TipTap Blog

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Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:30:29 -0500

What's your Twitter personality?

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:25:25 -0500

What's your Twitter personality?

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Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:12:42 -0500

We’ll stop with the cat memes for a while… after...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:16:55 -0500

We’ll stop with the cat memes for a while… after this one. They’re just so cute/relevant.

“3 Reasons We All Need A Pause Button”

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:42:35 -0500

“3 Reasons We All Need A Pause Button”

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Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:26:17 -0500

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Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:56:57 -0500

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Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:05:10 -0500

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Thu, 15 Nov 2012 10:29:38 -0500

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Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:31:46 -0500

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Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:14:09 -0500

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Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:13:40 -0500

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Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:05:00 -0500

What’s your personality type?

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 11:11:24 -0500

What’s your personality type?

Neuroticism, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness,...

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 12:01:00 -0400

Neuroticism, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extroversion.

Reading minds: How some people know more than you think

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:07:00 -0400

From family game night, to negotiating job offers, to bargaining with our little siblings, we humans take for granted a pillar of our psychology that sets us apart from our other primate relatives: the ability to read minds (or at least reason through what another person is probably thinking). This ability is called Theory of Mind.

There are two main theories that strive to explain how Theory of Mind works from a psychological perspective (as opposed to a neurological perspective). The first is simulation theory, or the idea that the ‘viewer’ uses what he knows about his own brain to make guesses about how another person’s brain is working. For example, if a child knows a jar contains a red marble, he will believe a stranger knows the same information. Of course, this eventually develops into the more nuanced reasoning adults are capable of.

The other main theory of Theory of Mind is referred to as ‘theory-theory’. It argues that we have an innate folk psychology of sorts that allows us to infer what a person is feeling given a certain situation (for example, a person who stubs their toe will grimace or a person who eats a large meal will feel full). Even if one has never experienced the situation themselves, if they innately know about the cause and effects of the folk psychology, they can use these as building blocks to form further predictions. Though the scientific community is split between these two explanations, in reality Theory of Mind probably draws from a little bit of both.

I consider myself a people person, capable of ‘reading people’ fairly well; for me, the study of Theory of Mind becomes most interesting when we look at its implications for social interactions. It is one thing to understand the extent of individuals’ mind-reading capabilities and another to determine how these abilities affect inter-personal interactions. One study by Paul and Bereczkei looks at Theory of Mind as it relates to cooperative vs. Machiavellian behavior. In short, they found that the better an individual’s Theory of Mind capabilities are, the more cooperative they are; but they did not find the positive correlation they were looking for between Theory of Mind ability and Machivellian behavior. That is, it did not seem as those who were exploiting people were doing so because they were better able to ‘read their minds.’ Though the authors do not discuss it explicitly, I can’t help but wonder if the reason for this is rooted back in the evolution of cooperation. If Theory of Mind were to lead to increased exploitive behavior (as opposed to the more passive ability to detect exploitation), a population could crumble under the abuse of exploitation. Perhaps there is some mechanism that promotes the spread of cooperative and not exploitive theory of mind. This of course is purely speculative, but interesting nonetheless! For more about theory of mind and social interactions, check out this Psychology Today blog post!

When do you use theory of mind in your day-to-day life? Are you a good mind reader? Do you think it helps or hinders your various relationships to be able to ‘read’ people?

- Maddy Ford

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Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:17:11 -0400

Halloween Costumes and Personality

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:00:00 -0400

Happy Halloween! Halloween is the time we get to dress up as whatever we want,

regardless of who we are; however, our personality has a lot to do with our holiday alias.

We asked several college students in Boston how their costume relates to their personality and then had our psychologists map their responses onto some of the many personality traits that we can measure (look for them in bold!):

“A police officer because it’s fun to dress up as your childhood dream job, which was being an undercover FBI agent and catch bad guys like my daddy does.” (High Extroversion, Low Agreeableness, High Openness)
“A hockey groupie/fan because I love hockey.” (High Fitness, High Extraversion)
“A sexy scientist because that is what I am, of course!” (High Analytical, High Openness)
“Thing 1 and Thing 2 with a friend, which represents the way my friends are very important to me and the fact that I am unique and weird.” (High Uniqueness, High Openness)
“An Olympic winner because I loved watching the Olympics this summer.” (High Fitness, High Fashion)
“The Queen of Hearts because I like to play games and steal hearts.” (High Neuroticism, Low Agreeableness)
“A sour patch kid because I’m tangy and sweet.” (High Agreeableness)
“Minnie Mouse because I love Disney and she was my favorite character growing up.” (High Conscientiousness)
“An Indian; it relates to my personality because they wear colorful clothes and I’m a colorful person! They are free spirited, love the outdoors, and are superstitious. I am all of these. I also like corn on the cob.” (High Openness, High Eco-consciousness, Low Need for Cognition)
“A cheetah because it embraces my wild side.” (High Openness, High Extroversion)
“NFL replacement ref so I can make it up as I go along all night and because I mean well but make a lot of mistakes.” (Low Conscientiousness)
“A princess because I get to be one everyday but on Halloween I get to dress like one!” (Low Agreeableness, High Neuroticism)
“A ninja because I’m sneaky!” (High Extroversion, High Conscientiousness, High Openness)
“Where’s Waldo! This reflects my personality because I permanently feel lost and confused. Also, the costume is sexy yet remains conservative to a certain degree - I always try to keep it classy.” (High Fashion, Low Conscientiousness)
“Big Bird because I am interested in politics and obsessed with NPR, which is one of the programs proposed to be cut by Romney along with PBS.” (High Eco-consciousness, High Local, High Openness).

