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Yellow Lights Pose Particular Peril for Older Drivers
As we age, our capabilities behind the wheel change, and one of the greatest driving dangers for senior drivers appears to be traffic intersections. Older drivers are far more likely than other drivers to get into an accident at an intersection. According to data from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, approximately 50% of accidents occur at intersections for drivers over age 50, compared to about 23% of accidents for people under age 50. A team of researchers led by psychological scientist J. K. Caird of the University of Calgary studied people of varying ages to find out how the current standards for the timing of yellow lights might be impacting driving safety at intersections.
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The Poverty Trap
Poor people are the subject of many negative stereotypes, including the assumption that they are inherently incapable of making sound financial decisions. But APS Fellow Eldar Shafir has demonstrated that the cognitive load and bandwidth limitations imposed by living with scarcity can lead to bad financial choices that often trap people in a cycle of poverty. Shafir studies decision making, judgment, and behavioral economics. His recent research has focused on decision making in contexts of poverty and on the application of behavioral research to policy.
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Number Crunching May Make People More Selfish
In the 1970s, the Ford Pinto became synonymous with unethical management decisions. Although it was known that the car had an unfortunate tendency to explode in rear-end collisions, Ford went ahead with production after a cost-benefit analysis predicted savings of $11 per car, at a cost of only 180 burn deaths. As a result, several dozen people were injured or killed before the design flaw came to light. New research suggests that even basic math calculations may significantly increase people’s likelihood of engaging in selfish and unethical behavior. Researchers Long Wang (City University of Hong Kong) Chen-Bo Zhong (University of Toronto), and J.
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Alcohol Makes Smiles More “Contagious,” but Only for Men
Consuming an alcoholic beverage may make men more responsive to the smiles of others in their social group, according to new research in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings suggest that, for men, alcohol increases sensitivity to rewarding social behaviors like smiling, and may shed light on risk factors that contribute to problem drinking among men. “This experimental alcohol study, which included a social context, finds the clearest evidence yet of greater alcohol reinforcement for men than women,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Catharine Fairbairn of the University of Pittsburgh.
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Hand Size Appears to Stay Constant, Provides Natural ‘Ruler’
People tend to perceive their dominant hand as staying relatively the same size even when it’s magnified, lending support to the idea that we use our hand as a constant perceptual “ruler” to measure the world around us. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: White Matter Morphometric Changes Uniquely Predict Children's Reading Acquisition Chelsea A. Myers, Maaike Vandermosten, Emily A. Farris, Roeland Hancock, Paul Gimenez, Jessica M. Black, Brandi Casto, Miroslav Draho, Mandeep Tumber, Robert L. Hendren, Charles Hulme, and Fumiko Hoeft Researchers have found several predictors of early reading ability, including family history and phonological awareness. In this study, the researchers examined whether variations in structural brain development could also serve as an early predictor of reading ability.
