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Some Advice on Advice: Timing Matters
We all need some advice sometimes, from getting help on a new project at work to making decisions about how to save for retirement. The problem is, we’re not always so good about taking other people’s advice. “A large literature shows that people do not take advice particularly well, often overweighting their own opinions or ignoring the advice that they receive,” according to Duke University psychological scientist Christina Rader. In a recent study, Rader and colleagues Jack Soll and Richard Larrick investigated how timing affects people’s willingness to follow outside advice. Are we more likely to follow advice before or after we’ve already had the chance to make our own decision?
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Response Times Do Not Imply Accurate Unconscious Lie Detection
In research published in Psychological Science in 2014, psychological scientists Leanne ten Brinke and colleagues presented studies suggesting that people are able to detect lies on an unconscious level even if they can’t detect them consciously. But, in a new commentary published in Psychological Science, researchers Volker Franz and Ulrike von Luxburg examine the classification accuracy of the original data and find no evidence for accurate unconscious lie detection. ten Brinke and colleagues had participants watch videos of “suspects” in a mock-crime interview.
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Researchers Delve Into Data on Video Games and Aggression in Kids
A large data analysis shows only minimal impact of violent video games on aggressive behavior, but scientists say they need better measures to confirm those findings.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Mother-Infant Contingent Vocalizations in 11 Countries Marc H. Bornstein, Diane L. Putnick, Linda R. Cote, O. Maurice Haynes, and Joan T. D. Suwalsky Mother-infant interactions play an important role in child development, helping with children's emotional, social, cognitive, and language development. Despite the importance of this interaction, it remains unknown whether aspects of mother-infant interactions -- such as vocal turn taking -- are universal the world over.
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Aha! Close Your Eyes for Inspiration
Aha! Sometimes the solution to a tough problem comes suddenly, in a burst of insight. You may have been painstakingly hashing through the details for a new business plan for days, when suddenly a brilliant, creative solution strikes as you’re taking a shower or staring out the window. New research from an international team of psychological scientists suggests a link between our “Aha! moments” and what we’re looking at. A study led by Carola Salvi of Milano-Bicocca University concluded that inspiration may be more likely to strike when we close or eyes or simply stare into space.
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Disseminating International Resources on the Teaching of Psychological Science
This event was supported by the APS Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science, which invites applications for nonrenewable grants of up to $5,000 to launch new, educational projects in psychological science. Proposals are due October 1 and March 1. Support for excellence in the teaching of psychology in the United States is stronger than anywhere else in the world, say psychological scientists Dana Castro (L’Ecole des Psychologues Praticiens [EPP], France) and APS Fellow Douglas Bernstein (University of South Florida).
