Maria Konnikova

We tend to dismiss things we don't particularly like, or that we find disturbing, as aberrations.

— Maria Konnikova

Holmes serves as an ideal model of how we can learn to see and think better.

— Maria Konnikova

Our lives don't make sense in abstraction, only when compared with the lives of others.

— Maria Konnikova

I hate casinos. I have zero interest in gambling.

— Maria Konnikova

To the untrained eye, poker seems deceptively easy.

— Maria Konnikova

Much of the excitement about virtual reality has come from the gaming community.

— Maria Konnikova

Poker is all about comfort with uncertainty, after all.

— Maria Konnikova

For as long as writers have written, they've had second thoughts about their work.

— Maria Konnikova

No one is ever bias-free, but some people let their biases influence their actions more than others.

— Maria Konnikova

Once fraternities became tied to power and leadership, the powerful and would-be-leaders wanted to join.

— Maria Konnikova

The U.S. has some of the most significant income inequality in the developed world, yet people seem routinely to underestimate that fact.

— Maria Konnikova

Before the Internet, bullying ended when you withdrew from whatever environment you were in. But now, the bullying dynamic is harder to…

— Maria Konnikova

Benign envy can sound a lot like admiration. The difference is that, while admiration feels good, envy is painful.

— Maria Konnikova

There will be great books. There will be great films. Sometimes, if we are lucky, the two will intersect.

— Maria Konnikova

Humans are the most complicated, nuanced things that exist. We can't be reduced to labels or summed up with five traits -…

— Maria Konnikova

I really had to go back and remind myself that trusting makes society function on an individual level related to health and…

— Maria Konnikova

Storytelling is the oldest form of entertainment there is. From campfires and pictograms - the Lascaux cave paintings may be as much…

— Maria Konnikova

I thought poker might be a perfect environment to start to learn probabilistic decision-making, and to live what it means to have…

— Maria Konnikova

Electrodes aren't the only things we may someday start implanting in our brains. Consider what you could do with a chip in…

— Maria Konnikova

the most powerful mind is the quiet mind. It is the mind that is present, reflective, mindful of its thoughts and its…

— Maria Konnikova

Erik Seidel ended up introducing me to some of the best players in the world, a few of whom also agreed to…

— Maria Konnikova

The problems of reporting a bully - or, if you are a bully, of becoming less of one - become much more…

— Maria Konnikova

“Our education might stop, if we so choose. Our brains’ never does. The brain will keep reacting to how we decide to…

— Maria Konnikova

“Whatever the situation, answering the question of what, specifically, you want to accomplish will put you well on your way to knowing…

— Maria Konnikova

“That, in a nutshell, is the scientific method: understand and frame the problem; observe; hypothesize (or imagine); test and deduce; and repeat.…

— Maria Konnikova

“every time you find yourself making a judgment immediately upon observing—in fact, even if you don’t think you are, and even if…

— Maria Konnikova

“One of the central elements of resilience, Bonanno has found, is perception: Do you conceptualize an event as traumatic, or as an…

— Maria Konnikova

“The good news is that positive construal can be taught. “We can make ourselves more or less vulnerable by how we think…

— Maria Konnikova

Bullying is the result of an unequal power dynamic - the strong attacking the weak.

— Maria Konnikova

The fact that insomnia is associated with depression suggests that sleep might help us deal with emotionally stressful or otherwise disruptive events.

— Maria Konnikova

At the end, we can embrace and love whatever we want of an author's work. But we also can't ignore a writer's…

— Maria Konnikova

No one would deny that feeling envy is unpleasant, or that feeling envious sometimes leads us down a path we wish we…

— Maria Konnikova

The more extreme the story, the more successful it becomes. Emotions on high, empathy engaged, we become primed to help.

— Maria Konnikova

Readers are increasingly reliant on digital sources for information - and they are increasingly reliant on these sources to be accurate.

— Maria Konnikova

One of the things that women really excel at is reading and reacting to subtle cues. We've always had to do that…

— Maria Konnikova

As children, we are remarkably aware. We absorb and process information at a speed that we'll never again come close to achieving...…

— Maria Konnikova

The goals of literature are multifold, but creating nice, positive protagonists that you'd want to grab drinks with or invite home to…

— Maria Konnikova

Creating groups is easy - but to make them meaningful and lasting, you have to give them a common identity that not…

— Maria Konnikova

It may be that learning to do creative work of any kind - not just direct imagery exercises - may help combat…

— Maria Konnikova

Looking at scenes of nature, for even a short while, can help us become more insightful, more creative, and more productive.

— Maria Konnikova