Personal Time?

In the interest of developing vision, it is worth examining how others see the world. Β This video of a talk by Philip Zimbardo has a look at how our perception of time – real, physical time – influences our cultures and behaviour.

Hope you enjoy it.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg&w=560&h=315]

33 Comments

  1. Phillip Zimbardo’s book, The Time Paradox, is wonderful! I learned so much about my unrecognized perceptions about time from his research and writing…I think he has remarkable wisdom. Thanks for linking his ideas.

    (And I see that you have his study, the Stanford Prison study along your side bar….what amazing, and distressing, insight was gained through that “study”…and how important that insight is for national and international interactions, and also for everyday interactions in my own life.)

    1. I’m guessing this talk is based on it – sounds fantastic – definitely has to go on the ‘to read’ list. Thanks for that. I find the Stanford Prison Experiment most informative and believe it really was a microcosm of how we interact.

  2. Phillip Zimbardo’s book, The Time Paradox, is wonderful! I learned so much about my unrecognized perceptions about time from his research and writing…I think he has remarkable wisdom. Thanks for linking his ideas.

    (And I see that you have his study, the Stanford Prison study along your side bar….what amazing, and distressing, insight was gained through that “study”…and how important that insight is for national and international interactions, and also for everyday interactions in my own life.)

    1. I’m guessing this talk is based on it – sounds fantastic – definitely has to go on the ‘to read’ list. Thanks for that. I find the Stanford Prison Experiment most informative and believe it really was a microcosm of how we interact.

  3. This was soooo cool! I don’t even have an intellectual way of saying this – there was so much in this that made so much sense and I’ll have to go back and watch it again, because I’m sure some of the things he said have already escaped my mind.

    The things that stuck most with me were that cultural difficulties (can) stem from different time perspectives, which is so true especially with northern and southern european countries all coming together under the big umbrella of EU and trying to get things done together – It’s immensly frustratring for everybody (we feel like we’re doing all the work and they feel like we’re bossing them around – both true depending on your time perspective!)

    And also the drop out rate linked to rewiering: That’s sensational. If you know the problem, you’ve got the solution – Every body on every educational board everywhere should have to sit down and watch this video – seriously.

    Thank you so much for sharing – I loved this!

    πŸ™‚ K.

    1. Glad you liked it K. and it definitely explains quite a lot about European relations! Though I think there is probably a time difference within all countries – not just Italy. I know, for example, that the pace of life in Dublin is much different to the rest of Ireland – even in the cities.
      I agree totally with your comment regarding the educational issues and that if you know the problem you’ve got the solution. Thanks for both the enthusiasm and the comments!

  4. This was soooo cool! I don’t even have an intellectual way of saying this – there was so much in this that made so much sense and I’ll have to go back and watch it again, because I’m sure some of the things he said have already escaped my mind.

    The things that stuck most with me were that cultural difficulties (can) stem from different time perspectives, which is so true especially with northern and southern european countries all coming together under the big umbrella of EU and trying to get things done together – It’s immensly frustratring for everybody (we feel like we’re doing all the work and they feel like we’re bossing them around – both true depending on your time perspective!)

    And also the drop out rate linked to rewiering: That’s sensational. If you know the problem, you’ve got the solution – Every body on every educational board everywhere should have to sit down and watch this video – seriously.

    Thank you so much for sharing – I loved this!

    πŸ™‚ K.

    1. Glad you liked it K. and it definitely explains quite a lot about European relations! Though I think there is probably a time difference within all countries – not just Italy. I know, for example, that the pace of life in Dublin is much different to the rest of Ireland – even in the cities.
      I agree totally with your comment regarding the educational issues and that if you know the problem you’ve got the solution. Thanks for both the enthusiasm and the comments!

