https://mastermoody.com/articles/ Decision psychology, business playbooks, school-owner systems, parenting and psychology. Summaries; full articles on mastermoody.com. en-us Dr. Greg Moody, Ph.D. Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0700 720 https://mastermoody.com/assets/headshots/cmgm-suit.png https://mastermoody.com/articles/ https://mastermoody.com/articles/addendum-anorexia-and-bulimia https://mastermoody.com/articles/addendum-anorexia-and-bulimia Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0700 An addendum to Prediction, Control, and the Regulating Mind. Where the set point stops being an analogy: restriction running as a stored response, the hunger signal measured broken from both ends at once, what the mirror is doing and why it outlasts the weight, and what the treatment evidence costs the model. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/you-handed-it-off-and-stopped-looking https://mastermoody.com/articles/you-handed-it-off-and-stopped-looking Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0700 An owner hired a real marketing expert and their leads went down, because they had handed the work off in one piece and could only evaluate the credential. There are two ways to stop watching a system, and they look like opposites: hand it off and disappear, or take it back and be the hands. What the leadership and feedback research says about each, why the plate about to fall is wobbly first, and the four ways owners handle staff. Decision Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-edge-you-keep-stepping-back-from https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-edge-you-keep-stepping-back-from Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Most people quit at attempt three, and nobody ever decided on three. Why the feeling of difficulty runs opposite to actual progress, what avoidance buys you and what it costs, and the three doors a leader has when somebody hits an edge: do the obstacle for them, let them quit, or help them through it. Decision Psychology Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/twelve-leads-cant-tell-you-anything https://mastermoody.com/articles/twelve-leads-cant-tell-you-anything Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Same offer, same leads, opposite outcomes: the variable was never the lead. Why volume comes before optimization, why "qualified" means five different things in one week, and the four questions to run before you kill a channel. Decision Psychology Business Playbooks Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/we-just-dealt-with-it https://mastermoody.com/articles/we-just-dealt-with-it Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The three loops bad conflict runs in, the five stances that have to be present before any technique works, why the 7 percent communication statistic is misapplied, and the three situations where conflict resolution makes things worse instead of better. Decision Psychology Business Playbooks Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/your-second-biggest-expense https://mastermoody.com/articles/your-second-biggest-expense Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Greg Moody's Three Stages of Landlords, why the fairness argument loses, knowing your market and being willing to move, what a vacancy actually costs the landlord, countering the escalation instead of the endpoint, the concessions worth more than a rent cut, and the eighteen-month clock that decides all of it. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/it-was-you-not-them https://mastermoody.com/articles/it-was-you-not-them Sat, 29 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The seller's anxiety, not the buyer's objection, is what moves the price. The CBT chain that runs before you notice it, the six things your brain says instead of "I'm afraid," and the proof: the same objections come back at the lower price. Decision Psychology Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/cousin-pays-less-referral-pricing https://mastermoody.com/articles/cousin-pays-less-referral-pricing Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 A new family finds out a relative pays a lower rate. Why you generally don't discount, the one exception, why you never justify a price, and the five things to say when it comes up. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-loop-that-wont-settle https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-loop-that-wont-settle Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Part 6 of Prediction, Control, and the Regulating Mind. Rumination, worry and compulsion as one fault, and depression as three faults under one diagnosis. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-two-dials-at-work https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-two-dials-at-work Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Two failures look identical from across the room and need opposite repairs: an accurate read acted on too hard, and an inaccurate read held with too much confidence. Psychology Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/addendum-self-injury-as-a-regulatory-behavior https://mastermoody.com/articles/addendum-self-injury-as-a-regulatory-behavior Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 An addendum to Prediction, Control, and the Regulating Mind. Written for clinicians: what the function literature established about non-suicidal self-injury, what the predictive account adds, and how much of it is still untested. