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What I Learned From Tickling Apes
The New York Times: TICKLING a juvenile chimpanzee is a lot like tickling a child. The ape has the same sensitive spots: under the armpits, on the side, in the belly. He opens his mouth wide, lips relaxed, panting audibly in the same “huh-huh-huh” rhythm of inhalation and exhalation as human laughter. The similarity makes it hard not to giggle yourself. The ape also shows the same ambivalence as a child. He pushes your tickling fingers away and tries to escape, but as soon as you stop he comes back for more, putting his belly right in front of you. At this point, you need only to point to a tickling spot, not even touching it, and he will throw another fit of laughter. Laughter?
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Should we teach obscure presidents like Millard Fillmore?
The Washington Post: Should we teach the presidency of Millard Fillmore? What do we lose if we don't? According to research by human memory expert Henry Roediger, III at Washington University in St. Louis, only 8 percent of college students can list Fillmore when asked to write down the names of U.S. presidents. Yet, though changes in education—including the rise of Common Core standards—have meant fewer of today's students are required to memorize the name of every commander-in-chief, it turns out that previous generations were no better at recalling the 13th president.
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Here’s an Easy Way to Become More Patient
TIME: Would you rather take $30 today, or wait for $50 three weeks from now? While the average person would grab the money and run, a new study finds that people with one particular emotional trait—those who are gracious—have more patience and self-control. “The human mind has a tendency to value the present more than the future,” says study author David DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University. “That’s related to all kinds of bad outcomes, from credit card debt to addiction.” According to DeSteno, a person’s emotional states have long been blamed for that person’s impatience, and the path to becoming more patient was thought to be through logic and willpower.
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To get students to focus, some professors are asking them to close their eyes
The Washington Post: On a rainy February afternoon, the ionic charge is palpable in Michelle Francl’s physical chemistry class at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia. As Francl scribbles a mathematical equation for wave function that’s projected on an overhead screen, students twirl ponytails, peck at keyboards and peek at their smartphones. They are quiet, yet there’s an undercurrent of anxiety. Francl is nudging students toward understanding the Bohr correspondence principle, a cornerstone concept in quantum mechanics that’s as easily discernible as Mona Lisa’s smile.
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If you grew up poor, your college degree may be worth less
PBS: The results of a recent Gallup poll clearly show how much Americans believe in the value of a college education: Nearly all — 96 percent — say it is somewhat or very important for adults in this country to have a degree or professional certificate beyond high school. Most — 93 percent — say that it will be just as important or more important in the future to have a degree or professional certificate beyond high school in order to get a good job. Fewer than one in five — 19 percent — are confident that having only a high school diploma can lead to a good job. Data from the U.S.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Engaging With the Wrong People: The Basis of Selective Attention to Negative Faces in Social Anxiety Ben Grafton and Colin MacLeod Studies examining attentional bias toward negative social information -- a vulnerability factor for social anxiety -- have yielded inconsistent results. This is perhaps because attentional bias can be produced by enhanced engagement with negative stimuli or problems disengaging from threatening stimuli. Previous studies have failed to adequately distinguish between the two.
