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For Job Interviews, Earlier in the Day May Be Better
During a job interview, many applicants worry that their professional fate rests in the first few moments of the interview. After a few minutes—or even seconds—the interviewer has sized them up and arrived at a decision. But new research suggests that there may be a different factor for job candidates to worry about: timing. Data gathered by psychological scientists Rachel Frieder (Old Dominion University), Chad Van Iddekinge (Florida State University), and Patrick Raymark (Clemson University) challenge the common belief that interviewers rely on near-instantaneous snap judgements.
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Longer Acquaintance Levels the Romantic Playing Field
Partners who become romantically involved soon after meeting tend to be more similar in physical attractiveness than partners who get together after knowing each other for a while, according to new findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Our results indicate that perceptions of beauty in a romantic partner might change with time, as individuals get to know one another better before they start dating,” says lead researcher Lucy Hunt of the University of Texas at Austin.
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Character Lab Announces New Request for Proposals
Character Lab, a nonprofit that was cofounded by Angela Duckworth, is excited to share our newest Request for Proposals (RFP), which can be found here. Character Lab will award a total of up to $1.2 million in grants to support the execution of 2-year, school-based research projects focused on character development interventions during the 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 school years. Each proposal may request up to $300,000. Proposals must focus on advancing one (or more) of the following character strengths and skills: curiosity, gratitude, grit, optimism, purpose, self-control, social/emotional intelligence, and/or zest.
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A Psychological Solution Prevents Rubbernecking
People just can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to gawking at accidents and car crashes. Rubbernecking—or slowing down to scope out an accident on the side of the road—is a major cause of traffic jams. The bright lights and colors on emergency response vehicles are designed to grab people’s visual attention. But, these attention-grabbing qualities can also make scenes on the side of the road unintentionally distracting for drivers. As part of an effort to keep drivers’ eyes on the road and feet on the gas pedal, the government in the UK is already investing in incident screens to block drivers’ wandering eyes.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Perceived Partner Responsiveness Predicts Diurnal Cortisol Profiles 10 Years Later Richard B. Slatcher, Emre Selcuk, and Anthony D. Ong Decades of research has shown that marriage affects health; however, few studies have actually investigated how marriage "gets under the skin" to influence biological and psychological health. The authors hypothesized that cortisol might provide this link. Cortisol has a diurnal rhythm, peaking in the morning and decreasing over the course of the day. Research has linked flatter cortisol slopes to a host of negative psychological and psychological outcomes.
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APS Commits to Promoting Transparent Science
Conducting research in a transparent, open, and reproducible way is essential to achieving credible results that advance knowledge in any scientific discipline. Yet, there is no set of organized rules that defines and encourages such open and transparent practices.
