-
When It Comes To Driving, Most People Think Their Skills are Above Average
If you ask someone to rate their driving skills on a one to 10 scale, there’s a good chance they’ll give themselves an above-average rating like a 7. Psychological scientists Michael M. Roy of Elizabethtown College and Michael J. Liersch of New York University found that although people may rate themselves as above average, they don’t think others would quite agree. Across four experiments, Roy and Liersch found that people often believed that others would rate them as a worse driver (about 10% worse) than they rated themselves. Because there is no standard definition for “good driving,” people tend to use their own unique, individual definitions.
-
Group Identity Emphasized More by Those Who Just Make the Cut
People and institutions who are marginal members of a high-status or well-esteemed group tend to emphasize their group membership more than those who are squarely entrenched members of the group, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Research has long shown that people prefer to be in groups that are thought to have higher status or cultural value as a way of boosting self-image and projecting an impressive image to others.
-
For Managers, Upholding Fairness Comes at a Cost
The French novelist Victor Hugo wrote that “being good is easy, what is difficult is being just.” A recent study on fairness in the workplace may lend support to his claim. Although fairness is typically heralded as something good, psychological scientists Russell E. Johnson (Michigan State University), Klodiana Lanaj (University of Florida), and Christopher M. Barnes (University of Washington) found that for those charged with enforcing it, workplace justice may actually come at a cost. Abiding by rules and procedures has been shown to drain mental resources, leading the researchers to hypothesize that enforcing the rules could also be mentally draining.
-
2014 Psychonomic Society Annual Meeting
The 55th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society will be held in Long Beach, California, USA November 20–23, 2014. Registration is free and now open. This year’s Keynote Address will be given by Larry Jacoby of Washington University in St. Louis. There will be Invited Symposia in addition to a full slate of spoken papers and posters by Fellows, Members, and students.
-
Anticipating Experience-Based Purchases More Enjoyable Than Material Ones
To get the most enjoyment out of our dollar, science tells us to focus our discretionary spending on trips over TVs, on concerts over clothing, since experiences tend to bring more enduring pleasure than do material goods. New research shows that the enjoyment we derive from experiential purchases may begin before we even buy. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
-
New Research From <em>Clinical Psychological Science</em>
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Madeline Lee Pe, Katharina Kircanski, Renee J. Thompson, Laura F. Bringmann, Francis Tuerlinckx, Merijn Mestdagh, Jutta Mata, Susanne M. Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, John Jonides, Peter Kuppens, and Ian H. Gotlib In this study, the authors used a network approach to examine whether people with major depressive disorder (MDD) have a denser, and thus less flexible, emotion network -- something that is thought to be associated with psychopathology.
