Written by Umang Saini
on 

Meaning

"Make Meaning" - Anon / Several.
An article which I found particularly interesting on this topic is a paper titled "Man's Search for Meaning: The Case of Legos" by Dan Ariely, Emir Kamenica and Drazen Prelec.

The author's link the creation of meaning as a powerful force necessary to extract better work. Without an effort to create such a perception can lead to disastrous consequences. He hits upon our natural quest for meaning.

Dan Ariely's other work on irrationality and cheating is also insightful and delightful to read.

Links
  1. Dan's Paper - Man's search for Meaning: The case of Legos (pdf)
  2. Article - What managers can learn from Legos
  3. On Cheating - Dan's TED Talk - Our buggy Moral code (TED blog entry)
  4. Interview - Why we Cheat on Wired
  5. On Irrationality - Dan's book - Predictably Irrational (has the link for the podcast)

Quotes from Dan Ariely
  1. "... even the smallest acknowledgment increased willingness to work and decreased the level of pay required ..."

  2. "Fudge factor - People have two goals: a) to look at ourselves in the mirror and feel good about ourselves. b) to cheat and benefit from cheating. ... ... The balance - We cheat up to the level that we would find it comfortable [to still feel good about ourselves]"
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US