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How to Win Your Opponent’s Respect? Talk, Don’t Type
Social media has made it easier than ever to find people with whom we disagree. And if there ever was the perfect kindling to add to the fire that is toxic online comment threads, it was the 2016 presidential election. No matter your candidate, you’ve probably witnessed someone on the other side try to justify their position online in a way that made you think they were, well, incredibly stupid. But new research suggests you might not be so harsh if you were to hear that person's same explanation offline in their real voice.
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Our brains sometimes create ‘false memories’ — but science suggests we could be better off this way
Have you ever had an argument because you disagree about the way something happened? You were both there, you saw the same thing, but you remember it differently. This happens quite a lot, because human memories are imperfect. As much as we all like to think we can trust our own minds, memories can be altered over time. Elizabeth F. Loftus is a researcher and professor of cognitive psychology and human memory. She is well known in the field for her work on the creation and nature of false memories, and how people can be influenced by information after an event has happened, event consulting or providing expert witness testimony for hundreds of court cases. ...
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College students come up with plug-in to combat fake news
A team of college students is getting attention from internet companies and Congress after developing a browser extension that alerts users to fake and biased news stories and helps guide them to more balanced coverage. The plug-in, “Open Mind ,” was developed earlier this month during a 36-hour problem-solving competition known as a hackathon at Yale University.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of new research exploring emotion and memory in depression, emotion regulation and everyday functioning in schizophrenia, and different autism phenotypes in males and females.
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The Best (and Worst) Holiday Gifts, According to Science
‘Tis the season—of scrambling to finish your holiday shopping before the big day. If you’re still looking for some last-minute holiday gifts, there’s a better way to find inspiration than scouring gift guides and mall displays. Here are four types of gifts that, according to science, you should give this year —and three you shouldn’t. ... Everyday items, like kitchen gadgets or wardrobe staples, may not feel like slam-dunk gifts, but a study published last year in Current Directions in Psychological Sciencefound that people actually prefer presents they can use for months and years to come, rather than something that makes a statement right when it’s unwrapped.
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HOW CHILDHOOD TRAUMA ADVERSELY AFFECTS DECISION-MAKING
Punishment—or the threat of it—is generally considered an effective way to shape human behavior; it is, after all, the foundation of our criminal justice system. But what if there's a subset of the population for whom this paradigm simply doesn't apply? New research suggests that there is such a group: survivors of childhood trauma. University of Wisconsin–Madison psychology professor Seth Pollak worked with over 50 people around the age of 20, and found that those who had experienced extreme stress as kids were hampered in their ability to make good decisions as adults.
