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Amanda Ripley

Amanda Ripley Books

Journalist

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“This strange new test called PISA, which stood for the Program for International Student Assessment. Instead of a typical test question, which might ask which combination of coins you needed to buy something, PISA asked you to design your own coins, right there in the test booklet.”

EducationAcademicTestingAssessmentStudentTestPisaThe Treasure Map
Book:The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way
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“1. What is oversimplified about this conflict? 2. What do you want to understand about the other side? 3. What do you want the other side to understand about you? 4. What would it feel like if you woke up and this problem was solved? 5. What's the question nobody's asking? 6. What do you want to know about this controversy that you don't already know? 7. Where do you feel torn? 8. Tell me more.”

Conflict ResolutionHigh Conflict
Book:High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out
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“In a series of experiments, safety officials ran regular people through mock evacuations from planes. The trials weren't nearly as stressful as real evacuations, of course, but it didn't matter. People, especially women, hesitated for a surprisingly long time before jumping onto the slide. That pause slowed the evacuation for everyone. But there was a way to get people to move faster. If a flight attendant stood at the exit and screamed at people to jump, the pause all but disappeared, the researchers found. In fact, if flight attendants did not aggressively direct the evacuation, they might as well have not been there at all. A study by the Cranfield University Aviation Safety Centre found that people moved just as slowly for polite and calm flight attendants as they did when there were no flight attendants present.”

Plane CrashFlight Attendants
Book:The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why
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“By sort of combining the research of a lot of smart people, I came up with an equation for dread [dread=uncontrollability+unfamiliarity+imaginability+suffering+scale of destruction+unfairness]. The dread equation is a simplification, but it's a way to explain why we fear something so much when it is so unlikely. Part of it is the lack of control. That's why we're more scared of plane crashes than car crashes even though we know rationally which is more dangerous.”

PeopleKnowsWaySufferingDangerousCarSmartResearchDestructionScaredScalesPlanesDreadCrashEquationsUnlikelySmart PeopleCombiningSimplificationUnfairnessCar CrashPlane CrashesLack Of Control
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“The evil genius of terrorism is that that maximizes unfamiliarity, imaginability, suffering, scale of destruction, unfairness. It's really important to understand why terrorism is so frightening because it is a psychological war and until you understand it and try to reduce the dread, until then you become like a force multiplier for the terrorists inadvertently because you'll tend to overreact to terrorist attacks because the dread factor is so high.”

TryingImportantWarSufferingEvilForceGeniusDestructionTerrorismTerroristScalesPsychologicalFactorsDreadFrighteningTerrorist AttacksUnfairnessEvil Genius
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“Well, there isn't any one profile of a survivor, but there are profiles. Depending on the disaster you have certain advantages and disadvantages just based on who you are. Women are more likely to survive hurricanes. In hurricanes the deaths come from floods and people driving through high water. That's much more likely to be a man who dies that way.”

PeopleMenWayWellsCertainDiesWaterAdvantageWho You AreDrivingDisasterSurvivorFloodBe A ManHurricanesDisadvantagesProfileAdvantages And Disadvantages
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“Women are far more likely to follow orders to evacuate, especially women with children. At the same time, women were much more likely to die during the South Asian tsunami. In some villages it was 3 to 1. And that was party because of the average strength it takes to hold onto something. Also it was cultural; women were less likely to know how to swim, as were children. So much of this is based on how we develop our own survival skills before something goes wrong: Even if nothing goes wrong, it might be good to know how to swim.”

IfsKnowsChildrenMightOrderDiesPartyKnow HowSkillsSurvivalSouthAverageBe GoodSwimVillageAsianTsunamiSurvival Skills
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“You could reduce people's fears if you gave them some useful information before things went wrong. It's really important to create a sense of confidence in the public in their own abilities before a disaster because they're the only ones who are going to be there. No one's going to help you for at least 24 to 72 hours. So it would be good to know more about it.”

PeopleIfsKnowsImportantHelpingWould BeHoursAbilityInformationBe GoodDisasterUseful Information
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“The one thread that was most surprising and most consistent was the lack of fear that people felt at the worst moment. They felt a lot of fear in early stages, when they're just realizing what's happening. But then things really seemed to be at their peak of terror, the fear went away. You can imagine why that's useful. At that moment your brain needs to focus all its attention on surviving, so people will feel a sense of calm as their brain tries to sort out a plan.”

PeopleNeedsFeelsTryingMomentsFeltRealizingAttentionBrainFocusImaginePlansWorstStageHappeningsCalmTerrorConsistentThat MomentSurprisingThreadSurvivingWorst Moments
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“People help way more than we expect, way more than makes sense. But when you talk to people called heroes, they often say they did it for themselves. In one case, a hero said that the cost of not doing it is so great, the sense of shame, when he knew that he was strong enough, that the fear of not doing anything was more frightening than the fear of dying.”

PeopleWaySaidEnoughHelpingStrongCasesDyingHeroCostShameMake SenseFrighteningStrong EnoughFear Of Dying
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“We gauge risk literally hundreds of times per day, usually well and often subconsciously. We start assessing risk before the disaster even happens. We are doing is right now. We decide where to live and what kind of insurance to buy, just like we process all kinds of everyday risks: we wear bike helmets, or not. We buckle our seatbelts, smoke cigarettes, and let our kids stay out until midnight. Or not.”

WellsKindHappensKidsProcessRiskRight NowManagementEverydayDisasterAll KindsSmokeCigaretteBikeMidnightRisk ManagementHelmetGaugesBucklesAssessing
Author:Amanda Ripley
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“Resilience is a precious skill. People who have it tend to also have three underlying advantages: a believe that they can influence life events; a tendency to find meaningful purpose in life’s turmoil; and a conviction that they can learn from both positive and negative experiences.”

PeopleBelievePurposeThreeInfluenceEventsSkillsAdvantageNegativeConvictionResilienceMeaningfulTendenciesPurpose Of LifeFind MeTurmoilNegative Experiences
Author:Amanda Ripley
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