-
The science behind why people fear refugees
Vox: Fear in the wake of a terrorist attack is normal. It’s natural and human. But it can also be counterproductive — and even cruel. After the attacks in Paris last week, the gut reaction of many politicians around the world was to shut the door to Syrian refugees for fear that terrorists may be lurking among them. For those like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or House Speaker Paul Ryan, the "better safe than sorry" approach is winning out. Christie insisted he wouldn't want even a 5-year-old orphan refugee to enter his state. ... The reaction over refugees looks more comprehensible in the context of years of psychological work on conflict and emotion.
-
How to Be a Better Decision Maker
Real Simple: Why is decision-making so agonizing? There’s an explosion of options in all areas of modern life—careers, wireless plans, shampoo. So we’re overwhelmed by choice? Definitely. Also, people don’t really know what they want. How can we narrow things down? By focusing on only the factors that are most important to us. You talk about two types of decision-makers: “maximizers” and “satisficers.” Yes. A maximizer looks at every possible choice to determine the strongest contender. A satisficer goes with “good enough.” We found that satisficers are happier with their choices. They also have more free time, since they’re not laboring over the alternatives.
-
Having Kids Can Make Parents Less Empathetic
The Atlantic: Throughout my wife’s pregnancy, it seemed like everyone who already had kids was eager to tell us about the changes parenting would bring to our lives. Some were mundane but a little scary (losing the opportunity to shower every day), others profound and hopeful (a powerful new sense of purpose). At any rate, most of them were right—just a few weeks into her life, our daughter has already changed me in many ways. Some new experiences seem par for the course—feeling less annoyed by crying kids on planes, embarrassingly tearing up to dad-themed commercials—but other changes have surprised me. I’ve grown more suspicious of strangers, for example.
-
Men eat more pizza when trying to impress women, study suggests
Los Angeles Times: Of all of the ways men try to impress the ladies, from big wallets to big muscles, here is one that has finally been quantified by science. In a woman’s presence, men eat 93% more pizza, according to researchers at Cornell University. ... They found that not only did men eat 93% more pizza (1.44 more slices) when dining with a female than when with another man, but they also ate 86% more salad. “These findings suggest that men tend to overeat to show off,” said Kevin Kniffin, visiting assistant professor and lead author of the study. “Instead of a feat of strength, it’s a feat of eating.” The study was published Nov. 10 in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science.
-
New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: A Thousand Words Are Worth a Picture: Snapshots of Printed-Word Processing in an Event-Related Potential Megastudy Stéphane Dufau, Jonathan Grainger, Katherine J. Midgley, and Phillip J. Holcomb Several large-scale studies of word recognition have been performed; however, these studies have been behavioral in nature and have not focused on the timing of component processes involved in reading. Participants completed a 960-word go/no-go lexical decision task while researchers collected electroencephalogram (EEG) data.
-
The Working World Has a Sleep Crisis
The United States is facing a public health crisis when it comes to sleep, and psychological scientists are calling for action. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least 10 hours of daily
