Can combing your hair improve your grades?
ybe. Grooming is associated with higher GPA's. Could be that those who are conscientious about their appearance are also more on top of their schoolwork. Then again, combing your hair might get you better grades if the correlation is due to teacher bias toward attractive or conscientious-looking students, something the researchers do mention: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we investigate whether certain aspects of personal appearance (i.e., physical attractiveness, personality, and grooming) affect…
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Does guilting people really work?
minding people of their transgressions causes them to improve their behavior: People’s desires to see themselves as moral actors can contribute to their striving for and achievement of a sense of self-completeness. The authors use self-completion theory to predict (and show) that recalling one’s own (im)moral behavior leads to compensatory rather than consistent moral action as a way of completing the moral self. In three studies, people who recalled their immoral behavior reported greater participation in moral activities (Study 1),…
1 min read
The Main Reason Most People Are Late For Work
ntext. Does everyone else come in late? If so, it doesn't seem so bad: The authors investigated the joint influence of contextual factors and individual attitudes on employee lateness in a field setting. Hierarchical regression analyses based on objective lateness data revealed that perceived lateness climate moderated the relationship between individual lateness attitudes and lateness behaviors. Specifically, as hypothesized, individual attitudes toward lateness were stronger predictors of actual lateness frequency in lenient climates. This moderating effect was observed when controlling…
1 min read
5 things people can tell about you from your handshake:
There is a connection between the quality of that handshake after a job interview and whether or not you get an offer. 2) People can tell how extraverted and conscientious you are by your handshake. 3) Touching in general has incredible power: it makes us more persuasive, influences risk-taking, and improves team performance. 4) You can judge someone's overall health by a handshake. 5) Your handshake says a lot about you sexually as well. Join over 180,000 readers. Get a…
1 min read
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely’s advice on picking holiday gifts:
n Ariely, author of the excellent Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, applies his research in behavioral economics to holiday gift giving and says this: In summary, I think that the best gifts circumvent guilt in two key ways: by eliminating the guilt that accompanies extravagant purchases, and by reducing the guilt that comes from coupling payment with consumption. The best advice on gift-giving, therefore, is to get something that someone really wants but would feel guilty…
1 min read
Who makes more money: nice people or mean people?
a the WSJ: A new study finds that agreeable workers earn significantly lower incomes than less agreeable ones. The gap is especially wide for men. The researchers examined "agreeableness" using self-reported survey data and found that men who measured below average on agreeableness earned about 18% more—or $9,772 more annually in their sample—than nicer guys. Ruder women, meanwhile, earned about 5% or $1,828 more than their agreeable counterparts. "Nice guys are getting the shaft," says study co-author Beth A. Livingston,…
1 min read
Can a boring job give you a heart attack?
notony on the job is associated with greater risk of myocardial infarction: The project was designed to test the assumption that certain psychosocial characteristics of occupational groups are associated with elevated myocardial infarction risk. All cases of myocardial infarction below the age of 65 in men living in the region of greater Stockholm during the years 1974-1976 were identified (deaths as well as survivals) in the official registries of hospitalizations and deaths. For each case two controls without infarction (in…
1 min read
What are the happiest jobs? What are the unhappiest?
a Forbes: 1. Clergy: The least worldly are reported to be the happiest of all 2. Firefighters: Eighty percent of firefighters are “very satisfied” with their jobs, which involve helping people. 3. Physical therapists: Social interaction and helping people apparently make this job one of the happiest. 4. Authors: For most authors, the pay is ridiculously low or non-existent, but the autonomy of writing down the contents of your own mind apparently leads to happiness. 5. Special education teachers: If…
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