Behavioral economist Dan Ariely’s advice on picking holiday gifts:
n Ariely, author of the excellent Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, applies his research in behavioral economics to holiday gift giving and says this: In summary, I think that the best gifts circumvent guilt in two key ways: by eliminating the guilt that accompanies extravagant purchases, and by reducing the guilt that comes from coupling payment with consumption. The best advice on gift-giving, therefore, is to get something that someone really wants but would feel guilty…
1 min read
Can yawning tell you who your true friends are?
might. Via Vaughan Bell comes this study showing that yawn contagion (yawning because someone nearby yawned) is more powerful among family and friends than acquaintances and strangers: The ability to share others' emotions, or empathy, is crucial for complex social interactions. Clinical, psychological, and neurobiological clues suggest a link between yawn contagion and empathy in humans (Homo sapiens). However, no behavioral evidence has been provided so far. We tested the effect of different variables (e.g., country of origin, sex,…
2 minutes
Do Glasses Make You Look Smarter?
ople have long wondered: Do glasses make you look smarter? Research shows the answer is yes -- but they can also make you less attractive. However, what's really fascinating about this study is it also showed that effects were determined by the type of glasses. Rimless glasses make your face less distinctive, increase your perceived trustworthiness and do not decrease attractiveness. So Do glasses make you look smarter? Yes. But you still might want to put a little extra thought into…
2 minutes
Does Facebook make us miserable?
Facebook we all show the best and not the worst, leading to portraits of unattainable lives that may very well make us feel bad by comparison: Via Slate: Led by Alex Jordan, who at the time was a Ph.D. student in Stanford's psychology department, the researchers found that their subjects consistently underestimated how dejected others were–and likely wound up feeling more dejected as a result. Jordan got the idea for the inquiry after observing his friends' reactions to Facebook:…
2 minutes
Can you tell Nobel Peace Prize winners from America’s Most Wanted just by their faces?
ople's guesses were generally better than random chance. Nobel Prize winners could often be detected after seeing a picture for 100 milliseconds. Distinguishing who was one of America's Most Wanted took a little longer: Although trustworthiness judgments based on a stranger's face occur rapidly (Willis & Todorov, 2006), their accuracy is unknown. We examined the accuracy of trustworthiness judgments of the faces of 2 groups differing in trustworthiness (Nobel Peace Prize recipients/humanitarians vs. America's Most Wanted criminals). Participants viewed 34…
1 min read
What do women look for in a one-night stand vs a long term relationship?
r both men and women, one night stands were primarily about physical attractiveness. Attractiveness and agreeableness were key for long term relationships. Another key factor (much more for women than for men) was dominance. Physical dominance in a man made him appealing for a one night stand. Social dominance (leadership, etc) led to female interest in a longer term relationship. Dominance is a key feature on which romantic partners are evaluated, yet there is no clear consensus on its definition.…
2 minutes
How can you make a gathering more social and friendly?
rning up the temperature a few degrees physically and emotionally makes people warmer: "Holding warm feelings toward someone" and "giving someone the cold shoulder" indicate different levels of social proximity. In this article, we show effects of temperature that go beyond these metaphors people live by. In three experiments, warmer conditions, compared with colder conditions, induced (a) greater social proximity, (b) use of more concrete language, and (c) a more relational focus. Different temperature conditions were created by either handing…
1 min read
What’s a good trick for outsmarting liars?
king them unexpected questions dramatically raises the chance you'll be able to detect their lies: We hypothesised that the responses of pairs of liars would correspond less with each other than would responses of pairs of truth tellers, but only when the responses are given to unanticipated questions. Liars and truth tellers were interviewed individually about having had lunch together in a restaurant. The interviewer asked typical opening questions which we expected the liars to anticipate, followed by questions about…
1 min read
