Pacific Standard July-August 2013 Cover
Findings channel

Brain Activity Provides Window to the Emotions

June 19, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
brain-scan-study

We have all been reeling from recent news reports suggesting privacy is pretty much dead. But surely there’s one part of our lives we can keep to ourselves if we choose to do so: Our deepest, most personal emotions. Actually, check that. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University announced today that they have come up with a technique that can identify the emotions you’re feeling by measuring brain activity. “Despite manifest differences between people’s psychology, different people tend to neutrally encode emotions in remarkably similar ways.” “Despite manifest differences ... Read More

Dim Lighting Sparks Creativity

June 18, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
dim-bulb

There are certain times when you want the lights turned way down low. One such time, according to recent research, is when you need to think creatively. “Darkness increases freedom from constraints, which in turn promotes creativity,” report  Anna Steidle of the University of Stuttgart and Lioba Werth of the University of Hohenheim. A dimly lit environment, they explain in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, “elicits a feeling of freedom, self-determination, and reduced inhibition,” all of which encourage innovative thinking. Steidle and Werth describe six experiments ... Read More

You’re Probably Not as Conservative as You Think

June 17, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
repub-elephant

Conservatism the brand seems to be faring better than conservatism the philosophy. That’s the conclusion of new research that finds a serious disconnect between the way people under 30 identify themselves politically, and their actual stands on the issues. In three experiments described in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers found “a systematic bias among young adults to perceive themselves as somewhat more conservative than they actually are.” “Commentators have presumed that America is a ‘center-right’ nation,” write psychologists Ethan ... Read More

Want to Learn How to Think? Read Fiction

June 12, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
big-book

Are you uncomfortable with ambiguity? It’s a common condition, but a highly problematic one. The compulsion to quell that unease can inspire snap judgments, rigid thinking, and bad decision-making. Fortunately, new research suggests a simple antidote for this affliction: Read more literary fiction. A trio of University of Toronto scholars, led by psychologist Maja Djikic, report that people who have just read a short story have less need for what psychologists call “cognitive closure.” Compared with peers who have just read an essay, they expressed more comfort with disorder and ... Read More

Brands Are Imprinted on Our Brains

June 11, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
coca-cola-branding

Why do so many of us instinctively reach for brand-name products at the supermarket, even when less-expensive generic ones are available as an option? If pressed, we’d probably say we like them better—which is odd, given that the generic brands are often identical to the originals. Why would we get more pleasure out of products that come wrapped in a familiar label? Newly published research from Germany suggests it's because certain brands are imprinted on our brains. Participants in a study reported they got more pleasure from tasting colas labeled “Coke” and “Pepsi” ... Read More

For Men, Seeing Red Can Mean Paying More

June 10, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
sale-illo

The color red has a strange power over our unconscious minds. Recent research suggests it can increase one’s attractiveness, compel teachers to grade papers more harshly, and even prompt people to get vaccinated for sexually transmitted diseases. Now we can add to the list: It can trick men into overpaying for “sale priced” items. A study in the June issue of the Journal of Retailing reports that, in a series of experiments, “Male consumers perceived greater savings when prices were presented in red than when presented in black.” Red can increase one’s attractiveness, ... Read More

That Tattoo Makes You Look Promiscuous

June 7, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
butterfly-tattoo

Does your tattoo make a statement about you? If you’re an attractive woman, it apparently does, regardless of your intention. And that statement is: “I’m easy!” That’s the implication of new research from France, which found men are more likely to approach a woman lying on the beach if she has a butterfly tattoo on her lower back. The guys in this study didn’t think the body art made her more attractive. But they believed it increased the likelihood of her being receptive to their romantic overtures. The “stereotype of promiscuousness associated with tattoos” may or ... Read More

Racist? Virtual Reality Could Fix That

June 6, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
avatars

It’s time to update the classic rejoinder “Walk a mile in my shoes.” Thanks to virtual-reality technology, people prone to stereotyping—which means basically all of us—can take a far more immersive, and apparently effective, journey toward empathy and understanding. Forget the footwear: The new invitation is “Spend some time in my skin.” A research team led by Mel Slater of the University of Barcelona and Tabitha Peck (now at Duke University) reports that the virtual experience of living in a dark-skinned body “significantly reduced implicit racial bias against ... Read More

White or Black? Conservatives, Liberals See Faces Differently

June 5, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
obama-portrait

Did you notice that mixed-race gentleman who passed you on the sidewalk yesterday? During the split second as he walked by, did he register in your mind as black or white? Disturbing new research suggests the answer to that question may depend on your political ideology. In three experiments, “we found that conservatives were more likely than liberals to categorize a racially ambiguous person as black than white,” a research team led by New York University psychologist Amy Krosch writes in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Intriguingly, this dynamic disappeared when ... Read More

Distracted Dining Increases Desire for Sugary, Salty Foods

June 4, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
potato-chips

Our eating habits have changed radically in recent decades, in at least two distinct ways. We increasingly multitask as we consume our meals, munching as we work at our desk or watch television. And, to the dismay of nutritionists, our food has higher concentrations of sugar and salt. New research from the Netherlands suggests the two phenomena may be directly related. A study just published in the journal Psychological Science finds people eating or drinking while mentally distracted require greater concentrations of sweetness, sourness, or saltiness to feel satisfied. A slightly sweet ... Read More