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Do You Have Charisma?
We’re used to thinking of charisma as indefinable. It has been called alchemy, or a mysterious gift. But maybe charisma isn’t such a mystery, after all. According a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers from the University of Toronto have developed a scientific measure of charisma that they say is a simple, accurate way to figure out if you have it. ...
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The Psychology of Giving Human Names to Your Stuff
According to a 2013 poll from the insurance company Nationwide, around 25 percent of car owners have named their ride. Granted, the survey isn’t exactly scientific, but while the statistic may not be a perfect reflection of reality, it does align with something you may have already seen in the wild: Plenty of people like to name the appliances in their lives — cars, laptops, bikes. Maybe you know someone who does it. Maybe it’s you! ... “We think there are multiple reasons why this happens,” says psychologist Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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Why written languages look alike the world over
What do Cyrillic, Arabic, Sanskrit, and 113 other writing systems have in common? Different as they appear at first glance, they share basic structural features, according to a new study: characters with vertical symmetry (like the Roman letters A and T) and a preference for vertical and horizontal lines over oblique lines (like those in the letters X and W). The explanation appears to be rooted in the wiring of our brain. “People appear to have an aesthetic preference for certain kinds of shapes and designs, and that preference seems to explain the writing systems we see,” says Julie Fiez, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania who was not involved in the study.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of new research exploring gene-environment interactions underlying rule-breaking and aggression, emotion and cognition in schizophrenia, and factors related to serotonin functioning and alcohol problems.
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Spanking Linked to Increase in Children’s Behavior Problems
Spanking at age 5 is associated with increased behavior problems 1 and 3 years later — an increase that cannot be attributed to characteristics of the child or the family environment
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Tools to Drive Eco-Friendly Behaviors
Can a human-machine interface encourage drivers to engage in more eco-friendly behaviors behind the wheel?
