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The myth of self-control
Vox: As the Bible tells it, the first crime committed was a lapse of self-control. Eve was forbidden from tasting the fruit on the tree of knowledge. But the temptation was too much. The fruit was just so “pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom,” Genesis reads. Who wouldn’t want that? Humanity was just days old, but already we were succumbing to a vice. The takeaway from this story was clear: when temptation overcomes willpower, it’s a moral failing, worthy of punishment. Read the whole story: Vox
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Whose Life Should Your Car Save?
The New York Times: The widespread use of self-driving cars promises to bring substantial benefits to transportation efficiency, public safety and personal well-being. Car manufacturers are working to overcome the remaining technical challenges that stand in the way of this future. Our research, however, shows that there is also an important ethical dilemma that must be solved before people will be comfortable trusting their lives to these cars. As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has noted, autonomous cars may find themselves in circumstances in which the car must choose between risks to its passengers and risks to a potentially greater number of pedestrians.
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How to Make Sure You Don’t Screw Up Your Ballot
New York Magazine: As a species, humans tend to be easily distractible, confused, and prone to neglecting important details. Voting is a particularly important and depressing example. In an interesting paper in Current Directions in Psychological Science that isn’t online yet, Philip Kortum and Michael Byrne, both researchers at Rice University, briefly sketch out all the ways people can screw up in the voting booth and how to make voting a bit better and clearer. Read the whole story: New York Magazine
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Good News: You’ve Got a Better Brain Than You Think
TIME: If babies could gloat, they would. The rest of us may have it all over them when it comes to size, strength and basic table manners, but brain power? Forget it. The brain you had at birth was the best little brain you’ll ever have. The one you’ve got now? Think of a Commodore 64—with no expansion slots. That, at least, has been the conventional thinking, and in some ways it’s right. Our brains are wired for information absorption in babyhood and childhood, simply because we start off knowing so little. At some point, though, absorption is replaced by consolidation, as we become less able to acquire new skills but more able to make the most of what we do know.
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The Price of Certainty
The New York Times: It’s alarming to see how polarized politics have become in the United States. The wider the gulf grows, the more people seem to be certain that the other side is wrong. Certainty can be a dangerous thing. Two years ago, I met the social psychologist Arie Kruglanski while researching a documentary about extremism. Dr. Kruglanski, a professor at the University of Maryland, studies what motivates people to join terrorist groups like ISIS. My producing partner, Eric Strauss, and I had fascinating conversations with Dr. Kruglanski about the psychology of binary thinking, and decided to make a short film about his work instead Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Higher Status People Are Meaner Drivers
Frustrated drivers are more likely to lash out aggressively at vehicles they perceive as having a lower social status.
