What should you do when you’re caught red-handed?
ile. The authors investigated the social significance of human smiles, specifically the penchant for transgressors who smile to be judged more leniently than those who do not. Of particular interest was whether different types of smiles generate different degrees of leniency and what mediated the effect. Subjects judged a case of possible academic misconduct. Materials included a photograph of a female target displaying a neutral expression, felt smile, false smile, or miserable smile. Smiling targets received more leniency than nonsmiling…
1 min read
Does too much computer time degrade social skills?
o much time at the keyboard and not enough time with people may reduce the ability to read nonverbal signals, to judge the intent of others and influence them: Via Harvard Business Review: Today's young digital natives may be ill-suited for jobs in high-trust fields such as diplomacy and sales, because prolonged exposure to computers is reconfiguring their neural networks and possibly diminishing their empathy and social skills, says John K. Mullen of Gonzaga University. With 55% of person-to-person communication…
1 min read
How To Get People To Be More Honest With You
ght want to Skype more often. People lie more often via text message. We're more honest via video than we are in the other mediums tested -- including in face to face. Via Science Daily: Sending a text message leads people to lie more often than in other forms of communication, according to new research by David Xu, assistant professor in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University. And I found this surprising: The authors then…
1 min read
How do you get others to lie and cheat less?
st people cheat just enough to get an edge but not so much that they feel like a bad person. Subtly making them aware their own morality can nudge them back to being good: Via APS: The program began with a lively talk about dishonest decisions by Dan Ariely of Duke University, the popular behavioral economist and author of Predictably Irrational, who is as comfortable dropping jokes as he is delivering research findings. Ariely and his colleagues found that, given…
1 min read
Is win-win negotiating the best way to increase your salary?
esn't look like it. This study shows that people who pushed for the highest amount -- purely out of self-interest -- came away with the highest number: Via Strategy+Business (HT: PsyBlog): Not surprisingly, the biggest salary increases went to those who negotiated in the most competitive manner, acting purely out of self-interest. This could mean trying to use a job offer from another firm as leverage or even misrepresenting some facts. This type of negotiation often left both sides feeling…
1 min read
What tricks do stores use to get us to buy?
is is from an interview with Lee Eisenberg, author of Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What. Join over 190,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips How To Get People To Like You: 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior Expert New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful
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Can computers teach us everything we need to know about cooperation?
ve posted before about Robert Axelrod's research on cooperation; computers were assigned different strategies in the famous prisoner's dilemma and for thousands upon thousands of rounds they faced each other to see which method led to the most success. The best strategy by far turned out to be one we're all familiar with: tit-for-tat. In chapter six of his book, The Evolution of Cooperation, Axelrod explains how we can translate the findings of these computer tournaments into advice that's useful…
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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
