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Study: Racial stereotyping linked to creative stagnation
Salon: In an article published in Psychological Science, researchers at Tel Aviv University found that racial stereotyping and creative stagnation have something big in common: categorical thinking. “Although these two concepts concern very different outcomes, they both occur when people fixate on existing category information and conventional mindsets,” wrote lead researcher Carmit Tadmor. As it turns out, having an essentialist mind-set about a broad category of people usually means that you’re equally narrow in all of your thinking. Read the whole story: Salon
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Want a good night’s sleep? Let the baby cry, say psychologists
The Telegraph: For academics claim to have shown that letting an infant cry itself to sleep is the best way to ensure a good night’s rest for all. While most babies sleep through five or six night a week by the age of six months, according to the study by American psychologists, a third continue to wake much more frequently until they are toddlers. They looked at sleep patterns in 1,200 children from birth to three years and found 'wakers' tended to be boys. They also tended to be breast fed. The research was led Marsha Weinraub, professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia.
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Small Price Differences Can Make Options Seem More Similar, Easing Our Buying Decisions
Some retailers, such as Apple’s iTunes, are known for using uniform pricing in an effort to simplify consumers’ choices and perhaps increase their tendency to make impulse purchases. But other stores, like supermarkets, often have small price differences across product flavors and brands. As counterintuitive as it might seem, these small price differences may actually make the options seem more similar, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research shows that adding small differences can actually help to make choosing less difficult and reduce the likelihood that we’ll put off making a choice.
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It’s Complicated: The Psychology of “Singlism”
I’m married, but I have also been single for significant stretches in my life. I think I’m being honest when I say that I can see the virtues in both life choices, and understand why someone might opt for either. And I have certainly never felt judged, or discriminated against, for choosing to be single or for choosing a partner. So it came as a surprise to me to read recently about “singlism.” Apparently, some people do feel judged, and unfairly, for their status. And intriguingly, this subtle form of discrimination appears to cut both ways.
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Just 8% of People Achieve Their New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s How They Do It.
Forbes: Let me guess: You want to lose weight in 2013, or maybe just eat healthier. Perhaps you want to spend less money or spend more time with your friends and family. I know I do. Self-improvement, or at least the desire for it, is a shared American hobby. It’s why so many of us—some estimates say more than 40% of Americans—make New Year’s resolutions. (For comparison, about one-third of Americans watch the Super Bowl.) ... “We say if you can’t measure it, it’s not a very good resolution because vague goals beget vague resolutions,” says John Norcross of the University of Scranton. Read the whole story: Forbes
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Resolutions: So Irresistible, So Hard to Keep
The Wall Street Journal: It's a scenario most of us know well: We start out on a grand plan to exercise more, lose weight or cut out the cigarettes. Then we fail, sometimes repeatedly, each time convincing ourselves that next time we'll manage. Why can't we stick to the plan, and why do we try again? ... Having hope that one can achieve a goal, and making repeated efforts to reach it, can sometimes be necessary, says Janet Polivy, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto who has studied dieters for decades. After all, people may need several tries to learn from their mistakes or come up with better strategies.
