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The Allure of a Man’s Uncertainty
The New York Times: FOR those single women suffering angst over “Will he call or won’t he?” it seems counterintuitive to think that such uncertainty could possibly hold any appeal. And to think that not knowing actually makes women like men more: Are we really such masochists? Pretty much, says a new study by Erin R. Whitchurch and Timothy D. Wilson of the University of Virginia and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard. According to their paper, published in Psychological Science and based on an experiment conducted with undergraduates, women find men who may like them more appealing than men who definitely do. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Right-Handers Tend Prefer The Right Side
Scientific American: Here's a test. It's an odd question…but do you tend to prefer the right side or the left side of anything? It turns out that right-handed folks prefer the right and lefties prefer the left. The preference informs the choice of one of a pair of products, two job applicants, even a couple of alien creatures. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Why Argue? Helping Students See the Point
Read the comments on any website and you may despair at Americans’ inability to argue well. Thankfully, educators now name argumentive reasoning as one of the basics students should leave school with. But what are these skills and how do children acquire them? Deanna Kuhn and Amanda Crowell, of Columbia University’s Teachers College, have designed an innovative curriculum to foster their development and measured the results. Among their findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, dialogue is a better path to developing argument skills than writing. “Children engage in conversation from very early on,” explains Kuhn.
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Inside the Psychologist’s Studio: An Interview with Beth Loftus
Sponsored by APS, Psi Chi, and SAGE at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association April 15, 2011 Salt Lake City, UT, USA www.rockymountainpsych.com Come be part of a live studio audience for what promises to be a fascinating exploration of the professional and personal experiences of renowned psychological scientist Elizabeth Loftus. The program is organized by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and being filmed under special arrangement with the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Palfreman Film Group. Loftus, Past President of APS, is an internationally recognized expert in the study of human memory, particularly the malleability of memories.
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Rocky Mountain Psychological Association
April 14–16, 2011 Salt Lake City, UT, USA www.rockymountainpsych.org
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Why Computers Can’t Make It as Stand-Up Comics
LiveScience: Computers may have beaten us in chess and "Jeopardy!" — but can they create and tell a good joke? Fortunately for comedians like Jon Stewart, who verbally sparred with a right-wing doppleganger of "Jeopardy!"-winning computer Watson on his show this week, any computer cracking wise is likely to need human writers for the foreseeable future. Read the whole story: LiveScience