Cognitive blogging: the importance of publishing
Niklas Johansson writes (in Swedish) about the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini:
Someone that’s about to go on a diet or quit smoking and also writes that down on paper and gives it to someone he/she knows, has a much bigger chance of succeeding than those who try to do it in silence. People find it much harder to break vows if they are written down and “published”. That also accounts for small and insignificant matters. (My translation.)
I found this interesting regarding the idea of “cognitive blogging” (see here – and here). I have found that blogging is very effective as a method of gaining deeper understanding things. It’s quite different to read a text with the ambition to write something about it.
But, I’ve been thinking about what significance the fact has that I publish my blog entries. I have the feeling that it wouldn’t work if I didn’t post them online. I’ve been thinking that by posting an unfinished thought, I “sign a contract” to finish it sometime later. Niklas’s post seems to verify this.