Which is more creative: a team of strangers or a team of old friends?
e perfect mix lies in between the two, and can be measured scientifically. Via Imagine: How Creativity Works: In essence, the amount of Q reflects the “social intimacy” of people working on the play, with higher levels of Q signaling a greater degree of closeness. For instance, if a musical was being developed by a team of artists who had worked together several times before— this is common practice on Broadway, since producers see “incumbent teams” as less risky— that…
2 minutes
How can you quickly and easily make someone act more kind?
mic their behavior. I've posted a number of times before on the power of mimicry to influence others (here, here, here.) This study is interesting because it demonstrates that mimicry doesn't work by only building a bond between the two involved, it makes the person who is mimicked feel better and act nicer to everyone. Recent studies have shown that mimicry occurs unintentionally and even among strangers. In the present studies, we investigated the consequences of this automatic phenomenon in…
1 min read
The Simple Gesture That Can Make You Seem Smarter
e study was done on children so it might not be applicable to adults but it's fascinating nonetheless: Merely pointing at something made someone who had been established as ignorant appear just as competent as someone in the know. Via APS: The one who did the hiding would be the only one truly informed about the location of the ball. We know this and the kids obviously knew this, and indeed they picked the knowledgeable adult when both adults were…
2 minutes
This Is The Quickest Way To Become An Expert Negotiator
nice. We often associate negotiation with being tough or manipulative. While there are certainly situations where that's the case, a great deal of the recent research says we can improve our results by thinking more about making friends than waging war. A great deal of what it takes to influence others, gain their compliance and lead successful negotiations is just good advice on how to be a decent person. Be warm. We value warmth more than competence. Happy people…
2 minutes
Can teddy bears make you more ethical?
nt people to play nice and not cheat each other? Bring toys. Via Harvard Business Review: The finding: Adults are less likely to cheat and more likely to engage in “pro-social” behaviors when reminders of children, such as teddy bears and crayons, are present. The research: Sreedhari Desai and her research partner Francesca Gino had people play classic psychology games in which the subjects controlled how much money other people earned and could earn more themselves if they lied. Half…
1 min read
Do guilt-ridden people make great leaders?
ilt-ridden people work harder, perform better and are seen as stronger leaders. Via Harvard Business Review: The finding: People who are prone to guilt tend to work harder and perform better than people who are not guilt-prone, and are perceived to be more capable leaders. The research: Francis Flynn gave a standard psychological test, which measured the tendency to feel guilt, to about 150 workers in the finance department of a Fortune 500 firm and then compared their test results…
1 min read
10 Ways To Read People Like Sherlock Holmes, Backed By Research
e BBC series Sherlock is currently my favorite show on television. Sherlock Holmes instantly decodes someone's life story and personality from a quick look at the person and their belongings. Of course, the show is fiction. But Sherlock Holmes is a great example of expert behavior. How much of his skill could we possess in real life with knowledge of the research on what factors predict which personality traits -- and which signals are reliable? Here's a quick rundown on…
2 minutes
Here’s How What You Wear Affects How You Act
s. This study shows that while wearing clothes you associate with certain qualities, you will tend to embody those traits. Lab coats are associated with attentiveness and carefulness. When people wore lab coats their scores on measures of both traits went up. We introduce the term “enclothed cognition” to describe the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer's psychological processes. Providing a potentially unifying framework to integrate past findings and capture the diverse impact that clothes can have on…
2 minutes