  5. This was so good to see. I can’t tell you how many of the parents I talk to (all of them) worry about how much time their kid spends in front of the computer. Video games, facebook, whatever. Invariably, as soon as the child is extricated from the computer they begin to improve. The families need help figuring out things they can do together. My biggest treatment goal is to get kids and parents to cook meals and eat them….together. I don’t care if that meal is breakfast. Just eat together. Magical things happen when people share food. Bonds are formed. Time stands still πŸ˜‰

    1. I suppose the idea of ‘breaking bread’ together exists for so long for a very good reason. Interesting about the improvement in kids when they have to leave their computers for a while.

  6. This was so good to see. I can’t tell you how many of the parents I talk to (all of them) worry about how much time their kid spends in front of the computer. Video games, facebook, whatever. Invariably, as soon as the child is extricated from the computer they begin to improve. The families need help figuring out things they can do together. My biggest treatment goal is to get kids and parents to cook meals and eat them….together. I don’t care if that meal is breakfast. Just eat together. Magical things happen when people share food. Bonds are formed. Time stands still πŸ˜‰

    1. I suppose the idea of ‘breaking bread’ together exists for so long for a very good reason. Interesting about the improvement in kids when they have to leave their computers for a while.

  7. It’s fascinating to see the different ways that people view time. I definitely grew up in a “future” oriented family. Now, I’m much more present moment oriented.

    But I’m neither fatalistic or hedonistic . . .

  8. It’s fascinating to see the different ways that people view time. I definitely grew up in a “future” oriented family. Now, I’m much more present moment oriented.

    But I’m neither fatalistic or hedonistic . . .

  9. Love this – and I will be sharing.
    The first time I realized how out of whack we were in America (my perspective) was a trip to Tonga and New Zealand. It’s a very long story . . .one of my favorite memories of the trip: Your children need to get off the runway now (they were 1,3, and 4), the plane is going to land. I also think the tech piece here is very important for teachers to pay attention to (I have an MA in Ed Tech). Kids do not have to be spectators to learn – creating a video like this is an excellent example of what they could be doing instead of texting under their desks. And, I agree family dinners are so important, unfortunately, many of us grew up without dinner.

      1. I will be sharing this link as well. I could go on and on about this approach to teaching. It worked very well in my classroom – I took it a step further by having my students CREATE the games: game shows, reality TV style games (so fun), computer games using PowerPoint and Quia, and pretend video games (a group made a pretend WII and created a game around it). Suffice it to say it was a great way to get kids who could barely read to learn about figurative language, poetry, grammar, the perfect tenses (yuck)… . Thanks again for sharing.

  10. Love this – and I will be sharing.
    The first time I realized how out of whack we were in America (my perspective) was a trip to Tonga and New Zealand. It’s a very long story . . .one of my favorite memories of the trip: Your children need to get off the runway now (they were 1,3, and 4), the plane is going to land. I also think the tech piece here is very important for teachers to pay attention to (I have an MA in Ed Tech). Kids do not have to be spectators to learn – creating a video like this is an excellent example of what they could be doing instead of texting under their desks. And, I agree family dinners are so important, unfortunately, many of us grew up without dinner.

      1. I will be sharing this link as well. I could go on and on about this approach to teaching. It worked very well in my classroom – I took it a step further by having my students CREATE the games: game shows, reality TV style games (so fun), computer games using PowerPoint and Quia, and pretend video games (a group made a pretend WII and created a game around it). Suffice it to say it was a great way to get kids who could barely read to learn about figurative language, poetry, grammar, the perfect tenses (yuck)… . Thanks again for sharing.

  11. Time misperceptions cause so much friction in families, in the workplace, between societies and countries. This is an excellent post to draw our attention to sources to gain helpful insight into this prevalent problem in our world today. Thank goodness, my tech savvy kids grew up loving to cook together. This habit has brought them much happiness in their adult lives.

  12. Time misperceptions cause so much friction in families, in the workplace, between societies and countries. This is an excellent post to draw our attention to sources to gain helpful insight into this prevalent problem in our world today. Thank goodness, my tech savvy kids grew up loving to cook together. This habit has brought them much happiness in their adult lives.

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