancers. These include exercising brain and body, taking nutritional supplements, making music, singing, and having a sense of purpose.

And then I read in the article this sci fi kind of information.

Recently, a rather startling claim was made by Ray Kurzweil, an American scientist, who has just announced that humans could become immortal in about 20 years time. He pins his hopes on research on the human body and on nanotechnology. Spare parts are already being used to replace worn-out body parts.

Mr. Kurzweil is quoted as saying, "I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogram our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live forever."

Nanotechnology is the study of very small, artificially produced materials. Such materials are made by arranging metals and other compounds at the level of the atom in unique way, often into spheres or

Blog Glob: "Long struggle takes Mt. Lebanon mom to top of legal profession"

Excerpt:

About two decades ago, [Angela] Winslow was a single mom with little education and less of a chance at a career in the legal profession. Today, she's a partner in the Downtown law firm where she once answered phones and took memos.

"I've worked hard to be where I am today," said Winslow, 45, of Mt. Lebanon. "When you work for what you get, no one can take it away from you."

This month, Winslow was named a shareholder in the firm of Dickie McCamey & Chilcote. She described the appointment as the culmination of years of hard work.

Winslow didn't talk about being a single mother during the eight years Maureen Kowalski has worked with her at the firm. She said Winslow was more interested in learning the ins and outs of the legal profession, burying herself in books on legal theory so she could become a more effective lawyer for clients.

"She never used her situation as a crutch, never looked for anyone to give her a handout," said Kowalski, also a Dickie McCamey & Chilcote partner. "She's a role model for a lot of women."

Click to read the rest of "Long struggle takes Mt. Lebanon mom to top of legal profession" (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).

For those of you with difficult colleagues, friends, or family members

I think Borderline Personality Disorder is probably over-diagnosed by the general public. The Disorder is a popular topic with many books written for a lay audience. Not a week passes that I don't hear someone complaining about a person in his or her life who has BPD. For those of you with an interest in the topic, here's a blog. It is written by Dr. Eric Fertuck and is called Science at the 'border' (Psychology Today).

We know much about the brains of learning adults: Are any law schools using brain-based instruction?

This charter school sounds fun! And the kids are outperforming district and state averages in math and reading, despite a disproportionate number of children with special needs. From "Kids on the brain" (Northwestern):

Ask [school principal Lynn] Brown, an energized educator with the prestigious title of “doctor”, to explain what “brain-based” means, and she’ll promptly pour out some scholarly jargon at turbo speed: “It’s the application of neuroscience principles within our educational framework to effectively maximize student cognition.”

In other words, she explains, all instruction at Shapiro is deliberately rooted in research about how the brain works. The school then marries that brain-based philosophy to a paper-and-pencil curriculum teaching thinking skills and lessons in how to work with others.

Neuroscience also gives us information about how to "effectively maximize student cognition" for older brains. I wonder if any law schools are teaching students using what we know about how the adult brain best learns?

Note: Click for a presentation titled "Brain Development During the Early Years: Neuroscience and Education."

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Blog Glob: Mindfulness Practice and Stress Reduction

Excerpt:

Take away my trouble, take away my grief,
Take away my heartache, I go right to sleep.
“Crazy Love,” Van Morrison

How many of us long for a magic formula to do what Van Morrison’s lover does for him in this song? But a full night of restful sleep for a conscientious lawyer? “Preposterous!” we chuckle. Our legal careers and our responsibilities weigh too heavily on our minds and bodies. Yet we yearn for respite from the worries, pain, and pressures of our careers and our lives. We grasp at myriad promises of comfort and relief, however fleeting: 20-year-old Scotch, a nicely-rolled joint, a new boat, a computer program, the right vacation. . . . The promises seem endless and nearly all involve running away from the present, from the feelings of stress generated in our lifestyles. Mindfulness practice makes no such promises, but invites us into awareness of the present moment. Too often, our regrets and plans, our worries and hopes rip us away from enjoying the here and now. To live mindfully is to be present, in body and in mind, with every bit of pain and pleasure in our lives. The results of mindfulness include reduced stress, greater focus, and increased productivity, as well as a sense of stability, peace, and happiness.

Click to read the rest of Mindfulness Practice and Stress Reduction (Cutting Edge Law).

Know anyone who drifted into law school?

Gretchen Rubin did. She writes at The Happiness Project blog (Psychology Today):

I fear drift. Drift feels small, but once unleashed, drift is a powerful, often almost unstoppable, force.

...
 
