Research Shows Narcissism Linked to Attractiveness:
w research suggests people who enjoy gazing in the mirror have reason to like what they see. Given the high opinion they hold of themselves, it's safe to assume most narcissists think they're better looking than the average person. New research suggests they may be right. A meta-analysis of 18 studies conducted over the past 15 years reveals a "small yet reliable correlation" between narcissism and attractiveness. This finding by Washington University psychologists Nicholas Holtzman and Michael Strube suggests the…
1 min read
The language of Lawyerese:
wyers for years have added language to some contracts that stretches beyond the Earth's atmosphere. But more and more people are encountering such everywhere-and-forever language as entertainment companies tap into amateur talent and try to anticipate every possible future stream of revenue. Experts in contract drafting say lawyers are trying to ensure that with the proliferation of new outlets -- including mobile-phone screens, Twitter, online video sites and the like -- they cover all possible venues from which their clients…
1 min read
Social networks of murder:
m just reading a long but gripping study that used social network analysis to look at murder as a social interaction between gangs in Chicago to understand how stable networks of retaliation are sustained over time. However, I was struck by this bit in the introduction, which really highlights the social nature of murder: But we know that murder is not in fact such a random matter. It is first and foremost an interaction between two people who more often…
2 minutes
TED – Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry, reality’s riddle:
in over 320,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You Happy New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful How To Get People To Like You: 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior Expert
1 min read
What are the most common mistakes people make in evaluating risk?
worry about the wrong things: paying too much attention to minor risks and not enough attention to major ones. We don't correctly assess the magnitude of different risks. A lot of this can be chalked up to bad information or bad mathematics, but there are some general pathologies that come up over and over again. In Beyond Fear, I listed five: People exaggerate spectacular but rare risks and downplay common risks. People have trouble estimating risks for anything not exactly…
1 min read
Leading cause of death among pregnant women? Homicide:
a bookofodds.com Dr. Diana Cheng and Dr. Isabelle Horon undertook a study to discover the most likely cause of death among pregnant women. Their findings, which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), revealed that the leading cause of death among the pregnant women who died from 1993 to 1998 was homicide. This accounted for approximately 20% of the 247 cases. The odds seem to indicate that these cases are not isolated incidents. According to 2008…
2 minutes
Should we tax using irrational numbers?
y might it be more efficient for Connecticut to change its sales tax rate from 6 percent to e^2 percent ? Or more generally, why might using irrational numbers as tax rates be less distortionary than rational tax rates? A hint comes from a great article by Amy Finkelstein, “www.mit.edu/files/3242">E-ZTax: Tax Salience and Tax Rates.” Her simple and powerful idea is that as the salience of tax rates declines, taxes will produce fewer distortions because taxpayers will not pay as…
2 minutes
Does “sleeping on it” help?
s. "In the original experiments, unconscious thinkers made better decisions than conscious thinkers when the decisions were complex... The primary difference is that in unconscious thought, the usual biases that are a part of our conscious thinking are absent." via livescience.com Conventional wisdom suggests that by "sleeping on it," we clear our minds and relieve ourselves of the immediacy (and accompanying stress) of making a decision. Sleep also helps organize our memories, process the information of the day, and solve…
2 minutes
