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Does Punishing Speeders Prevent Speeding?
Speeding leads to more car accidents worldwide than almost any other behavior behind the wheel. The World Health Organization (WHO) has cited speeding as the main cause of nearly 30% of all serious or fatal crashes across the globe. Despite the risks of death or injury, people often admit to intentionally speeding. International studies have found that between 66% and 85% of drivers admit to exceeding speed limits. Although measures like speed traps and red-light cameras aim to cut down on speeding, it’s unclear whether these penalties actually improve behavior on the road.
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Women in Academic Science: A Changing Landscape
Read the Full Text (PDF, HTML) Although it is commonly known that women are underrepresented in many scientific disciplines, research examining the underpinnings of this gender imbalance has produced contradictory results. In this issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest (Volume 15, Number 3), psychological scientists Stephen Ceci and Wendy Williams (Cornell University) and economists Donna Ginther (University of Kansas) and Shulamit Kahn (Boston University) provide a comprehensive life-course examination of the issues contributing to gender disparities in the sciences.
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Is Kindness Physically Attractive?
Scientific American: One of the most robust findings in social psychology is the beauty-is-good stereotype:physically attractive people are perceived and treated more positively than physically unattractive people [1]. But here’s the thing: I have definitely met attractive people who went from hot to not the second they opened their mouths! Vice-versa, some people are so kind and awesome that you can’t help but be attracted to them, regardless of their score on hornotnot.com. Which has me wondering: I know beautiful is often perceived as good, but isn’t good also beautiful?
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Why Don’t Boom-Times Make People Happier?
The Atlantic: We know what effect recessions and booms tend to have on our bank accounts. But what about our feelings and wellbeing? The equation should be simple, right? Recession = sad. Economic boom = happy! But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Recent research says that those who graduate during recessions are happier in the long run—satisfied with being employed unlike boom-time graduates who wonder if they should be doing better. Emily Bianchi, associate professor at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, likens this to research showing that bronze medalists at the Olympics are happier than silver medalists (who wonder why they didn’t win gold).
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ASK THE EXPERTS: HOW DO I DEVELOP A THICKER SKIN AND BECOME MORE RESILIENT?
Fast Company: We've all heard the bad boss horror stories and the tales of toxic work environments, but what about a stressful fast-paced office where the niceties often fall by the wayside? Is developing a thicker skin just the price of our work culture or can we speak up for our feelings? Psychologist Art Markman tackles this common issue below. ... Stress makes you more emotional, which can influence your interpersonal interactions. In addition, stress decreases what is called “working memory,” which is the amount of information you can hold in mind at any moment. Decreasing working memory can give you tunnel vision and make you miss obvious solutions to problems.
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Sharing an experience might make it more intense, whether it’s good or bad
The Washington Post: The best way to make a good movie great might be to watch it with someone else. According to new research published in Psychological Science, experiences may feel more intense -- whether they're good or bad -- when someone else is there to share them. In the small study, subjects shared chocolate with someone they thought was another study participant (in fact, it was a researcher who always played the same role). In each case, they were given two pieces of chocolate. One was eaten at the same time that the fake participant also ate a piece, while the other was eaten while the researcher pretended to work on another task.
