Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

Need Help? Ask a Virtual Superman

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Want to bring out the best side of your personality—the part that is compassionate and helpful to others? New research points to a surprising way to inspire such caring behavior. All you have to do is lift your arms above your head and take flight. Which, it turns out, is surprisingly simple—in virtual reality. According to a just-published study, participants in a virtual-reality game were more likely to provide real-world help if they had just experienced flying on their own power. Giving people an ability normally reserved for superheroes apparently inspires them to embody the ... Read More

Women Eye Dance Moves to Find Thrill Seekers

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It turns out the information women seek isn’t in a man’s kiss — it’s in his dance moves. Evidence of this nonverbal messaging system comes from a group of European researchers, led by the University of Göttingen’s Nadine Hugill, which videotaped 50 men and their moves. Sixty women watched the recordings and judged the hunkiness of each hoofer. Before hitting the dance floor, the men completed a survey measuring their propensity to engage in new and risky behaviors, including their penchant for “thrill and adventure seeking.” Their willingness to flaunt rules and take ... Read More

New Studies Help Boy Scouts ‘Be Prepared’

The Boy Scouts of America, while last year celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding, reviewed and commissioned much research into how the organization is accomplishing its core mission of promoting good character traits and prosocial behaviors — as well as reaching out to a new generation of kids. Scout leaders hope that the studies will offer guidance to program leaders for the organization's next 100 years. If Scouting is to maintain influence in the next era, it must reverse its declining membership. Participation peaked in 1973 with 4.8 million scouts and has since plunged 42 ... Read More

Strong Social Bonds Promote Health, Belonging — and Torture

It was no surprise when a recent meta-study found people with strong social support networks tend to live longer, healthier lives. As the Mayo Clinic notes on its website, having close, lasting relationships strengthens one’s feelings of security, self-worth and sense of belonging. But there appears to be a dark side to those life-enhancing bonds. Newly published research suggests they may make it more likely you’ll view those outside your social group as less than human —and treat them accordingly. “Connecting with others brings individuals closer to each other, but moves them ... Read More

‘The Fair Society’ — Author Calls for More Equality

While most of our public policy debates break down along numbingly familiar ideological lines, occasionally an issue will arise where pretty much everyone is in agreement. When bailed-out bankers award themselves bonuses, or the price of a basic-necessity item suddenly spikes for no good reason, we're virtually unanimous in responding: That's not OK. As Peter Corning argues in his new book, The Fair Society, such actions violate a fundamental sense of fairness that appears to be hard-wired in the human psyche. He points out that "Do unto others," or some other variation on the golden rule, ... Read More

Teddy Bears Soften Pain of Social Exclusion

We’ve all been there: The gang is going out for some fun, and we haven’t been invited. To hell with them, we think. In fact, to hell with everybody. Given how painful social exclusion can be, it’s no surprise that people feeling this particular form of rejection are less likely to help others. But new research suggests this sullen attitude evaporates when they reunite with an old furry friend. Never underestimate the power of a teddy bear. A trio of researchers from the National University of Singapore — Kenneth Tai, Xue Zheng and Jayanth Narayanan — concludes that ... Read More

Is It Ever OK to Spank My Child?

When psychology professor Marjorie Lindner Gunnoe announced some of her research findings about spanking a little over a year ago, The Center for Effective Discipline, an anti-spanking group, attacked both the research and how the media portrayed it. In her study, Gunnoe used survey data on youth from ages 12 to 18 about whether they had been spanked, and from the responses, she determined that spanking of children from ages 2 to 6 doesn’t put the children at risk for depression, antisocial behavior, violence or sexual activity. The center’s website said that “parents who believe ... Read More

Childhood Memories Provoke Charitable Behavior

Remember your first bicycle? How about your first pet? If such inquiries conjure up images from your formative years, be grateful: Briefly reliving moments from childhood may make you a better person. According to a Harvard Business School Working Paper, triggering childhood memories stimulates people to behave more helpfully and charitably. Researchers Francesca Gino and Sreedhari Desai report these early memories activate feelings of moral purity linked in our minds with the innocence of youth. Surprisingly, the results of their experiments suggest it doesn’t matter if a childhood ... Read More

The Practical Effect of Cultivating Selflessness

Most of our thinking about how to influence human behavior — how to get people to pay taxes, to obey laws, to not steal from each other — rests on the model of homo economicus. This creature, first sketched by economists more than a century ago, is generally out for his own rational self-interest. He (or she) is, in short, selfish, and when we want him to do something, policymakers usually keep that in mind. Lynn Stout, a professor of corporate law at UCLA, began to wonder about this deeply entrenched assumption, which leaves little room in human behavior for what we might call a ... Read More

Uplifting Ways to Access Your Better Self

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