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Re:The science behind what motivates us to get up for work e... by mkeener on Wednesday September 26, 2012 @11:24AM (#4576083)
Was it just me that found this curious?

“Negative emotions like fear and sadness can lead to brain activity and thought patterns that are detrimental to creative, productive work: (a) avoidance of risk; (b) difficulty remembering and planning; and (c) rational decision-making.”

'a' and 'b' I'll grant, but rational decision-making is detrimental to productivity and creativity? Fear incites rationality? This seems out of place to me.

Re:The science behind what motivates us to get up for work e... by minikites on Wednesday September 26, 2012 @11:28AM (#4576115)
Rational decision-making can lead you to talk yourself out of great, gutsy ideas:

In the article about Steve Jobs at Corning re: Gorilla Glass:

> This turned Jobs around, and he said he wanted as much gorilla glass as Corning could make within six months. “We don’t have the capacity,” Weeks replied. “None of our plants make the glass now.”

> “Don’t be afraid,” Jobs replied. This stunned Weeks, who was good-humored and confident but not used to Jobs’s reality distortion field. He tried to explain that a false sense of confidence would not overcome engineering challenges, but that was a premise that Jobs had repeatedly shown he didn’t accept. He stared at Weeks unblinking. “Yes, you can do it,” he said. “Get your mind around it. You can do it.”

Re:The science behind what motivates us to get up for work e... by JoeAltmaier on Wednesday September 26, 2012 @11:40AM (#4576192)
Weeks was being a Negative Nelly. What he said was a non-sequitur. Not making it now does not necessarily lead to not having any in 6 months. Jobs was gently pointing that out. I suppose he could have said "Then get the capacity! I don't want to hear excuses!" but that probably wouldn't have worked out so well.
Re:The science behind what motivates us to get up for work e... by jfoutz on Wednesday September 26, 2012 @01:21PM (#4576778)
Biologically, fear, not panic, makes you vigilant. One way to think about it, in good times you can afford to waste resources trying all sorts of random stuff. In bad times, every last scrap counts.

There's a book i've been enjoying [Thinking Fast and Slow](http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...) that addresses this in great detail.

Re:The science behind what motivates us to get up for work e... by robotresearcher on Wednesday September 26, 2012 @01:06PM (#4576686)
People assess likely outcomes more accurately when sad. While happy, people consistently overestimate their abilities and the chances of getting lucky.