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The Psychology of Beach Reading
Selecting a book to read by the water is no trivial matter for me. I want something that’s accessible because—well, because it’s vacation, and I don’t want anything that resembles work. On the other hand, my past experience with picking pop fiction—thrillers and such—has often as not been disappointing. I think I want a “page turner,” but I quickly get bored by formulaic plots and pat characters. They’re simply not interesting. But what is interesting? What do I mean by that vague, cranky statement? Is interest a universal emotion like fear or pride or bemusement?
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New Research From Psychological Science
Magnocellular and Parvocellular Contributions to Conscious and Nonconscious Vision Evelina Tapia and Bruno G. Breitmeyer When it comes to consciousness and vision, the magnocellular (M) channel in the dorsal cortical pathway has been associated with nonconscious visual processing, and the parvocellular (P) channel in the ventral cortical pathway has been connected to conscious visual processing. In this study, researchers used contrast-dependent primes to determine whether the priming effects were characteristic of M- or P-channel responses. They found that M channels have a significant role in conscious vision and propose a new mechanism for how the channels function.
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Want to Get Rich? Be (Moderately) Happy
Yahoo Finance: Some people believe that earning the most money will make them incredibly happy. What they probably don't know is that being incredibly happy may not earn them the most money. A new study finds that when it comes to financial success, you're better off being a moderately happy person rather than someone who's chronically ecstatic. Read more: Yahoo Finance
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Beauty and the Beasts: The Sight of a Pretty Woman Can Make Men Crave War
Scientific American: Show a man a picture of an attractive woman, and he might play riskier blackjack. With a real-life pretty woman watching, he might cross traffic against a red light. Such exhibitions of agility and bravado are the behavioral equivalent in humans of physical attributes such as antlers and horns in animals. “Mate with me,” they signal to women. “I can brave danger to defend you and the children.” Read more: Scientific American
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Fear, anger prompt us to share stories, messages
Yahoo News: Certain emotions like fear, anger or plain amusement prompt us to share articles, news and stories with our friends and acquaintances. According to a University of Pennsylvania research, these emotions are characterized by high arousal and action, unlike sadness or contentment, emotions linked with low arousal or inaction. 'If something makes you angry as opposed to sad, for example, you're more likely to share it with your family and friends because you're fired up,' says Jonah Berger, study co-author and assistant professor of marketing at the university. Read more: Yahoo News
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Fertile women are more prejudiced against strange men, U.S. study says
The Vancouver Sun: Women are more prejudiced toward male strangers when they are fertile, says a new U.S. study, which suggests bias is partly ingrained in human DNA. Researchers at Michigan State University asked 252 female university students, both Caucasian and black, to look at photos of men's faces, also both Caucasian and black. The women then had to link each face with either a physical adjective, such as muscular, or a mental one, such as brainy. The women, who were not pregnant nor on hormonal birth control, also recorded their menstrual cycles. Read more: The Vancouver Sun
