L a l a w r i t e s

Compliance refers to the act of following instructions or conforming to the expectations or demands of others. It is an important concept in psychology and child development as it relates to how individuals, particularly children, respond to authority figures and social norms. Compliance can occur due to various reasons, including a desire to avoid punishment, gain rewards, or seek approval from others. To understand the practical outcomes of compliance tactics, Jonathan Freedman, a social psychologist conducted an experiment involving school boys to assess their compliance to directions to not do a certain activity. The direction in this regard was to not play with a particularly attractive toy and different samples of school boys were given directions in different ways. In the first leg of the experiment, Freedman invited the boys one at a time into the experiment room and presented them with 5 toys to play with. However, he gave a command to the child to not play with an attract...

  The Korean War was a conflict that took place on the Korean Peninsula from 1950 to 1953. It began on June 25, 1950, when North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea. The war stemmed from the division of Korea after World War II, with the Soviet Union occupying the north and the United States occupying the south. In the conflict, many American soldiers were taken Prisoner of War (POW) in the Chinese camps. The Chinese treated these soldiers differently than their North Korean allies who were brutal in their tactics to solicit compliance from the POWs. The Chinese followed a compliance tactic through commitment garnered from American soldiers by making them write marginally anti-American things about America and marginally good things about Communism. But how did they achieve this? They set on a path of staggered compliance by committing soldiers to their own confessions. What were these confessions about? The Chinese used to force American soldier...

  Today while working out at the Gym, I saw a solitary shaker bottle placed on the floor near the squat rack. The bottle had a yellow lid and a message inscribed boldly on the body- “Look in the mirror, that’s your competition.” The message struck me as I pondered on the simplicity of the statement and yet its deep connotation. Social media is all over and every person has an infinite influence stream sitting in their pockets at all times. People are influenced by the media and want their lives to be just like the ones portrayed on social media sites. Often, these are exaggerated realities. What happens when all day you receive feeds of the perfect bodies, perfect hair, flawless skin, million-dollar earnings, partying on yachts, luxury cars, designer clothes, and other endless influences? You start to question your worth through the gap between your reality and the things being portrayed. You set the wrong benchmarks while setting your ambition and goals. Let’s assume you are...

  Yesterday, I read about one of the most brazen tactics deployed by businesses to push their sales in periods when there are few takers. It is the case of Toy manufacturers in the U.S. who face a slump in sales post the Christmas sale. Usually, in the West, people buy gifts for their kids and loved ones on Christmas and post that it is just for presents on specific occasions. The companies wanted to tap into the market post the festival season too. They tried different tactics such as increased marketing, and offering discounts but it only led to losses owing to the increased costs. They needed a way to bring the customer back to the stores and needed a creative solution for it. The manufacturers tapped the psychological spectrum associated with gifting. Usually, parents gift toys to their kids on their demands. Kids see the advertisements on TV channels they watch or the places the children visit. Usually, the ad fervor is high in the pre-Christmas season. The ads are aggress...

  Over the years I have got exposed to the idea of Index Funds through reading some books and following the advice of celebrity investors on social media.  An index fund is a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) that aims to replicate the performance of a specific market index, such as the S&P 500 in the U.S., the FTSE 100 in London, or the Sensex 30 or Nifty 50 in India.  Unlike the actively managed funds, which rely on the expertise of fund managers to select individual stocks, index funds passively track the composition and performance of an underlying index. Now the question arises what is an Index? An Index is a benchmark for evaluating the performance of an investment portfolio. In India, we have 2 major Indices- Sensex 30 and Nifty 50. In Sensex 30, we have the top 30 companies by market cap (Share price X No. of shares) listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, and for Nifty 50 it is the top 50 companies by market cap listed on the National Stock Exc...

Today I read a chapter on the consistency bias existent in human psychology. Robert Cialdini points out that humans tend to stay consistent with their thoughts, frameworks, and mindsets. He stated his personal experience with Transcendental Meditation (TM). He and his friend who was also a social scientist went to the seminar of TM where they claimed that they could relieve humans of their life issues such as stress, and health problems, and put them on the path to spirituality. They would be uplifted from the mundane of the world and feel the bliss of enlightenment through various meditations and practices. They went on to preach that at an advanced level, you can even fly through the walls and be at different places at different times. Both of them observed the mystical claims of the preachers and were increasingly amazed at each claim. Then, when the preachers were finished with their session which had multiple guests, the friend who by now was visibly fumed threw a volley of qu...

  Often, we are engrossed in a debate where emotions take over the rationality of the usage of words. You forget that silence at times is the best antidote to increased conflict. Today in the office my boss was questioning the drafting skills of a junior who committed an avoidable error on the draft. The English language, apart from Hindi, is the main medium of correspondence in central ministries. You need to be well versed in either of these to be able to conduct the official work. All juniors are supposed to put up drafts in the language of the correspondence. But the junior was adamant in defending himself on why it was not his fault that the mistake happened. Boss further questioned each of his reasoning. He kept on giving witless responses. Finally, he ended up embarrassing himself. What I learned from another story heard from P.B. today was that it is better to own up to your mistake than to defend it. He is true to his word as he practices it in real life too. I have ...

  I had a call from William, a schoolmate, and dear friend, now settled in the U.S. Will has a cute and chubby daughter named Mehreen, aged around 2 years. She was recently in India with her mother. They stayed here for 3 months and this was Mehreen’s first visit to India. They had a busy schedule as they met relatives and friends and had to travel to different places. The mode of travel was a car. In the U.S. there are strict laws for traveling with a child. The Car needs to have a child seat properly secured if you are to travel with a child. India is a little behind on this front and it is not yet a strict rule to provision for a secure child seat in the car. Mehreen would have traveled in a car in the U.S. as a toddler and been seated in the child’s seat fastened on the rear seat of the car. In India, she had no such compulsion and could sit, stand and move inside the car. Of course, that is not safe but many cars in India do not have a feature to affix the child seat. So, ...