full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Keith Payne: The psychology of inequality and political division

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So if we want to do something about extreme inequality, we have to fix our politics. And if we want to fix our politics, we have to do something about inequality. So what do we do? The wonderful thing about spirals is that you can interrupt at any point in the cycle.

I think our best bet starts with those of us who have benefited the most from inequality's rise, those of us who have done better than average. If you've been successful, it's ntaural to chalk up your scusces to your own hard work. But, like the studies I showed you, everybody does that, whether or not it really was the hard work that mattered most. Every successful porsen I know can think of times when they wroked hard and struggled to sceuecd. They can also think of times when they benefited from good luck or a helping hand but that part is harder. piysctsgohlos Shai daiadvi and Tom Gilovich call it the "headwind-tailwind asymmetry." When you're struggling against headwinds, those oatcbsels are all you can see. It's what you notice and reeebmmr. But when the wind's at your back and everything's going your way, all you notice is yourself and our own amazing talents. So we have to stop and think for a minute to recognize those tailwinds helping us along.

Open Cloze


So if we want to do something about extreme inequality, we have to fix our politics. And if we want to fix our politics, we have to do something about inequality. So what do we do? The wonderful thing about spirals is that you can interrupt at any point in the cycle.

I think our best bet starts with those of us who have benefited the most from inequality's rise, those of us who have done better than average. If you've been successful, it's _______ to chalk up your _______ to your own hard work. But, like the studies I showed you, everybody does that, whether or not it really was the hard work that mattered most. Every successful ______ I know can think of times when they ______ hard and struggled to _______. They can also think of times when they benefited from good luck or a helping hand but that part is harder. _____________ Shai _______ and Tom Gilovich call it the "headwind-tailwind asymmetry." When you're struggling against headwinds, those _________ are all you can see. It's what you notice and ________. But when the wind's at your back and everything's going your way, all you notice is yourself and our own amazing talents. So we have to stop and think for a minute to recognize those tailwinds helping us along.

Solution


  1. remember
  2. natural
  3. obstacles
  4. worked
  5. succeed
  6. davidai
  7. psychologists
  8. person
  9. success

Original Text


So if we want to do something about extreme inequality, we have to fix our politics. And if we want to fix our politics, we have to do something about inequality. So what do we do? The wonderful thing about spirals is that you can interrupt at any point in the cycle.

I think our best bet starts with those of us who have benefited the most from inequality's rise, those of us who have done better than average. If you've been successful, it's natural to chalk up your success to your own hard work. But, like the studies I showed you, everybody does that, whether or not it really was the hard work that mattered most. Every successful person I know can think of times when they worked hard and struggled to succeed. They can also think of times when they benefited from good luck or a helping hand but that part is harder. Psychologists Shai Davidai and Tom Gilovich call it the "headwind-tailwind asymmetry." When you're struggling against headwinds, those obstacles are all you can see. It's what you notice and remember. But when the wind's at your back and everything's going your way, all you notice is yourself and our own amazing talents. So we have to stop and think for a minute to recognize those tailwinds helping us along.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
started noticing 3
hard work 3
economic inequality 2
good psychological 2
people feel 2
asked participants 2
cut taxes 2
cut benefits 2
free lunch 2
lunch kids 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
free lunch kids 2

Important Words


  1. amazing
  2. asymmetry
  3. average
  4. benefited
  5. bet
  6. call
  7. chalk
  8. cycle
  9. davidai
  10. extreme
  11. fix
  12. gilovich
  13. good
  14. hand
  15. hard
  16. harder
  17. headwinds
  18. helping
  19. inequality
  20. interrupt
  21. luck
  22. mattered
  23. minute
  24. natural
  25. notice
  26. obstacles
  27. part
  28. person
  29. point
  30. politics
  31. psychologists
  32. recognize
  33. remember
  34. rise
  35. shai
  36. showed
  37. spirals
  38. starts
  39. stop
  40. struggled
  41. struggling
  42. studies
  43. succeed
  44. success
  45. successful
  46. tailwinds
  47. talents
  48. times
  49. tom
  50. wonderful
  51. work
  52. worked