Do you love TED like we do?
A curious individual could use these videos as a starting point for their own research and critical/creative thinking journey - people can find quality information on the internet from the comfort of their own home or favorite coffee shop. Education is (virtually) free for those who seek it on their own.
Enjoy these TED videos! Don't stop here ... look for the original research cited by the speakers, find additional research and create your own best understanding of the topics presented.
Tim Brown: Tales of Creativity and Play (thank you, Valerie! 27:51)
Have you been told that creativity and play are just "fluff"? Tim makes a case for the value of play.
Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are (21:02)
Amy (implicitly) covers all of the major psychological perspectives in this presentation and it's a beautiful synthesis of her story and science with inspiration that all of us might benefit from at some point in our lives ... when we need the courage to persist!
David Sivers: How To Start a Movement (thank you, Ian! 5:42)
In our individualist culture, we place high value on leadership but what if we didn't have followers? How does this relate to your understanding of individualism and collectivism?
Martin Seligman: The New Era of Positive Psychology (23:42)
While this era really isn't new anymore, we still haven't caught onto this wisdom in American culture. Can you flip your paradigm of "fixing what's wrong" to "developing what's right?" Can you change your priorities and live a more fulfilling life?
Dan Gilbert: The Science of Happiness (21:16)
You've seen him on TV talking about saving for retirement and being "happy" but here is an introduction to the Harvard professor's research on happiness. If you like this TED video, there are others by Dan Gilbert that are also very good.
PS - Did you know Dan Gilbert dropped out of high school when he was 15? The most interesting and inspiring career stories are not straight line trajectories!
Elyn Saks: A Tale of Mental Illness -- From the Inside (14:49)
Yes, another Ivy League story but this should challenge our views about what we think of people with diagnoses (stereotypes) and how we assist them with living productive lives. When I've taught Abnormal Psychology, many students start the semester using insensitive and fear filled labels like "crazy" or "freaks" and they also come to class expecting to memorize diagnostic criteria (which is how many teachers still teach Abnormal Psychology). I hope that this video serves as a starting point to understanding people beyond stereotypes and our social norms of treatment.
Brene Brown: The Power of Vulnerability (20:19)
While there are a couple of assertions at the end of this video that I believe go beyond the scope of Brene's research, this video offers useful insights on how we might let down our guard and be rewarded with love.
Sir Kenneth Robinson: How Schools Kill Creativity (19:25)
We trust education to give us what we need to move toward "success", but how has it developed into an insitutionalized system that might be severely limiting our progress in the ever changing world we're part of?
Peter Doolittle: How Your "Working Memory" Makes Sense of the World (9:29)
I do believe that everything can be interesting if we connect it to something of interest to us - such as US! While the topic of "working memory" may sound dull to students at first glance, Peter makes it meaningful and fascinating.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action (1 hour 11 min)
There are several good talks online by Simon ... what do you think of his message(s) for leaders?
Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation (18:36)
Do you really know why you do what you do and do you really know what you want? And, what social norms around you are most likely to make you act? If you are going to be a leader, how can understanding the science of motivation help you become a more effective leader?
What does this have to do with operant conditioning and/or extrinsic & intrinsic motivation at school and work?
Dan also has an interesting career story. Although he studied to be a lawyer, that is not what he does now ... how might his career story broaden your expectations of the future?
Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts (19:01)
American Culture encourages and values extroversion in many ways. If we don't truly value the contributions of a diverse population including the personality trait of introversion, how might we be we affecting individuals and limiting our shared successes?
How does Susan wish college classrooms would change? Based on what you know and the research you've completed (you've done research, right? you are not simply asserting non-challenged opinions from your own worldview?), what is the "right" answer to you?
Elizabeth Gilbert: Your Elusive Creative Genius (19:09)
Author of Eat, Pray, Love, a book that became a movie starring Julia Roberts, talks about creativity and the courage it takes to go against cultural expectations related to creative endeavors. She, and my friend Olga, are my inspiration to go on a summer 2015 Eat, Pray, Love (or at least Eat, Pray) trip to Greece and Italy ... how can she inspire the bravery and creativity inside of you?
Hans Rosling: The Best Stats You've Ever Seen (19:50)
When I taught statistics to students majoring in behavioral sciences, most came into the class petrified - it was a class they avoided until they finally had to give in and take the class that required math and SPSS skills. A rare few were excited that they would finally get to do more convergent thinking and come up with precise calculations leading to an agreed upon correct answer - an answer that would still be correct in 30 or even 200 years (unlike our changing understandings of human phenomena). I taught statistics in a way that required more critical thinking than calculations so most students did better than they had expected, but I do wish I had been able to make statistics as exciting, meaningful and colorful as Hans does ... Hans takes us far beyond the comfort of statistical significance and p values ...
How does entrepreneurial mindset relate to the ideas Hans presents?
Thought: If a statistics class or research methods class is intimidating, ask for help and take advantage of campus resources - they are many! Also, have you googled the Khan Academy yet? You can do it.
Rita Pierson: Every Kid Needs a Champion (7:48)
Rita has a simple (elegant!), beautiful message that offers all of us an opportunity to make a difference - we are all teachers and we can all form relationships that lift another.
As we talk about Positive Social Change at my home campus, people ask and say things including:
1) Who gets to decide what positive social change we should work toward?
2) We are not going to agree on what positive social change is (so let's do nothing?).
3) This is just a current fad in America and higher education.
4) I'm too busy to make a difference. What can I do?
I think Rita gives us an idea that we can agree on (doesn't she?) and she also suggests that, perhaps, we can make the world a better place through the interactions we have with each other on a daily basis.
Rachel Botsman: The Currency of the New Economy is Trust (19:46)
How are you protecting your "reputational capital"? What do you think of Rachel's positive social change movement? What does this have to do with culture and entrepreneurship and/or social entrepreneurship?
Paul Zak: Trust, Morality --- and Oxytocin (16:35)
What?! The biological perspective on trust and morality? While we tend to think of human phenomena from predictable psychological perspectives, it is good for us to actively engage in critical thinking and remember to test the other major perspectives in our quest to build our research insights that go beyond our current mental frameworks/schema.
Emile Wapnick - Why some of us don't have one true calling (12:27)
For higher education marching toward guided pathways, Emile provides a very "Z" message about systems that welcome the kind of diversity that makes us better together. This also asserts the relevance of interdisciplinary studies.
