Can you change society by changing your preferences?

A map of New York City, where residential areas are colored with dots according to the race of its inhabitants. In finer resolution, each inhabitant is represented by one dot. Non-residential spaces remain white. Image Copyright: 2013, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia (Dustin A. Cable, creator).

Have you ever heard somebody claim to have no negative feelings towards immigrants while living in a neighborhood with hardly any foreigners? What were your initial thoughts? Chances are, they went along the lines of "well, maybe you think you are not racist". Well, maybe you were wrong. 

Grades at school: to use or not to use them?

It’s exam period in schools and universities.

For several weeks, grades become the main concern of pupils, students, parents and professors. Most students are worried and impatient to find out whether they succeeded at their exams, but also to see whether their grades are better or worse than those of their peers. Parents and professors do the same: they constantly compare the grades of their children and students with those of others. But is this a good idea?

Take it with a grain of salt! .... or not?

Everybody consumes salt on a daily basis. It is present in most of our food, either naturally (such as in meats or vegetables), as an added substance for flavour, or as a preservative (such as in cheese, bacon, canned foods, and most convenience foods). The main sources of salt in our diet are bread and cereal products, meat products and milk and dairy products (Buss & Robertson, 1973), next to the use of table salt. But what is salt?

     Common salt is a mineral that consists out of 2 elements (and sometimes some trace elements): sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl). Normally, salt crystals are translucent but appear to be white and are cubic in shape. If table salt contains e.g. impurities or added elements, it may have a different shade of white such as a white with a pink or blue hue.

Source: salt-91539_960_720.jpg

Théorie de l’engagement : Sommes-nous libres de nos choix ?

Source: Pixabay

Comment amener un individu à faire ce que l’on voudrait qu’il fasse ? Comment identifier et contourner les stratégies de manipulation marketing souvent malhonnêtes utilisées par les vendeurs, les commerçants ou les individus malintentionnés ? Les techniques utilisées sont-elles toujours accessibles à la conscience ?