Summary of Eric Barker's Plays Well with Others

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 In 1917, the police had nothing on the case of Henry Cruger’s missing daughter, Ruth. The newspapers had exhausted all their scandalous speculation and turned their focus to World War I, which was raging in Europe.

#2 The FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit has been working on this stuff since 1972. They claim to have a profile of serial killers, but they don’t even use it in court. It’s pseudoscience.

#3 The key issue with police profiling is that it relies on high base rate statements, which are often inaccurate. People want to be liked, and they will accept something vague as close enough if it confirms their belief.

#4 The secret to reading people is to understand your own cognitive biases. We are all susceptible to seeing meaning where there is none, and we desperately need the world to make sense.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822536166

IRB Media

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Insights on Eric Barker's Plays Well with Others

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In 1917, the police had nothing on the case of Henry Cruger’s missing daughter, Ruth. The newspapers had exhausted all their scandalous speculation and turned their focus to World War I, which was raging in Europe.

#2

The FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit has been working on this stuff since 1972. They claim to have a profile of serial killers, but they don’t even use it in court. It’s pseudoscience.

#3

The key issue with police profiling is that it relies on high base rate statements, which are often inaccurate. People want to be liked, and they will accept something vague as close enough if it confirms their belief.

#4

The secret to reading people is to understand your own cognitive biases. We are all susceptible to seeing meaning where there is none, and we desperately need the world to make sense.

#5

In 1904, Germany’s Board of Education formed the Hans Commission to test the abilities of a horse named Hans. They found no fraud, but still believed that the horse might be able to read minds.

#6

The Clever Hans effect is the name given to the phenomenon in which a horse can apparently answer math questions, though it was actually reading people that allowed it to do so. Hans was not a genius, but he could read people well.

#7

The brain is a master at fooling us into thinking we’re good