History, memory, stories and sources

Knowledge question: To what extent is history reliable?

History in general is like a collection of memories, stories or facts told by people. Even though many historians try to find as many reliable primary sources, it's hard to find a lot of evidence that adds on or proves that something really happened in the past and that's why many historians tend to make guesses. Of course, passing your knowledge in form of storytelling to further generations seems reasonable, however has a lot of side effects. Because Humans are social animals, they tend to alter the stories and facts in order to make it more suitable for their own good and appeal to their in-group, which makes history less reliable. Humans always tend to conform and in an experiment carried out by Micah Edelson, Tali Sharot, Raymond Dolan and Yadin Dubai, that was shown to be true, 70% of the participants comforted and altered their answers accordingly to the ones given (which was a false feedback). Furthermore, this study suggested that feedback of others has the ability to strongly shape our remembered experience and the humans are all performers, twisting their stories for strangers. 

A new history textbook in Beijing now contains only few sentences that involve the French and Bolshevik Revolutions, Mao, the Long March, colonial oppression of China and the Rape of Nanjing. In the new history syllabus there's more focus on economic growth, innovation, foreign trade, political stability, respect for diverse cultures and social harmony, which doesn't seem right, because how can students learn about their countries real history when it's compressed to small sentences or isn't even mentioned in classes. However Zhou Xuequin, a historian at Shanghai University  defends this new textbook saying that “Our traditional version of history was focused on ideology and national identity, the new history is less ideological, and that suits the political goals of today.” It is also important to note that the government has a big role in approving textbooks, which means that to some extent the government is the reason why the real history of China was basically eliminated and that is a complete brainwash of students in China. By doing so the government is basically trying to hide all the events, where China acted violently to show that China is a great non violent country that never made any mistakes. But how are students supposed to learn from the mistakes made in the past by Chinese  when they don't even learn about it in school. Because of this, a lot of new generations will repeat those mistakes made in the past. Adding on, since humans are known as the storyteller machines, it will be impossible for current Chinese students to pass on their knowledge on further generations, which also would cause similar problems (since passing on our knowledge creates sense of mistakes). 

Human Sciences

Most oTypes of Human Sciences: 

• Anthropology 
• Economics
• Education 
• Geography
• Archeology 
• Law
• Linguistics 
• Philosophy
• Political Science 
• Psychology Sociology 

Problems in Human Sciences: 

First of all, human sciences tend to categorise and rank people in someway it is already a problem, since everyone is different. Most of the time Humans are the subjects of studies (which are also conducted by humans) which makes the results of the studies or experiments bias. Adding on, it is difficult to examine a human being empirically, since there are emotions and thought involved, which also makes it difficult to control all variables during Human Science experiments which separates Human Sciences from Natural Sciences. Human Science experiments are also most of the time not repetitive (because humans act differently each time) , so methodical problems can't be fixed, which makes the results of these experiments less reliable. There's also no way that one's soul can be measured completely accurately out or even as well as one's talent, intelligence, poverty, social class, aggression, leadership or anxiety.

Furthermore, the procedures are theoretical, therefore a real life application is difficult to conduct and sometimes even impossible. In real life it's impossible to have something that can't be differentiated and that's why models like Marxist economist aren't the best ones to use. Adding on, most of the laboratory experiments also don't apply to real life situations, since too many variables are controlled and it wouldn't apply to real life situations. Language also causes problems in Human Sciences, since it is very much ambiguous because all humans are different as well as all the cultures and that could affect studies and experiments conducted. Also, individuals are always changing in their psychological and physical stages of life. Humans worry, get bored or excited, age and gain more experience which most likely would affect the results. 

There are also ethical problems regarding Human Science experiments. For example during a study where people were implanted with false memories which stayed with individuals forever, which caused a lot of discomfort for the participants which in utilitarian view is unethical, but in deontological view ethical, since the method used to conduct this study wasn't harmful in a way.

There is also a vast interconnection between the variables such as IQ, Social Class, Nutrition or Occupation.It's also hard to tell the difference between correlation and causation, since something that is strongly correlated doesn't necessarily explain or prove that one event cause another. 

Fixed and growth Mindsets

How do you change between different mindsets?

1. Listening to your fixed mindset "voice" is important
2. Recognise that you can make your own choice; You can choose if you want to have fixed or growth mindset
3. Talk back to your fixed mindset "voice" with growth mindset "voice"
4. Take the growth mindset action 

(Methods) 

Carol Dweck has discovered in more than twenty years of research that human mindset is not a minor personality quirk. It actually creates our whole mental world as well as explains how some people are pessimistic and some are optimistic. It also shapes our goals, our attitude toward work and relationships and how humans raise their kids, predicting whether or not we will fulfil our potential. 

The New Psychology of Success is the idea that people exercise either a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe their talents and abilities cannot be improved through any means, while those with growth mindset believe that intelligence, talents, and abilities can be developed over time.

Carol Dweck demonstrates that mindset unfolds in childhood and adulthood and drives every aspect of our lives, from sports, from relationships to parenting. She reveals how prominent members of a variety of fields – business, literature, music, science, and sports - possess the growth mindset to achieve personal goals and dreams. She also encourages people who want to change their mindset to change it, because it's possible in any age or time. However, Often this change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset is difficult because it requires people to 'give up' on using personal (fixed) traits as a source of self-esteem, and instead derive their self-esteem from effort and embrace things formerly thought of as threatening, such as challenge, struggle, criticism, and setbacks.

Parents, teachers and coaches happen to be key in their development. Every word or action they send is a message that can be either judgmental or developmental. However,  sometimes, by praising children, we diminish them. Praise should be given to effort and persistence rather than intelligence or talent. 

In a study that Dweck carried sh studied students as they made their transition to junior high school. She saw that only the student with the fixed mindset showed the decline and immediate drop-off in grades since they thought that their skills or abilities can't be developed further. While the students with the growth mindset showed and increase in their grades over two years.

In the realm of sports, mindsets have a bigger role than most realize.  Talent and being 'a natural' can only get you so far. Hard work and dedication are necessary to fulfill your potential. People with a growth mindset realize this and push themselves to achieve and maintain this high level of accomplishment.    

There are 3 main things that sports researchers found when they looked at commonalities between the athletes that exhibited the most character or heart (growth mindset):    

• those with the growth mindset found success in doing their best, in learning and improving,
• those with the growth mindset found setbacks motivating because they're informative and are a wake-up call, and
• people with the growth mindset in sports took charge of the processes that bring success and maintain it.