Does your costume match your personality?

To see what personality traits you have and to learn more about each trait, head to www.tiptap.com today!

—Sherene Iskander

Meet Campus Rep. Sherene Iskander

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 10:11:36 -0400

School: Northeastern University
Year: 2015
Major/minor: Business, Marketing Concentration
Personality type: Director

-Which part of your personality is the most obvious about you?
I think that the Director personality is right on! One of the main traits is that I like to “get things done” and that I “make sure they are done right”. I’m exactly like this.

-Is there a part of the description you find very true, but never realized until you took the personality quiz?
The description says I enjoy tradition and ritual, which I never realized, but is definitely true. I look forward to the same traditions year after year and prefer them to stay the same.

-Do you have any friends with the same personality type? If yes, do you get along super well or clash?
It depends. I really like taking the lead, so sometimes that makes it challenging when someone else has the same personality and wants the lead, but sometimes it work and we are twice as effective.

Five Valuable Takeaways for Bloggers and Entrepreneurs from Peter Rojas

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:10:00 -0400

Peter Rojas poses with “IdTapThat” sticker after speaking at Em Comm’s event on October 17, 2012.

One of the best parts of working at TipTap is getting to take advantage of opportunities to meet amazing figures within the entrepreneurial community. When I heard Peter Rojas, founder of Gizmodo, Engadget and Joystiq would be speaking at my alma mater, Emerson College, I knew it was something I couldn’t miss. Rojas walked us through his career; how he transitioned from a world where the term blogging was used interchangeably with diary or journal, to a world where people value blogs as a credible source for tech news. All start-ups look to be disruptive, and Peter Rojas shared how he did that.

1. Don’t change industries, create solutions to the problems of the industry
Rojas graduated with a Masters in English and wrote for a venture capital magazine, RedHerring, until lay-offs became inevitable. He explained this lay-off and transition taught him how blogging enables cheap and real-time publishing. Rojas co-founded Gizmodo and insisted on a structure that would become the future of blogging: it consisted of multiple editors, 24-hour posting, and in the early days, Rojas posting 25-35 blog posts a day (without a byline) in order to gain credibility without the public thinking it was all being done by one guy. That’s some serious dedication.

2. Always be one step ahead
Sometimes breaking into the start-up world is tough because there isn’t one right way to do things. Rojas explained the only right way of doing things is to do them a little bit better than your competitors.

“Everyday I would count how many stories [CNET] posted and I’d force myself to write one more,” he said.

Rojas wrote about things he loved, regardless of how specific or niche they may have seemed. He suggested picking a group and writing or producing for that group regardless of how many people can not relate to the content.

3. A lot of it is luck, more of it is hard work
Today, it’s extremely easy to create and share. Start-ups make up an entire industry of passionate individuals working toward the goal of a successful product or idea. While there are a lot of unique ideas, there are usually five other companies working on the same idea at the same time you are. It’s important to recognize a lot of hard work is needed, yet there are also elements beyond your control.

4.Craft a thoughtful experience people can trust
The user’s experience is everything. Users are not there to just react to something; they are there to contribute and be active. Without this opportunity, in today’s age, a start-up will struggle to acquire new users. Rojas emphasized how experience design needs to be active and not just reactive.

“I’d rather have better, fewer discussions [on engadget],” he said. “We’re all passionate about technology, and that’s what unites us at the end of the day.”

5. If it’s not working, quit and try something else
Rojas emphasized the many phases his sites have moved through.
“Look at content as a subset of data, and package it up in different ways.”
Whether through a curated website or through API partners, it’s important to be flexible and responsive to what the consumers or businesses are taking hold of.

Start-up culture can be one of the most exciting experiences to be a part of, whether you’re learning the ropes of a new field or a seasoned professional bringing your expertise to a new idea. Peter Rojas shares insight from his time taking start-ups to changing the way the tech community viewed bloggers, making him the highest paid blogger to date.

We hear what’s not being said.

Decision making is largely an unconscious process that is simply not open to conscious introspection. Our research, and patent pending technology, exposes the real answers needed for growth.