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…
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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…
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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…
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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
What does the color of your clothing tell others about you?
a The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism: Red conveys energy, passion. Wear red to wake up an audience. Black shows you’re serious and that you won’t take no for an answer. White exudes honesty and innocence, which is why defendants often choose it in the courtroom. Blue emits trust. The darker the shade, the deeper the level of trust it elicits. Gray is a good neutral, the quintessential color of business. Orange…
1 min read
What’s the secret to dealing with an insecure or belligerent boss?
ow gratitude. Via Science Daily: According to the study, "high-power participants whose competence was threatened denigrated their subordinates. Importantly, this pattern disappeared when the subordinate expressed gratitude. Among low-power participants, there were no main effects of competence and gratitude expression, nor was there an interaction between competence and gratitude expression." And: Fast, whose previous work has explored how power, feelings of competence and aggression are related, further explained: "When people have power they feel the need to meet demanding role…
1 min read
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…
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