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/adhd-in-your-school https://mastermoody.com/articles/adhd-in-your-school Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 For martial arts school owners: how to identify ADHD, how to teach it, and what to do when a disruptive class is costing you enrollments. Martial Arts School Owners Parenting & Family Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/autism-in-your-school https://mastermoody.com/articles/autism-in-your-school Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 For martial arts school owners: how to identify autism, how to teach it, and why a separate special needs class is the wrong answer. Martial Arts School Owners Parenting & Family Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/addendum-amusement-awe-and-curiosity https://mastermoody.com/articles/addendum-amusement-awe-and-curiosity Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The three feelings the model said it couldn't explain. Amusement, awe and curiosity don't behave like error signals from the controller, they belong to the estimator half of the model. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-an-emotion-actually-is https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-an-emotion-actually-is Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Emotions as error signals in a feedback loop, why happiness is not an emotion at all, and the sensor-sized gap the control account leaves open. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/why-your-brain-guesses-at-the-world https://mastermoody.com/articles/why-your-brain-guesses-at-the-world Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Perception as inference: the blind spot, the dress, prediction error, precision weighting, and Plato's cave arriving twenty-four centuries early. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-you-predict-is-what-you-defend https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-you-predict-is-what-you-defend Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The original claim. Join control theory to predictive processing and the estimate becomes the set point, which gives two gains that come apart cleanly. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-this-changes-in-the-therapy-room https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-this-changes-in-the-therapy-room Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The CBT model mapped term for term onto a control loop, why a wrong core belief survives contact with reality, and four questions that sort clients into different repairs. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-hard-case-autism-and-stimming https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-hard-case-autism-and-stimming Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Stimming as a limit cycle rather than soothing, the stability-versus-overload argument, and an honest audit of how thin the supporting evidence actually is. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/lag-gain-and-damping-in-a-business https://mastermoody.com/articles/lag-gain-and-damping-in-a-business Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The same three failures outside the clinic: review intervals shorter than the feedback delay, micromanagement as a gain problem, and KPIs treated as anything but set points. Psychology Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/how-to-prove-this-wrong https://mastermoody.com/articles/how-to-prove-this-wrong Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Four results the model forbids, stated in advance, plus a precise account of what the evidence supports today and what remains untested. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/eight-biases https://mastermoody.com/articles/eight-biases Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The endowment effect, IKEA effect, status quo bias, sunk cost, escalation of commitment, loss aversion, ambiguity aversion and psychological reactance, each with the situation where running the shortcut is genuinely right, where it breaks, and one example from a martial arts school and one from regular life, then the five checks that catch it in yourself. Decision Psychology Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/answer-every-one https://mastermoody.com/articles/answer-every-one Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Why a one-star only does damage when one of three conditions you control is missing, the four-part negative response that concedes nothing, four cases where the reviewer was wrong and you still take the high road, the long-form positive reply most schools waste, the ask system, and the Wi-Fi mistake that gets legitimate reviews filtered. Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/not-right-now-renewal https://mastermoody.com/articles/not-right-now-renewal Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Diagnose what happened in the renewal conference, never let a meeting end without a next date and an action step, and use the 14 re-engage approaches only for the ones who slip through. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/understanding-survivor-bias https://mastermoody.com/articles/understanding-survivor-bias Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The owners who closed their schools don't speak at conventions. The arithmetic that reverses an 80-percent claim, the bestselling business books built on survivor samples, the 70-hour-week case, and five questions to ask before you take anyone's advice. Martial Arts School Owners Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/survivor-bias-explained https://mastermoody.com/articles/survivor-bias-explained Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Wald's bombers, the arithmetic that flips 80 percent of winners into a lower success rate, the famous business books built this way, publication bias in science, and the five questions to ask any advisor. Decision Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/price-question-phone-script https://mastermoody.com/articles/price-question-phone-script Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Eight out of ten information calls open with a price question. Why quoting a number loses the appointment, the four-rung price ladder, and how to train staff to run it. