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Spoilers freshen up stories
ScienceNews: People who read the last page of a mystery novel first may be on to something. Giving away plot surprises generally makes readers like stories better, say psychology graduate student Jonathan Leavitt and psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld, both of the University of California, San Diego. Volunteers especially enjoyed classic short stories, including mysteries and tales with ironic twists, after seeing spoiler paragraphs that revealed how the yarns ended, Leavitt and Christenfeld report in a paper published online August 12 in Psychological Science.
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Inside the Mind of a Creationist
Huffington Post: Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry is ambivalent about the "theory" of evolution. He says it's just one theory that's out there, on equal footing with creationism. He's proud of the fact that, in Texas, children are taught both, so they can choose for themselves. There's a serious problem with this approach to education, however. It has to do with humans' very limited ability to weigh probabilities rationally. Calculating likelihoods and odds is tough cognitive work, and we only do it when we must. Years of research on human thinking has shown this.
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Spoiler alert: Learning ending might not ruin stories after all
Journal and Courier Lafayette: Jessica Simms of West Lafayette goes out of her way to avoid hearing or reading spoilers. "I love getting through a story and not knowing what is going to happen at the end," said the 23-year-old. "It's really annoying when you come across (a spoiler) or someone tries to ruin it for you." However, there's no need to plug your ears, change the channel or cut someone off to avoid hearing a spoiler, according to a new psychology study. Contrary to public opinion, hearing spoilers -- learning the ending of a story -- doesn't actually ruin the experience for the reader. In fact, it makes the experience more enjoyable.
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What use of pronouns reveals about personality
The Boston Globe: The way in which we use pronouns like I, you, or him -- or choose not to use them -- reveals quite a bit about our personalities but not necessarily in the ways we might think. That’s the premise of a new book, The Secret Life of Pronouns, by psychologist James Pennebaker, which hits bookstores on August 30 and draws some surprising conclusions. Favoring the word “I” in sentences, for example, doesn’t mean a person is a narcissist but rather reflects self awareness and self monitoring.
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Vitamins give people ‘licence to indulge’
The Telegraph: People are more likely to reward themselves with an unhealthy treat after taking supplements, the study by academics in Taiwan found. It showed the effects of self medicating with a dietary supplement are similar to exercise, giving the person a "license" to indulge. Researchers say the phenomenon explains why the explosion in popularity of supplements has not been mirrored by improvements in public health. Researchers gave placebo pills to 82 volunteers. Half were told they were placebos and the other half were told the pills were vitamins. Read the whole story: The Telegraph
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Vierjarigen herkennen echte slimmeriken
Scientias Netherlands: Kinderen van vier jaar oud zijn al in staat om in te schatten welke mensen echte kennis in huis hebben. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek. Uit eerdere onderzoeken was al gebleken dat kinderen van een jaar of drie konden inschatten of iemand goede informatie kan verschaffen. Maar iemand die goede antwoorden geeft, is niet automatisch een autoriteit. Nieuw onderzoek wijst erop dat vierjarigen in staat zijn om ook dat laatste te beoordelen. Foto De onderzoekers verzamelden kinderen van drie, vier en vijf jaar oud. De kinderen moesten een foto van een dier omhooghouden en twee poppen konden de kinderen dan vertellen welk dier het was.
