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Guess What? We’re All Born With Mathematical Abilities
NPR: As an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, Kristy vanMarle knew she wanted to go to grad school for psychology, but wasn't sure what lab to join. Then, she saw a flyer: Did you know that babies can count? "I thought, No way. Babies probably can't count, and they certainly don't count the way that we do," she says. But the seed was planted, and vanMarle started down her path of study. The person who made that flyer, Karen Wynn, became her mentor and they have since co-published several studies together. ... We know now that numeracy at the end of high school is a really strong and important predictor of an individual's economic and occupational success.
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The Case for Cursing
The New York Times: You know when you stub your toe and involuntarily utter an expletive? You probably didn’t give it much thought, but you might have been on to something. As children we’re taught that cursing, even when we’re in pain, is inappropriate, betrays a limited vocabulary or is somehow low class in that ambiguous way many cultural lessons suggest. But profanity serves a physiological, emotional and social purpose — and it’s effective only because it’s inappropriate. “The paradox is that it’s that very act of suppression of the language that creates those same taboos for the next generation,” said Benjamin K.
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Women Show Cognitive Advantage in Gender-Equal Countries
Women’s cognitive functioning past middle age may be affected by the degree of gender equality in the country they live in, according to new findings from Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological
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Being Neurotic May Help You Live Longer
TIME: Neuroticism isn’t generally considered a desirable attribute, and many studies have linked the personality trait to poorer health and an increased risk of mental disorders. But a new study in Psychological Science suggests that for some people, neurotic tendencies may actually reduce the risk of dying early. The new paper analyzed data from more than 500,000 people in the UK, ages 37 to 73, who answered questions about their lifestyle behaviors, medical conditions and how healthy they felt. They also completed a personality assessment to measure levels of neuroticism.
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Don’t Believe in God? Maybe You’ll Try U.F.O.s
The New York Times: Are Americans becoming less religious? It depends on what you mean by “religious.” Polls certainly indicate a decline in religious affiliation, practice and belief. Just a couple of decades ago, about 95 percent of Americans reported belonging to a religious group. This number is now around 75 percent. And far fewer are actively religious: The percentage of regular churchgoers may be as low as 15 to 20 percent. As for religious belief, the Pew Research Center found that from 2007 to 2014 the percentage of Americans who reported being absolutely confident God exists dropped from 71 percent to 63 percent. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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We know better, so why can’t we stop making snap judgments based on appearance?
Science: Imagine you are part of an experiment. You and your coparticipants are shown photographs of two individuals and are asked to choose who is more leader-like. Unbeknownst to you, the individuals in the photographs are real-life candidates vying for a seat in the U.S. Congress. Would it surprise you to learn that the average ratings of the participants in the experiment could reliably predict which candidate would go on to win the electoral contest? In 2005, I pondered this very experiment, published in Science by psychologist Alexander Todorov and colleagues. Read the whole story: Science
