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Feeling Moved by Art
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Kendall J. Eskine and Natalie A. Kacinik from the City University of New York present their research on “Feeling Moved by Art.” “The goal of this research was to investigate which emotions underlie our positive experiences of art,” Eskine says. In particular, they researched the centuries-old idea that fear plays a key role in sublime experiences — “those experiences that are really astonishing and take people aback.” To test how fear affects participants’ appreciation of art, Eskine, Kacinik, and their collaborator Jesse J.
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The Psychology of Nakedness
Wired: The human mind sees minds everywhere. Show us a collection of bouncing balls and we hallucinate agency; a glance at a stuffed animal and we endow it with a mood; I’m convinced Siri doesn’t like me. The point is that we are constantly translating our visual perceptions into a theory of mind, as we attempt to imagine the internal states of teddy bears, microchips and perfect strangers. Most of the time, this approach works well enough. If I notice someone squinting their eyes and clenching their jaw, I automatically conclude that he must be angry; if she flexes the zygomatic major – that’s what happens during a smile – then I assume she’s happy.
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What happens to math nerds when they get older
Financial Post: New scientific studies continue to escalate the hard work vs. raw talent debate. One study from Vanderbilt University shifts things in favor of raw talent. Professors David Lubinski and Camilla Persson Benbow discovered that SAT scores at age 12 are a good indicator of your college major and job in the future. These charts compare 12 year olds at the bottom end of the top quartile for math with a group at the top end of the top quartile for math; in other words, the lesser math nerds versus the super math nerds. Compared to lesser math nerds, super math nerds were twice as likely to get a doctorate.
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The Certainty of Memory Has Its Day in Court
The New York Times: Witness testimony has been the gold standard of the criminal justice system, revered in courtrooms and crime dramas as the evidence that clinches a case. Yet scientists have long cautioned that the brain is not a filing cabinet, storing memories in a way that they can be pulled out, consulted and returned intact. Memory is not so much a record of the past as a rough sketch that can be modified even by the simple act of telling the story. For scientists, memory has been on trial for decades, and courts and public opinion are only now catching up with the verdict.
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Why Creative Types May Be More Likely to Cheat
TIME: Creative people think "outside the box," a gift of psychological flexibility that, it turns out, may also apply to their ethics, according to the latest research from the American Psychological Association. Creative types, in other words, may be more likely to cheat. The same enterprising mind that allows creative people to consider new possibilities, generate original ideas, and resolve conflicts innovatively may be what also helps them justify their own dishonest behavior, said the authors of the new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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Look Out, Kids: Competitiveness Peaks in Middle Age
Miller-McCune: In our culture, competitiveness is usually associated with youth. Think of sporting contests, music competitions (both of the classical virtuoso and pop diva varieties), or the pressure-packed process of applying to prestigious universities. It now appears watching eager young performers in action may have skewed our view of the competitive urge. Newly published research suggests the instinct to bet on the superiority of one’s skills peaks around age 50.
