March | 2013 | Ogo's Attic

Computer scientists have developed an algorithm that uses the structure of a social network to find the best strategy for friending people you don’t know

Using smart mathematical methods & tools to connect people sounds fun as well as intriguing. Becoming friends/followers on social networks is part of a process that involve lots of issues including critical concepts like privacy, confidentiality, trustability, curiosity, emotions, expectations (short term / long term benefits). We’ll see how these kind of theories might find form as a tool that would help in yielding better personal & professional connections.

You can take a look at the short news published at MIT Technology Review to get more insights about the research: The Algorithm That Helps You Friend People You Don’t Know | MIT Technology Review.

And here is the submission page related with this research paper : Maximizing Acceptance Probability for Active Friending in On-Line Social Networks

Your Brain Is Hooked on Being Right – Judith E. Glaser – Harvard Business Review.

In situations of high stress, fear or distrust, the hormone and neurotransmitter cortisol floods the brain. Executive functions that help us with advanced thought processes like strategy, trust building, and compassion shut down. And the amygdala, our instinctive brain, takes over. The body makes a chemical choice about how best to protect itself — in this case from the shame and loss of power associated with being wrong — and as a result is unable to regulate its emotions or handle the gaps between expectations and reality. So we default to one of four responses: fight (keep arguing the point), flight (revert to, and hide behind, group consensus), freeze (disengage from the argument by shutting up) or appease (make nice with your adversary by simply agreeing with him).