Are minority kids really penalized by peers for “acting white”?
eck out Roland Fryer's full article "Acting White" here. This is yet another interesting study I found in Tim Harford's book The Logic of Life. Related posts: Is the US still pretty racist underneath it all? Are baseball umpires racist? Can racism give you a heart attack? Does racism affect teamwork in the NBA? Does fertility make women more racist? Does the shade of an African-American woman's skin have an important effect on her life? What's stronger in eBay auctions:…
1 min read
Does race affect who gets voted off AMERICAN IDOL?
is study examines whether viewers of the popular television show, American Idol, are racially biased. I find strong evidence for same-race preferences, in particular among black viewers. Featuring more black contestants attracts more black households to tune in to watch the show. And, with more black viewers, a black contestant is less likely to be voted off. Source: "American Idol: Evidence of Same-Race Preferences?" (February 2006). IZA Discussion Paper No. 1974 Along similar lines: Using data on Nielsen ratings for…
2 minutes
Are prostitutes who solicit via the internet different from streetwalkers?
llow @bakadesuyo I've been reading a very interesting study entitled "Prostitution 2.0: The Changing Face of Sex Work." The demographics of internet prostitutes do differ from streetwalkers: Among online workers, the average age is 28.3, and 61% are white, 11.1% are black, and 8.6% are Asian. Based on the FBI’s NIBRS (2005), the average age of female prostitute offenders is 33.5 and 59.8% are white, 37.5% are black, and 2.1% are Asian. Online sex workers appear to be younger, and…
3 minutes
Does living by consistent rules produce better results — even if those rules produce bad choices?
ssner and Kuzmics conclude that people who stand by consistent rules when making decisions do better in the long run. In other words, the Pepsi- or Coke-drinker will succeed over the person who randomly grabs one or the other off the shelf—assuming that the Pepsi- or Coke-drinker applies such strong preferences to other matters in their lives as well. Even making a poor choice according to a rule, they say, could be a good move in the end. Source Join…
1 min read
Are longer download times a good thing?
is research examines how the length of time for which a goal is interrupted affects goal pursuit, in an online context. Goal interruption duration in the form of long download time duration has been identified as a significant impediment to electronic commerce. It is believed that a faster download time is always better to motivate web users to keep surfing. We challenge this belief. In three studies, we find that, under certain circumstances, longer rather than shorter download times motivate…
1 min read
What’s an easy way to stop even highly motivated voters from going to the polls?
cently I posted on how to easily increase voter turnout. Well how do you easily prevent even serious voters from doing their civic duty? All you have to do is make the polling location a little harder to get to: The consolidation of polling places in the Vestal Central School District in New York State during the district's 2006 budget referendum provides a naturalistic setting to study the effects of polling consolidation on voter turnout on an electorate quite distinct…
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Is there a connection between highly visible tattoos and deviant behavior?
ve posted before about the connection between tattoos and deviant behavior (one tattoo is more like having none whereas having many has a correlation with involvement in drugs and crime.) As for highly visible tatts: Despite historical associations with deviance and marginality, tattooing is practiced by a diverse population in the United States today, leading some to argue that it has grown beyond its negative associations. Drawing on a nationally representative data set (n = 500) comprised of both tattooed and non-tattooed…
2 minutes
Does kicking someone in the balls improve viral advertising?
e use of comedic violence in viral advertising is becoming widespread, but as yet no examination of what influence it may have on consumer response has been undertaken. Two experimental studies using a commercial panel sample investigate the effects of this executional cue on ad message involvement, brand memorability, likelihood of being passed on to third parties, and attitude formation. Results suggest that humorous ads that combine higher levels of violence intensity with more severe consequences appear to elicit greater…
2 minutes
