The Science Behind Why Dogs Might Just Be Man’s Best Friend
g owners experience a wide range of health benefits. Via Richard Wiseman's excellent book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute: After carefully following the recovery rates of patients who had suffered a heart attack, Friedmann discovered that those who were dog owners, compared to those without a canine pal, were almost nine times more likely to be alive twelve months later. This remarkable result encouraged scientists to explore other possible benefits of canine companionship, resulting in studies showing…
2 minutes
What everyday object can motivate you to work harder and be a better person?
mirror. From Willpower: Resdiscovering the Greatest Human Strength: When people were placed in front of a mirror, or told that their actions were being filmed, they consistently changed their behavior. These self-conscious people worked harder at laboratory tasks. They gave more valid answers to questionnaires (meaning that their answers jibed more closely with their actual behavior). They were more consistent in their actions, and their actions were also more consistent with their values. And: Whenever people focused on themselves,…
2 minutes
Why is it so hard finding a spouse in NYC?
o many choices makes people ridiculously picky. From Willpower: Resdiscovering the Greatest Human Strength: For a column in 1995, Tierney did a semiscientific survey to investigate a New York phenomenon: the huge number of intelligent and attractive people who complained that it was impossible to find a romantic partner. Manhattan had the highest percentage of single people of any county in America except for an island in Hawaii originally settled as a leper colony. What was keeping New Yorkers apart?…
2 minutes
Is envy our default setting?
s. It requires mental effort to not be envious. Via Peer Reviewed By My Neurons: Envy is a shitty thing. In addition to feeling bad that there’s something you don’t have, you often feel bad about how stupid it is that you’re envious. The good news is that a new study by Jan Crusius and Thomas Mussweiler should alleviate the negative feelings that stem from the latter situation. Through a series of experiments they found that envy appears to be our…
2 minutes
What’s the most important part of a job interview?
rst impressions. Via BPS Occupational Digest: Initial impressions also correlated with volunteers' self-perception of how qualified they were for the job, and also with an independent measure of verbal skill. The latter was assessed through a separate task where the volunteers interacted face-to-face with a series of peers who rated features such as articulacy of speech. These findings suggest that the rapport-building stage was giving early insight into some sense of perceived fit to the specific role, as well as…
1 min read
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
Should we never trust economics majors?
hat did you major in at college?" might be a good questions for that next first date or before starting a business partnership. Economics majors were consistently: More likely to accept bribes Less inclined to pro-social behavior. More likely to free-ride in public-goods experiments. Offered less in ultimatum games. More likely to defect in prisoner's dilemma games. More likely to place profit over employee well-being in business simulations. Less likely to donate to charity. The abstract: A substantial body of…
2 minutes
