-
Imagination Can Influence Perception
Imagining something with our mind’s eye is a task we engage in frequently, whether we’re daydreaming, conjuring up the face of a childhood friend, or trying to figure out exactly where we might have parked the car. But how can we tell whether our own mental images are accurate or vivid when we have no direct comparison? That is, how do we come to know and judge the contents of our own minds? Mental imagery is typically thought to be a private phenomenon, which makes it difficult to test people’s metacognition of – or knowledge about –their own mental imagery.
-
Power Players
Slate: Anthony Weiner's extramarital sexting, Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child, and the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal has led to a lot of handwringing about the prevalence of philandering among politicians and to speculation about why politicians risk their families and their careers to cheat. Is it possible that politicians are more prone to infidelity than the rest of us? Read more: Slate
-
Money leads to autonomy but it does not add to well-being or happiness.
TIME: Fischer and Boer, who are based in New Zealand, have authored a new study called “What Is More Important for National Well-Being: Money or Autonomy? A Meta-Analysis of Well-Being, Burnout and Anxiety Across 63 Societies.” Their research indicates that it’s freedom—not necessarily money—that leads to happier, more satisfied lives. They write: Read more: TIME
-
Knight Named New Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences Editor
The Gerontological Society of America: The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the country’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has named Bob G. Knight, PhD, of the University of Southern California as the next editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, effective January 2012. “We are very pleased to have Dr. Knight assume the position of editor,” said Thomas Hess, PhD, chair of GSA’s Publications Committee. “He is a well-respected gerontological researcher who has an appreciation for the diversity of both the approaches and topics associated with the study of psychological aspects of the aging process.
-
To pee or not to pee
The Philippine Star: Google has a policy that any food station in their building should not be more than a hundred feet away from its employees. I found that out in an article published in PsychologyToday.com last 2009 entitled “The Brain at Google” by David Rock who visited the Google headquarters and mentally ogled at how Google uses what is known about human nature in running its organization. Of course, there are many things that Google does for its workers that would make you drool — gyms, massage, a hair stylist, among other things. Their founder has a simple philosophy that happy employees will make the best decisions for the company. So far, evidence bears that out.
-
What Science Tells About Power And Infidelity
NPR: On tonight's All Things Considered, NPR's science correspondent Shankar Vedantam takes on a subject we've been covering quite a bit lately: Powerful people caught up in sex scandals. But Shankar wanted to get at a question that's been the talk around the water cooler: Why does it seem that the one embroiled in a sex scandal is always a person in power and always a guy? Just take a listen to this montage of mea-culpas from leading politicians. Read more and listen at : NPR
