Using Psychology Principles to Connect My TV and Other Accessories (Part 1)

For psychology class, in our textbook (but not much in lecture), I read about trial-and-error (good for short-term or other minor situations), algorithms (a strict formula, such as an equation, recipe, setup instructions for a device, etc.), heuristics (general rules of thumb and subsequent dissection of a problem into small fragments, hopefully leading to trial-and-error), and insight and intuition (strategies that are less explicit, as an “Aha!” or “Eureka!” moment).

Today we bought a small analog TV from an antique store (okay, it’s not an antique, it’s from 2000, but that’s their problem), and unfortunately, being very basic, it only included an antenna/cable input; no red-yellow-white jacks or any other other fancy stuff.

So, using what psychologists call heuristics (again, much of psychology is simply jargon for many common sense situations), I analyzed what was needed to hook up these devices being faced with this dilemma.

(The VCR by the way, is mono, so there is no need for the red wire.)

And for today, here are my results.

See, just using your noggin to conquer sticky situations like this shows true intelligence.  You can acquire as much book knowledge as you want, but unless you have the “street smarts” needed for life’s toughest problems, you won’t be able to figure things out.  By the way, IQ and similar tests really measures the street smarts more so than “book smarts.”  Go figure.

In part 2, we’ll first discuss the DVD’s role in the hookup. then I describe how I get the digital TV input (through a converter box).

Stay tuned!