Best of the Web – March 1, 2010

Here’s a list of our ten favorite articles and videos about cognitive science, culture, politics, and social movements:

The Science (Fiction) of Embodied Cognition – Very insightful breakdown of the movie Avatar through the lens of cognitive science.

Loss Aversion – Fascinating, accurate summary about recent developments in neuroscience and decision-making.

In Defense of Distraction – Exploration of attention in our information-saturated world and how to promote creativity.

Psychological Flow and the Plastic Rock – Intriguing discussion of being “in the zone” and lateral problem-solving.

Think ‘Network Structure’ not Networking -A powerful shift in thinking about how to use social networks to leverage power.

Easy = True – How ‘Cognitive Fluency’ Shapes What We Believe – Deep insights into how our brains make simple ideas appear to be true.

Does Gaming Have a Place in Government? – Exploration of how video games pave the way to massive-scale collaboration in a democracy.

Made to Stick: Jared, The Power of Story – Discussion of marketing, stories, and how to make an idea “sticky”.

Abstract Thoughts? The Body Makes Them Literal – A high-profile discussion of embodied metaphor in the New York Times.

Movement as Network – An oldy-but goodey, this article lays out how to think about social movements as networks.

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