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How Can Data Collection Help Psychological Science?
Technology — from smartphones to biosensors to surveillance monitors — is advancing so quickly it is almost impossible to keep up. One of the theme programs at the 2014 APS Annual Convention, to be held May 22–25 in San Francisco, California, addresses how psychological science can harness these innovations as well as how psychological scientists can help inform the work of those developing the complex technology. Five leaders in the field will discuss their methods of using technology to advance psychological science and gain insight into human behavior. They will also examine potential pros and cons of such research. Speakers include: Dr. Michael N.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Racial Progress as Threat to the Status Hierarchy: Implications for Perceptions of Anti-White Bias Clara L. Wilkins and Cheryl R. Kaiser Researchers have found that perceptions of racial progress have been mirrored by an increase in perceptions of discrimination against Whites. In the first of three studies, White participants were assessed for system-legitimacy beliefs (SLBs; i.e., perceptions that the current status hierarchy is fair) and for perceptions of racial progress and anti-White bias.
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When Being Called “Incredibly Good” Is Bad for Children
Parents and other adults heap the highest praise on children who are most likely to be hurt by the compliments, a new study finds. Researchers found that adults seem to naturally give more inflated praise to children with low self-esteem. But while children with high self-esteem seem to thrive with inflated praise, those with low self-esteem actually shrink from new challenges when adults go overboard on praising them. “Inflated praise can backfire with those kids who seem to need it the most -- kids with low self-esteem,” said Eddie Brummelman, lead author of the study and a visiting scholar at The Ohio State University in autumn 2013.
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The Ticking Clock
You’re sitting at your computer in the middle of a busy work day, merrily tapping away at your keyboard, when all of a sudden you look up at your clock, and panic strikes. That meeting you should have been in started 10 minutes ago! As you rush to join your colleagues you may wonder, What does my tardiness say about me as an employee? Will my colleagues think less of me? I hope I’m not the only one who’s late. So what does meeting lateness actually say about us as employees? Unfortunately, little research has specifically examined the definition, correlates, and implications of meeting lateness.
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Super Rare Items Are Most Likely to Be Missed
Various jobs in security, medicine, and other fields require employees to pick out a target item in the midst of lots of distracting information. To complicate matters, the targets that are are most important to find – say, a weapon or a malignant tumor – are also incredibly rare. So, how are we at picking out these kinds of ultra-rare targets? Not very good at all, according to new research from Stephen Mitroff and Adam Biggs of Duke University. The researchers took advantage of anonymous data provided by an app called “Airport Scanner,” developed by Kedlin Co.
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Meditation May Help Us Cut Our Losses
There are certain things that are notoriously hard for us to do: Leaving the theater halfway through a terrible movie, deciding to quit a craft project that doesn't look like it ought to, pushing away a less-than-exciting home-cooked meal. We have a hard time doing these things thanks to what researchers call the “sunk cost” bias: We feel compelled to continue with something just because we've already invested money, time, and/or effort into it. In these cases, we aren't rewarded for our perseverance -- the movie will still be bad, the craft project will still be sad-looking, and the food will still taste bland.