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The Rewards of Doing “Something”
People don't really care what they're doing — just as long as they are doing something. That's one of the findings summarized in a new review article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. When psychologists think about why people do what they do, they tend to look for specific goals, attitudes, and motivations. But they may be missing something more general - people like to be doing something. These broader goals, to be active or inactive, may have a big impact on how they spend their time.
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Do Joint Study Sessions Do More Harm Than Good?
Fox News: Two heads aren't always better than one, at least when it comes to memory. People who memorize facts in groups remember less than solo students do, according to a newly published overview of memory research. The group as a whole remembers more than any single memorizer would have, but the people in the group fail to live up to their full memory potential, each recalling less than if they'd studied alone. On the other hand, according to study researcher Supama Rajaram, a psychologist at Stony Brook University in New York, other people's memories can enrich our own, as can be attested by anyone who suddenly recalls a long-ago event when another person starts telling a story.
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Sex and Politics: Are Powerful Men Really More Likely to Cheat?
TIME: Bill Clinton. Newt Gingrich. Eliot Spitzer. Mark Sanford. Politicians who've been caught with their pants down tend to have one thing in common and it's not political philosophy or party. Overwhelmingly, the philanderers are men. But a new study suggests that the reasons they stray may have more to do with the power they wield than with their, um, masculinity. "The likelihood [of infidelity] increases the more powerful someone is," says study author Joris Lammers, an assistant professor of psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. The research was published in Psychological Science.
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Vitamin Poppers May Make Less Healthful Choices
Scientific American: It can be tough to keep up with dietary trends. Like eating eggs: good for you or bad? But one thing is certain. Taking a multivitamin is a healthy choice. Isn’t it? Not necessarily. Because researchers have found that people who take dietary supplements may make less healthful choices. The work appears in the journal Psychological Science. [Wen-Bin Chiou and Chao-Chin Yang, Ironic Effects of Dietary Supplementation: Illusory Invulnerability Created by Taking Dietary Supplements Licenses Health-risk Behaviors, link to come] Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Ansteckende Erinnerungen
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Erinnerungen erscheinen dem Menschen mitunter so unverrückbar, als wären sie in Stein gemeißelt. Doch Erinnerungen leben. Sie verändern sich, wenn Menschen sie mit anderen teilen. Und manchmal sterben sie, weil jemand stirbt, der sie mit einem Lebenden teilt. Zu dieser Erkenntnis kam die Psychologin Suparna Rajaram vor einigen Jahren. Damals entdeckte sie den Mechanismus der ansteckenden Erinnerung an einem Pärchen: Einer der Partner litt an einer schweren Demenz - und mit dem Gedächtnisverlust des einen verlor auch der andere Partner seine Erinnerungen.
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The Science of Short Fuses: Joe Palca, Flora Lichtman, ‘Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us’ at Politics & Prose
The Express: This just in: People can be irritating. But did you know that there are scientific reasons that we get annoyed? In "Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us" ($26, Wiley), NPR science correspondents Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman explain why everyday things can drive you into a homicidal rage. Custom phone numbers that have too many letters, for instance. (No, 1-800-MATTRESS. You don't leave the last "s" off for "savings." You leave it off because you are OUT OF NUMBERS.) Ahead of the authors' talk Sunday at Politics and Prose, we asked Lichtman to shed some light on a few bugaboos that drive us up the wall.
