Do red clothes mean sex?
a The Huffington Post: In a previous study, scientists showed that men seem to be more attracted to women clothed in red rather than in a blah color such as white. That's regardless of the cut, he adds. "It doesn't have to be a red dress or a sexy outfit," he says. "It can be a red T-shirt." To understand why, Pazda and his colleagues conducted a simple experiment. They showed 25 men a photo of a single woman doctored…
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
Is not doing something the most important thing to do today?
ercising self-control in one area of life tends to improve all areas of life. From Willpower: Resdiscovering the Greatest Human Strength: Those in the fitness program got fitter; those working on study discipline got more schoolwork done; the people in the money-management program saved more money. But—and here was a truly pleasant surprise—they also got better at other things. The students who did the study-discipline program reported doing physical workouts a bit more often and cutting down on impulsive spending.…
2 minutes
Here’s How You Can Quickly Relieve Stress
recently posted on how owning a dog is associated with a number of powerful health benefits. Turns out you don't even need a real dog to experience some of those effects. Watching a video of a cute animal can reduce heart rate and blood pressure in under a minute. Via Richard Wiseman's excellent book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute: In an innovative study, Deborah Wells examined whether merely looking at a video of an animal can…
1 min read
What personality traits do night owls have? What about morning people?
rning types are more concrete, logical, introverted and self-controlled. Evening types are more creative, risk-taking, independent and impulsive. Via Richard Wiseman's excellent book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute: Questionnaire results from more than 350 people showed that morning types are attracted to concrete information rather than abstract thinking and like to rely on logic rather than intuition. They tend to be introverted, self-controlled, and eager to make a good impression on others. In contrast, evening types have…
1 min read
Here’s What Your Pet says About Your Personality
sh owners are happiest. Dog owners are the most fun to be with. Cat owners are the most depemdable and emotionally sensitive. Reptile owners are the most independent. Via Richard Wiseman's excellent book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute: Fish owners turned out to be the happiest, dog owners the most fun to be with, cat owners the most dependable and emotionally sensitive, and reptile owners the most independent. Weirdly, the results also revealed telling differences rating pets’…
1 min read
What should you think about to immediately increase self-control?
ink about money: Self-control draws upon a resource that is limited, such that acts of self-control deplete the resource, causing performance on subsequent acts of self-control to suffer. In this research, we demonstrate that activating the concept of money can buffer this ego depletion effect. Across two experiments using varied operationalizations of self-control, participants completed an initial task that depleted self-control resources or not, were then reminded of money or neutral concepts, and finally, completed a second task requiring self-control.…
1 min read
