Tag Archives: psychology

White Paper: The Earliest Historical True Crime Literature and What It Reveals About Readers’ Appetite for Crime and Punishment

Posted on December 18, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary True crime is often considered a modern genre, shaped by mass literacy and commercial printing. In reality, the fascination with recounting real acts of violence, theft, deception, and justice is nearly as old as recorded history. Across ancient … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Quiet Weight Beneath the Piano: Melancholy as a Structural Thread in the Lyrics of Billy Joel

Posted on December 18, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Billy Joel is often remembered for buoyant melodies, radio-friendly hooks, and a public persona associated with wit, storytelling, and New York bravado. Yet beneath this accessible surface lies a persistent, carefully managed melancholy that runs through his lyrics … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Resentment as a Substitute for Formation: How Frustrated Longings for Power and Respect Corrupt Ambition

Posted on December 15, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Across political, religious, academic, and organizational contexts, there exists a recurring pattern in which individuals who view themselves as visionary, exceptional, or uniquely insightful experience deep frustration when recognition, authority, or influence does not materialize as expected. When … Continue reading →

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White Paper: When Command Philosophy Fails at Scale: A Comparative Typology of Command Failure in High-Stakes Military Leadership

Posted on December 14, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary This white paper develops a comparative typology of command failure, using Robert E. Lee’s vague order-giving as a central case study and placing it alongside analogous failures in commanders such as Napoleon (1812), McClellan, Rommel, MacArthur, and others. … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Political Causes of Split Highway Numbers and the Consequences of Primary, Secondary, and Split Road Labels

Posted on December 9, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Highway numbering is often assumed to be a neutral technical exercise, but in practice it is a deeply political process. Split numbers—instances where a single route number is assigned to two or more discontinuous or parallel branches—arise from … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Psychology of Hierarchy and Card Passing in the Game Presidents

Posted on December 8, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The card game Presidents—also known as Asshole, Capitalism, Kings, and other regional variants—contains a rule in which the highest-ranked players receive the best cards from the lowest-ranked players at the start of each new round. This mechanic creates … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Dealing with the Inescapable Problem of Unanticipated Misunderstanding: A Framework for Communication, Institutions, and Personal Practice

Posted on December 7, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Human beings cannot anticipate all the ways in which they may misunderstand others or be misunderstood. This limitation arises from the inherent asymmetry of perspective, the opacity of intent, the under-specification of language, and the unpredictability of how … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Social and Physical Consequences of Cutoff Date Effects in the Educational Environment

Posted on December 7, 2025 by nathanalbright

Children born a few days apart can end up a full year apart in school. This white paper looks at what that does to their social and physical outcomes in public schooling—and why the same dynamic is much weaker or … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Layers of Epistemic Unbelief and the Conditions for Their Resolution

Posted on December 6, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Epistemic unbelief—the refusal, inability, or resistance to accept a claim as true—does not arise from a single cause. Instead, it exists in layered forms, ranging from simple ignorance to entrenched moral rebellion. Each layer requires different corrective mechanisms; … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Contested Terrain of Tipping Culture — Existence, Spread, and the Debate Over Earned vs. Entitled Gratuities

Posted on December 6, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Tipping has become one of the most debated features of modern service economies. Once confined largely to hospitality and personal services, tipping norms have expanded into retail, counter-service, delivery platforms, and even automated kiosks. Advocates defend tipping as … Continue reading →

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