ABSTRACT
How we think about the world matters in very important ways. It impacts on what we do from day to day, for a start. For example, if, as a student, you have a poor opinion of a particular lecturer at your university or college – if you have decided that he or she is boring or difficult to follow – you will be less likely to attend the lecture, unless of course you think there are strong conventions in place to compel you to go. If you think of the world as a dangerous place, this may impact on how you travel to the lecture: you may avoid public transport, for example, and decide to walk, because of the possibility of a terrorist attack. Such an attack may be statistically very unlikely, but the way you picture the world will affect how you interpret such ‘evidence’ and how you behave. Other students may see travelling on the bus or the train as a way of making a political statement, a way of ‘defying’ those who want to prevent life going on as usual.
