What’s more persuasive: fiction or non-fiction?:
ction. Marketers, take note. Bonding with characters makes people lower their guard. As someone who's written movies and worked in marketing, I can't say I'm shocked but it's nice to have this scientifically confirmed. Research has examined the ability of entertainment-education (E-E) programs to influence behavior across a variety of health and social issues. However, less is known about the underlying mechanisms that account for these effects. In keeping with the extended elaboration likelihood model (E-ELM) and the entertainment overcoming…
2 minutes
“I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but…” – Do personal disclaimers work?
pe. In fact if you say "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but..." and then say something arrogant it increases judgments of arrogance. All you do with that disclaimer is call attention to the fact that you're being arrogant: Limited research has examined the effects of using disclaimers on person perception, and none has examined disclaimer effectiveness. Four studies test whether disclaimers effectively ward off negative judgments regarding the specific disclaimed traits. Study 1 finds that using an arrogance disclaimer…
1 min read
Can negativity improve brainstorming?:
s. Research has consistently demonstrated that individuals tend to outperform groups on idea-generation tasks (e.g., Mullen, Johnson, & Salas, 1991). However, mood states have the capacity to alter the coordination and motivation of group members, leading to performance gains or performance losses. In this experiment, individuals and 3-person groups generated slogans for a fictitious company after experiencing a positive or negative mood induction. Contrary to previous research, negative mood groups in our study actually generated slogans that were more creative…
1 min read
Do liberals and conservatives dream differently?:
solutely: In this study the author examined the dreams of American liberals and conservatives to highlight patterns that might correlate with their opposing political views. A total of 234 participants (134 self-described liberals and 100 self-described conservatives) completed a lengthy sleep and dream survey, and their answers revealed several notable patterns. People of both political persuasions shared a common substrate of basic human sleep and dream experience. Conservatives slept somewhat more soundly, with fewer remembered dreams. Liberals were more restless…
1 min read
Can you use human “sonar” to help you find stuff around the house?:
re can. Making a sound while you search doesn't actually work like sonar but it will help you find stuff: Searching for an object within a cluttered, continuously changing environment can be a very time-consuming process. The authors show that a simple auditory pip drastically decreases search times for a synchronized visual object that is normally very difficult to find. This effect occurs even though the pip contains no information on the location or identity of the visual object. The…
1 min read
What industry is *truly* recession-proof?
ganized crime: Italy's mafia crime syndicates bucked the recession in 2009 to raise 'profits' by almost 8 percent with the financial crisis making companies and even the stock market even more vulnerable to cash-flush mobsters... It estimated that the impact on business equaled about 7 percent of Italy's economic output, enjoying healthy growth in a year when the Italian economy shrank by almost 5 percent. And: It estimated the mob's joint turnover last year at 135 billion euros, topped by…
1 min read
What *really* motivates workers?:
king progress: Ask leaders what they think makes employees enthusiastic about work, and they’ll tell you in no uncertain terms. In a recent survey we invited more than 600 managers from dozens of companies to rank the impact on employee motivation and emotions of five workplace factors commonly considered significant: recognition, incentives, interpersonal support, support for making progress, and clear goals. “Recognition for good work (either public or private)” came out number one. Unfortunately, those managers are wrong. Having just…
1 min read
How to easily be more credible when complaining:
u've gotta get emotional. Smiling can help. And if it's not a highly justified complaint, you'll look more credible by getting ANGRY: Emotion displays do not only signal emotions but also have social signal value. A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that expressing anger when complaining may lead to positive outcomes for the complainant because anger signals goal obstruction and hence the presence of real harm. The results suggest that the social signal value of anger enhances the…
1 min read
