This is a rough map of some questions about psychology that I keep coming back to. I have added links to things I found useful wherever possible.

Intelligence

I have been trying to understand intelligence through Ian J. Deary’s Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction and the article Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns.

The questions I care about are practical:

  • How can I get a realistic sense of my abilities without moving between overconfidence and underconfidence?
  • How does knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses change planning and confidence?
  • What is a useful model of intelligence for making decisions about what to learn or work on?

Learning, goals, and motivation

I have some familiarity with Carol Dweck’s work on mindset, Angela Duckworth’s work on grit, and Piers Steel’s The Procrastination Equation. I am mainly interested in how people set goals, learn, and actually follow through.

  • A better model of learning should have a compounding effect over time.
  • Better goal setting and planning can remove a lot of unnecessary friction.
  • Many practical problems seem to contain a psychological problem underneath them.
  • Procrastination, or akrasia, remains one of the hardest parts of turning intentions into action.
  • I want to manage my attention without losing the exploratory part of my mind that keeps finding interesting things.

Anxiety and depression

I have more questions than answers here. I want to understand how to notice changes in mood early, distinguish a temporary state from a persistent problem, and respond without either ignoring it or reading too much into it.