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/complete-phone-script https://mastermoody.com/articles/complete-phone-script Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The full information-call script for a martial arts school: all four parts, every objection, confirmation and missed-appointment calls, voicemail and text scripts, and the certification standard. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/standard-training-protocol https://mastermoody.com/articles/standard-training-protocol Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Why staff training fails when it starts at full complexity, and the four-step protocol that fixes it: system only, conflict only, both together, then repeat. Plus the onboarding standard, the 8-week rotation, and remedial training driven by the numbers. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-scarcity-trap https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-scarcity-trap Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 "Our area is saturated" is a testable claim and almost nobody tests it. Only 2.1% of Americans age 6+ train martial arts at all, so 98 out of 100 people in your radius are in no one's school. The research on scarcity mindset and tunneling, why competitor density is a demand signal, the four thinking errors behind "we can't compete," and why skipping the event makes the belief stronger. Martial Arts School Owners Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/scarcity-is-a-lousy-strategist https://mastermoody.com/articles/scarcity-is-a-lousy-strategist Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Scarcity mindset feels exactly like analysis from the inside. Only 2.1% of Americans age 6+ do martial arts at all, and the same arithmetic runs for agencies, private practices, advisors and founders. Threat appraisal, the four thinking errors behind "our market is saturated," why competitor density is a demand signal, and why avoiding the test is worse than failing it. Decision Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-good-parent-illusion https://mastermoody.com/articles/the-good-parent-illusion Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The foundational piece of the parental authority series: the real risk map, why safety is the floor and not the goal, and the four-rung target — safe, capable, connected, still growing. Parenting & Family https://mastermoody.com/articles/everybody-talked-nobody-answered https://mastermoody.com/articles/everybody-talked-nobody-answered Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700 A social network built for AI bots ran 3.8% reciprocity. The same failure runs the leadership team that meets constantly and decides nothing — and there is a three-bucket test you can run on two weeks of your own meeting records. Decision Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/dont-ask-tell-family-class https://mastermoody.com/articles/dont-ask-tell-family-class Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Turning trial parents into family memberships: hand out the uniform instead of an invitation, run the parent's first class as a real intro, close on the three options you already sell, and book the progress check. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/advice-errors-school-owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/advice-errors-school-owners Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Why most martial arts school owners plateau: two advice errors plus a bonus error, and the standard for whose counsel to trust. Martial Arts School Owners https://mastermoody.com/articles/date-nights-science https://mastermoody.com/articles/date-nights-science Sun, 19 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0700 What peer-reviewed research actually shows about date nights, sexual frequency, desire differences, and what predicts a happy relationship. Intentionality beats frequency, well-being plateaus at about weekly sex, only ~6% of couples match in desire, and the famous 2-3-times-a-week rule traces to no real study. Every statistic checked against its original source. Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-counts-as-a-lead https://mastermoody.com/articles/what-counts-as-a-lead Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Stop qualifying leads in your head: count every raised hand, track by source and stage, and use Jay Abraham's suspect-versus-prospect line. Plus the A-through-D test before you kill a channel, and why you build 100-200 leads a month first. Business Playbooks https://mastermoody.com/articles/spock-run-your-school https://mastermoody.com/articles/spock-run-your-school Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0700 The emotion-vs-logic problem for martial arts school owners: the Justification Delusion on the mat, the enrollment excuses that are anxiety in costume, and tracking data over rationalization. Martial Arts School Owners Decision Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/spock-couldnt-really-exist https://mastermoody.com/articles/spock-couldnt-really-exist Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0700 Why most of what we call logic is emotion in a costume, the Justification Delusion, and the engineering discipline that gets you out of it. Decision Psychology https://mastermoody.com/articles/best-offer-pulls-better https://mastermoody.com/articles/best-offer-pulls-better Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:00:00 -0700 A school owner asked whether 2 weeks free or 1 month free wins for back to school. The answer: test what pulls, free beats paid 10-1 on the web, the tire-kicker myth doesn't survive the show-rate data, and all offers are closed the same way. Martial Arts School Owners