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The Cabrera Lab Blog
As part of our research mission, we strive to make the science of systems thinking accessible to everyone. The Cabrera Lab Blog and the Cabrera Lab Podcast are our primary platforms for sharing these ideas. The views expressed in these outlets are solely our own and do not necessarily represent those of our partners or of Cornell University.
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The Misconception of Doubling Effects
A fable tells the story of when the inventor of chess showed his new game to the Emperor of India. The Emperor is so impressed he...
Derek Cabrera
May 261 min read
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From One Cause to Webs of Causality
Empirical Evidence for a Cognitive Framework to Solve Wicked Problems Derek Cabrera 1,2,3,* and Laura Cabrera 1,2,3 Cornell University...
Derek Cabrera
May 31 min read
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Logics Face Off
How Socratic Logic and Aristotelian Logic Differ, and How DSRP Multivalent Logic Offers an Alternative You might think that logic is...
Derek Cabrera
Mar 174 min read
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Cognitive biases rank ordered in terms of prevalence
Can you spot the bias?DSRP is a form of bias inoculation. In the table below, biases are ranked in order of how fundamental and common...
Derek Cabrera
Mar 63 min read
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Is Systems Thinking a House of Cards Built on Circular References of Op-Eds and crony-peer review?
The Problem With “Systems Thinking” For decades, systems thinking has been touted as the ultimate tool for understanding complexity....
Derek Cabrera
Mar 14 min read
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Unraveling the Cloud: How Culture Marketing Builds Shared Mental Models
Culture is an enigma — shrouded in mystery, wrapped in magic, and cloaked in a fog of confusion. We are told, with great authority, that...
Derek Cabrera
Feb 104 min read
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PUTTING THE "SYSTEMS THINKING" IN SYSTEMS
As a doctoral student at Cornell University long ago, I TA'd an intro course in evolutionary bio for one of my advisors, an iconic...
Derek Cabrera
Feb 33 min read
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Exploring the Pros and Cons of System Dynamics in Modern Systems Thinking
Senge’s work was almost entirely based on the work of another scholar named Jay Forrester at MIT under the name of “Industrial Dynamics”...
Derek Cabrera
Apr 13, 20234 min read
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Living RDSs: Ligers, Tigons, and Grolar Bears, oh my!
I recently came across an article about a 'mystery monkey' found in the jungles of Borneo (pictured below). A tour guide took a picture...

Elena Cabrera
Jan 19, 20232 min read
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A Systems Thinking Approach to Innovation and Digital Transformation Adoption
Technological innovations and digital transformation initiatives are difficult to adopt. Some of the leading hurdles are culture, archaic...
Dr. Alex MacCalman
Jan 18, 20235 min read
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What Makes a Pest?
When does an animal become a pest ? The distinction between pest and not-pest is explored in Bethany Brookshire's book, titled, Pests ....

Elena Cabrera
Jan 17, 20232 min read
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Just say, "I don't understand this, yet."
I'd like to change your mind on something. I want to change the way you think about a number of words that used to mean things that we...
Derek Cabrera
Nov 28, 20223 min read
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New Publication - Warfighting: A Function of Combat Power
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 2022 — Maj. Thomas R. Ryan Jr. of the United States Army has published a paper in the...
Staff
Sep 22, 20221 min read
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The Most Important System in the Modern Company: An Internal Marketing System
Why we start organizations is intimately tied to why we choose to work together in the first place. If your goal is to create a garden in...
Derek Cabrera
Jun 10, 20227 min read
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CNN's Breaking News is a Distinction with No Distinction
That nearly everything at CNN is "breaking news" is not new, as it's not breaking, but it is news. Now, CNN is trying to fix its breaking...
Derek Cabrera
Jun 3, 20222 min read
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Dr. Derek Cabrera speaks at the Learning and the Brain Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 4, 2022 — Dr. Derek Cabrera, of Cabrera Research Lab and Cornell University gave a talk to the Learning and...
Staff
Apr 4, 20221 min read
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New Peer-Reviewed Publication - Distinctions Organize Information in Mind and Nature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 23, 2022 — Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera, along with Elena Cabrera, of Cabrera Research Lab and Cornell...
Staff
Mar 23, 20222 min read
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Dr. Laura Cabrera gives talk at Purdue University
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 10, 2022 — Dr. Laura Cabrera, of Cabrera Research Lab and Cornell University gave a talk at the Purdue...
Staff
Mar 12, 20221 min read
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THINKQUIRY POSTER SERIES: ASKING METACOGNITIVE QUESTIONS
These four beautiful DSRP posters, or all 4 together, can be found here . Enjoy! "We wanted to get people asking different kinds of...
Derek Cabrera
Feb 26, 20161 min read
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DEALING WITH THE DEVIL IN DESIGN THINKING
Design Thinking is the latest exotic heuristic to show up in fishmongers' stalls. The old saying, "give a man a fish and he eats for a...
Derek Cabrera
Feb 25, 20166 min read
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