Research Says These Complaints Signal The End Of A Relationship
ose that don't contain the word "but." Unqualified complaints were more common in relationships that weren't going well. Via 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute: Perhaps the most important difference came down to just one word—“but.” When talking about their partner’s greatest faults, those in successful relationships tended to qualify any criticism. Her husband was lazy, but that gave the two of them reason to laugh. His wife was a terrible cook, but as a result they…
1 min read
Is Facebook making us lonely?
the latest issue of The Atlantic Stephen Marche has a long, excellent article on the subject. I found these bits most interesting: Moira Burke, until recently a graduate student at the Human-Computer Institute at Carnegie Mellon, used to run a longitudinal study of 1,200 Facebook users. That study, which is ongoing, is one of the first to step outside the realm of self-selected college students and examine the effects of Facebook on a broader population, over time. She concludes…
3 minutes
Beautiful People Are More Successful. Here’s Why.
a Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful: Using these large random samples of women and men, we can compare their earnings to the ratings of their looks. Compared to the average group (people rated as 3 on the 5 to 1 scale), below-average looking women (rated 2 or 1 on the scale) earn 3 percent less, while below-average looking men earn 22 percent less. Above-average looking women (rated 4 or 5 on the scale) earn 4 percent more…
3 minutes
Do salesmen use similarity to manipulate you?
a Winnipeg Free Press: If your waitress happens to mention her birthday is the same day as yours, or you discover a clothing store clerk grew up your hometown, chances are you'll order an extra beer or buy that second pair of jeans. New Canadian research shows that when consumers share "incidental" traits like a birthday, name or hometown with a salesperson, they're more likely to open their wallets. "Those incidental similarities can actually shape the situation in terms of…
1 min read
Here’s Whether Women Really Reach Their Sexual Peak In Their Thirties
pends on how you define "peak." Women in their 30's report more orgasms but not more desire. Via Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?: Bodies, Behavior, and Brains--The Science Behind Sex, Love, & Attraction: Many women believe a libidinous tidal wave will rush over them in their thirties, but the theory doesn't quite hold water. It was popularized by the sex researcher/crusader Alfred Kinsey. Conducting national surveys throughout post World War II America, Kinsey found that women ages thirty to thirty-four…
1 min read
3 Quick Tips That Will Make You More Charismatic
a The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism: Lower the intonation of your voice at the end of your sentences. Reduce how quickly and how often you nod. Pause for two full seconds before you speak. Why do these work? I've posted a number of times on the power of your voice. You can predict who will be elected president by how deep their voice is. Men with deeper voices are more attractive…
1 min read
Do skinny women have more daughters? Do dominant women have more sons?
s on both. Via Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?: The Surprising Science of Pregnancy: Researchers in Italy collected data on nearly ten thousand new mothers and found that those in the lightest twenty-fifth percentile -- women who weighes 119 pounds or less before pregnancy regardless of height -- gave birth to significantly more daughters than did women who weighed more (51 percent versus 47 to 48 percent in the higher quartiles.) And: ...a team in Norway followed nearly forty…
2 minutes
Are 80% of Harvard students first-born children?
is video is from "Justice", one of the most popular classes in Harvard's history. 23 minutes into the video, professor Michael Sandel asks students who are first-born to raise their hand -- and an eye-popping number do. Admittedly, this is a less-than-scientific survey but apparently Sandel's done this many many many times over the years and consistently come up with a similar result. Of course, there are possible confounds (upper class families who send their kids to Harvard have fewer…
1 min read
