At long last, science has proven what we've suspected all along: Guys ride skateboards for the chicks. In a study aimed at determining the role testosterone plays in physical risk-taking, researchers had young men try to pull off both easy and difficult skateboard tricks — first for another guy and then in the presence of a young, attractive female. The skateboarders were measured after each epic failure — sorry, "attempted move" — and, consistent with predictions, the young men had higher testosterone levels and took bigger risks when good-looking women were watching. (Also noted: ... Read More
When Grading Papers, Red Ink May Mean Lower Scores
May 11, 2010 • By • 22 Comments
Remember those gut-wrenching high-school moments when a teacher handed you back a test or assignment, having corrected your mistakes and rendered a harsh verdict in bold red ink? It may be small consolation now, but newly published research suggests your grades may have been higher if that ink had been blue. A study in the European Journal of Social Psychology suggests the use of red pens may make teachers more likely to spot errors on tests and to be more critical when grading essays. “Despite teachers’ efforts to free themselves from extraneous influences while grading,” write ... Read More
Some Bullies Just Want to Be Loved
May 7, 2010 • By • 4 Comments
Bullies have been an accepted, if unpleasant, part of childhood for generations. Although anti-bullying laws are increasingly common, and schools often have programs for dealing with bullies, this adolescent tyranny is traditionally left to resolve itself. The resolution isn't always pretty, as in a recent Massachusetts case where nine students were charged with a teen's death in what has been called "bullycide." This week, Massachusetts became the 42nd state to sign anti-bullying legislation into law. But why do some people feel compelled to act so aggressively in the first place? Two ... Read More
The Limits of Empathy for Outsiders
April 7, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
The ethnic makeup of an area changes due to increased immigration, and support for social welfare programs declines. As “outsiders” move in, high-minded notions of compassion and equality give way to an every-man-for-himself ethos. What is it with those Swedes, anyway? That’s right: Swedes. A new study finds the link between race, ethnicity and lowered support for a social safety net — previously documented in the United States — can also be found in what is widely considered the world’s most egalitarian nation. Writing in the European Sociological Review, University of ... Read More
Feeling Impatient? Blame That Whopper
March 22, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Americans have been saving less and less of their income in recent decades, a trend that has only recently abated. At the same time, we have been eating more and more meals at fast-food restaurants. Coincidence? Perhaps not. A new study suggests thinking about fast-food chains — or even being exposed momentarily to their logos — can increase impatience and intensify one’s desire for immediate gratification. Two University of Toronto researchers, Chen-Bo Zhong and Sanford DeVoe, reach that conclusion in a paper titled "You Are How You Eat," just published in the journal ... Read More
Sad But True: We’re More Likely to Believe Bad News
April 21, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
Do you nod your head knowingly while reading the latest bleak economic figures, but respond skeptically to suggestions that the worst may be over? There's a reason for that: Humans, it turns out, are more inclined to accept negative information as accurate. That's the conclusion of a newly published study by psychologist Benjamin Hilbig of the University of Mannheim in Germany. Working from the well-established concept of negativity bias — the phenomenon that negative events, or the fear thereof, have a disproportionate impact on our emotions and behavior — he conducted three ... Read More
Group Members’ Insecurity Can Foster Being a Jerk
October 26, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment
It's a familiar sight at sporting events, and it recently reared its head on the campaign trail. A healthy pride in a group we belong to or identify with — be it a football team, an ethnic identity or a political party — morphs into an aggressive nastiness. Rooting for the home team turns into taunting the opposing players; a commitment to one candidate inspires cries that his opponent is a terrorist. How and why does this shift occur? According to new research by a group of psychologists at the University of California, Davis, the answer seems to lie at the intersection of intensity ... Read More
Workplace Serenity Is Just a Poster Away
April 30, 2008 • By • 1 Comment
The seashore scene is not one of Ansel Adams' famous photographs, but like all his best work, it captures a dramatic moment in time. A wave is crashing against a line of jagged rocks, spraying plumes of foam that look luminescent against the dark hillside in the background. Overhead, ominous clouds suggest it is about to rain any moment. I can see it out of the corner of my eye as I type these words. Shortly after moving into my new office, I hung it over my desk, along with another Adams image on the opposite wall. I couldn't have told you why, exactly, except that I find them ... Read More
The Fault Really Does Lie in Our Stars
February 13, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment
In a 2002 New York Times essay, author John Horgan expressed his discomfort with recent neurobiological research suggesting free will is, in fact, an illusion. The conviction that we make our own choices “provides us with the metaphysical justification for ethics and morality,” he wrote. “It forces us to take responsibility for ourselves rather than consigning our fate to our genes, or God.” Indeed, a fatalistic belief system — an acknowledgment that unconscious forces actually govern our behavior, while our conscious minds keep busy forming retroactive justifications — would ... Read More
Gridiron Violence Off the Field
February 2, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment
Sports build character — or so we have been told by coaches, fans and a fair number of academics. A young athlete — say, a member of a high school football team — learns what it takes to achieve a goal, absorbing on a visceral level such crucial concepts as teamwork, self-discipline and fair play. Time out, cry some social scientists. Youth sports, they counter, instill a machismo mindset, promote a winning-is-everything mentality and reinforce the notion that physical violence is an acceptable way to resolve problems. So which is it? A series of studies in recent years have come ... Read More
