Did you make a New Year's resolution to be a better person in 2011? Not so easy, is it? If only there was some simple action you could take that would naturally inspire selfless behavior. Newly published research identifies just such a morality-boosting maneuver. All you have to do, it seems, is get high. As in, riding on an "up" escalator. Or sitting on an elevated perch. A research team led by psychologist Lawrence Sanna of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reports the experience of being physically higher influences people to act in pro-social ways. Writing in the ... Read More
Uncertainty Heightens Romantic Attraction
December 28, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
With the ultimate date night fast approaching, men and women alike are attempting to decipher the seemingly random rules of romantic attraction. What combination of factors impels one person to think of another as potential mate material? Newly published research suggests one potent element in the mix is mystery. “Keeping people in the dark about how much we like them will increase how much they think about us and will pique their interest,” a research team reports in the journal Psychological Science. University of Virginia psychologists Erin Witchurch and Timothy Wilson, and ... Read More
10 Memorable Threads from 2010
December 28, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
The short days in the Northern Hemisphere produce a peculiar journalistic crop, the Top 10 list. At Miller-McCune.com, we’re not immune to the pull of that chestnut, but the wonk rays so prevalent here force a mutation. Instead of a Top 10 list, here’s 10 for 2010, stories that are popular and memorable but without the baggage of perfection as determined in a year-end frenzy of instantaneous deliberation. Of course, some of the best movies never get nominated for Oscars, and so it is here. We’ll make apologies to stalwarts like Jai Ranganathan (of Curiouser & Curiouser fame) or ... Read More
Your Brain: A User’s Guide
December 22, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
In light of recent research into the workings of the mind, personal responsibility is threatening to become a casualty of science, and free will is looking like a frighteningly fragile construct. Our carefully considered decisions often turn out to be rationalizations for conclusions we have already come to on an unconscious, emotion driven level. Renowned brain researcher Antonio Damasio and veteran science writer Wray Herbert each address this accountability issue in their newly published books, and both come to the same conclusion: We're not off the hook. Herbert insists "we are capable ... Read More
The Deep Pain of Awkward Silences
December 17, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
It's the moment everyone dreads at holiday social gatherings. You're enjoying a free-flowing, spontaneous conversation with a group of friends, colleagues or family members, until you inject what you think is a clever, or at least interesting, remark. The result is an awkward, almost unbearable silence, which lasts until someone jumps in to fill the verbal void with something — anything. Why are those few soundless seconds so incredibly uncomfortable? Newly published research suggests they elicit primal fears, activating anxiety-provoking feelings of incompatibility and ... Read More
Victorian Novels Provide Timeless Psychological Insights
December 16, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Over the past century, countless theories purporting to explain human behavior have been proposed, only to ultimately be modified or discarded. But as it turns out, there was one set of 19th-century writers whose insights into human nature were so nuanced and profound, they still ring true today. Paging Dr. Austen. And Dr. Bronte. And, of course, Dr. Dickens. “Victorian authors do seem to be good intuitive psychologists,” concludes a research team led by psychologist John Johnson of Pennsylvania State University, DuBois. According to a large-scale study published in the Journal of ... Read More
Horoscopes — Fun But Utterly Fallible
November 22, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Despite identifying as a bona fide skeptic, I admit I know my zodiac sign. I celebrate my birthday in early November, and every now and then someone reacts to that information with an assertive, "I just knew you were a Scorpio." If you could really tell, then why didn't you say something before I mentioned it? And besides, what is it that I exude that verifies my Scorpiosity? What is a Scorpio anyway? That I should have something in common with Joni Mitchell, Joan Sutherland and Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul, and ...) who were all born not only under the Scorpio sign but on the same day ... Read More
Accusations of Sexism Spur Greater Sensitivity
October 11, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
A woman who bristles when a male friend or colleague uses sexist language has to make a quick decision: Call him on it, or not? Although she might be personally offended, she may be reluctant to speak up, anticipating his response will be dismissive or defensive. Research just published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests such fears may be overblown. It describes a carefully structured study in which college-age males are confronted over the use of sexist language — and respond with heightened sensitivity regarding gender issues. “Confrontation reduces the ... Read More
Real Men Do Apologize
September 23, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Men, according to conventional wisdom, are stubbornly unwilling to apologize. Countless pop psychology books have referenced this reluctance, explaining that our egos are too fragile to admit we’re wrong, or we’re oblivious to important nuances of social interaction. Sorry to disrupt that lovely feeling of superiority, ladies, but newly published research suggests such smug explanations miss the mark. Writing in the journal Psychological Science, University of Waterloo psychologists Karina Schumann and Michael Ross report that men are, indeed, less likely to say “I’m sorry.” But ... Read More
Observe the Child, See the Adult
July 21, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
At what age do our personalities form, and how stable do they remain for the rest of our lives? When you observe a child, can you really see the man or woman they will grow into? Such questions have longed been pondered by theorists and explored by artists, including the creators of the compelling Up series of documentaries. But hard data on the subject is, understandably, scarce. That makes a new study, just published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, unusually interesting to students of human behavior. It compares teachers’ assessments of Hawaiian ... Read More