I drifted into law school. I didn’t know what else I wanted to do, it seemed like a legitimate, useful way to spend a few years, it would keep my options open…I didn’t really think much about the decision. As it turns out, I’m very glad I went to law school – drift sometimes does lead to a happy result, which contributes to its dangerous appeal – but I didn’t approach law school mindfully. And many, many people who go to law school are not happy they went.

Just taking one drifting step can you set you in a course that’s very hard to stop. In my case, I drifted into taking the LSAT (the law-school application test). “Why not, might as well, could come in handy, maybe I’ll be glad I did,” etc. This is a good example of the fact that drifting doesn’t always mean taking the easier course; it was a lot of trouble to prepare and take the LSAT, but it was still drift.

Ever drifted?

Are you a cognitive miser? Here are some ways to find out and some techniques to combat miserliness

Because our brain uses so much energy, it likes to be lazy to conserve. But that can get us into trouble. Fortunately we can learn to combat this tendency. In "Why smart people do dumb things" (Globe and Mail), writer Anne McIlroy looks at both cognitive miserliness and prevention. She also gives you several problems to test your miser propensity.

McIlroy writes:

[Keith Stanovich] studies why smart people do stupid things - or, in more scientific terms, how intelligence is distinct from rationality. His work offers insight into important cognitive abilities that are not measured by IQ tests. It also suggests that deficits in real-world reasoning can be corrected, whether in adults or in children.

...

"[D]ysrationalia" [is] a term Dr. Stanovich has coined for the inability to think and behave rationally despite adequate intelligence, as he details in his recent book, What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought.

There is, of course, an upside to being a cognitive miser - it means using the brain in an energy-efficient manner. It helps to explain why most of us get out of the house in the morning: We don't waste hours considering what colour socks to wear or what to have for breakfast.

But it also means that when faced with a more complicated decision or question, we tend to give the first response that comes to mind, rather than considering carefully. Most of us are also heavily influenced by how a question is framed.

...

However, we can also train ourselves ways to overcome our miserly tendencies. Studies have shown that people can teach themselves a number of techniques to help them consider all the possibilities when deciding among options:

Read the rest of the article to learn some of those techniques and test yourself to see if you are miserly.

Today we are so quaint: What's coming in our tech future?

For me, thinking about the technology of the future is fun. If I believed in astrology, I would agree with what Linda Goodman says about my address in her Linda Goodman's Sun Signs.

Lots of people like rainbows. Children make wishes on them, artists paint them, dreamers chase them, but the Aquarian is ahead of everybody. He lives on one. What's more, he's taken it apart and examined it, piece by piece, color by color, and he still believes in it. It isn't easy to believe in something after you know what it's really like, but the Aquarian is essentially a realist, even though his address is tomorrow, with a wild-blue-yonder zip code.

Whether or not my address is tomorrow, I enjoyed this article about new technology and how people in the future will look back and view us. From "Novel Now, but Not for Long" (New York Times):

We like to think we’re so advanced, you know? We’re so modern. We’re not like our ancestors, whom we picture exclusively in black-and-white, running around in jerky fast motion. How quaint they were with their Model T’s and gas lamps!

Well, hate to break it to you, but we’re going to look just as quaint to our own descendants. We still hunt around for a coffee shop when we need a wireless Internet connection. We still buy movies on plastic discs. Some people still read “newspapers.”

But at least we’re still making progress. The year’s not quite over yet, but it’s over enough to observe a few of the most interesting high-tech highs, lows and trends of 2009. ...

Love those pico projectors, don't you? I want one to take back to my rainbow.

Blog Glob: "Hildebrandt Interprets Economic Impact on Lawyers: 'Flat Is New Up'"

Excerpt:

The traditional way for law firms to weather economic downturns – cutting overhead and raising rates — are no longer enough. “Law firms must expand their efforts to understand the marked shift in client attitude that is the product of this economy,” said [Kristin] Stark. “After ten years of a ‘seller’s market’ we have rapidly shifted to a ‘buyer’s market.’

“Clients now hold the power where pricing is concerned,” said Stark, “and these clients are angry and frustrated. This downturn has quickly compounded long-term client perceptions of poor value and misalignment of resources in exchange for high rates.

“The most market-savvy law firms understand that clients currently enjoy a growing number of options to get legal services cheaper and faster,” said Stark. “These firms are actively pushing ‘big moves’ to reshape their firms – and the legal industry.”
These include:

Click to read the rest of "Hildebrandt Interprets Economic Impact on Lawyers: 'Flat Is New Up'" (Law Week Colorado).