Is this why it’s so hard to be compassionate?
en when things occur by accident our brains prefer to make them sound deliberate: Three studies tested the idea that our analyses of human behavior are guided by an “intentionality bias,” an implicit bias where all actions are judged to be intentional by default. In Study 1 participants read a series of sentences describing actions that can be done either on purpose or by accident (e.g., “He set the house on fire”) and had to decide which interpretation best characterized…
2 minutes
Are good relationships better than Tylenol?
lationships may influence adjustment to chronic pain conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We examined how both marital status and marital adjustment were related to pain, physical disability, and psychological disability in 255 adults with RA. Among married participants (n = 158), better marital adjustment (assessed using the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale) was correlated with less pain and physical and psychological disability (all P values < .05). Married participants were divided into distressed (n = 44) and nondistressed (n = 114) subgroups…
1 min read
What color should a woman wear on a date?
Red: In many non-human primate species, a display of red by a female increases attraction behavior in male conspecifics. In two experiments, we investigate an analogous effect in humans, specifically, whether red on a woman's shirt increases attraction behavior in men. In Experiment 1, men who viewed an ostensible conversation partner in a red versus a green shirt chose to ask her more intimate questions. In Experiment 2, men who viewed an ostensible interaction partner in a red versus a…
1 min read
Can a glance tell you if someone finds you attractive?
is one only helps the ladies. Via The Daily Mail: The men looked into the eyes of actresses they considered beautiful for an average of 8.2 seconds, but that dropped to 4.5 seconds when gazing at those they rated less attractive. The female students, however, did not differ in the amount of time they spent looking at the actors, the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior reported. Join over 151,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related Posts: An easy…
1 min read
Are attractive people more selfish?
a Elsevier: New research suggests that people with symmetrical facial features tend to be selfish and are less likely to cooperate with others. Facial symmetry is believed to have a large hand in how people perceive aesthetic beauty and physical attractiveness. The study, published in the journal Economics and Human Biology and compiled by Edinburgh University researchers, claims that attractive people are not only selfish by nature, but also more self-sufficient. They are less likely to ask for help, which kind of…
1 min read
An easy way to dramatically improve your listening skills:
e technique is called non-evaluative listening: We can achieve real communication and avoid this evaluative tendency when we listen with understanding. This means seeing the expressed idea and attitude from the other person’s point of view, sensing how it feels to the person, achieving his or her frame of reference about the subject being discussed. This may sound absurdly simple, but it is not. In fact, it is an extremely potent approach in psychotherapy. It is the most effective way…
2 minutes
Can you increase your sex appeal by changing the position of your chin?
rls, chin down. Guys, chin up. Human faces show marked sexual shape dimorphism, and this affects their attractiveness. Humans also show marked height dimorphism, which means that men typically view womens faces from slightly above and women typically view mens faces from slightly below. We tested the idea that this perspective difference may be the evolutionary origin of the face shape dimorphism by having males and females rate the masculinity/femininity and attractiveness of male and female faces that had been…
1 min read
Does saying you’re sorry really make a difference?
en doctors accused of malpractice are allowed to apologize (without admitting blame) average settlement price goes down: Physicians’ apologies for adverse medical events are acknowledged as a factor in patients’ decisions to litigate. Apology laws which render physicians’ apologies inadmissible in court are written to encourage patient-physician communication and to overcome the physicians’ disinclination to apologize because apologies could invite lawsuits. We present a novel model of apologies and malpractice in order to examine whether state-level apology laws have an…
1 min read
