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Why Lottery Dreams Are Good for You–and Your Business
Inc.: With the Mega Millions jackpot set to top $550 million for tomorrow night's drawing, you've probably given some thought to what you might do with the winnings. Done the right way, research shows this kind of thinking--daydreaming--can be healthy. Many studies have shown that letting your mind wander enhances creativity. A paper published in Psychological Science showed that after 12 minutes of letting the mind wander, subjects were able to come up with much stronger ideas about how to make use of common everyday items, like toothpicks and clothes hangers. This mirrors the story of Yitang Zhang, the mathematician who worked for years to solve one of math's oldest problems.
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Terrible Twos Who Stay Terrible
The New York Times: To understand the violent criminal, says Richard E. Tremblay, imagine a 2-year-old boy doing the things that make the terrible twos terrible — grabbing, kicking, pushing, punching, biting. Now imagine him doing all this with the body and resources of an 18-year-old. ... “It’s highly reliable,” said Brad J. Bushman, a psychology professor at Ohio State University and an expert on child violence, who noted that toddlers use physical aggression even more than people in violent youth gangs do. “Thank God toddlers don’t carry weapons.” The son of a professional football player, Dr.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Attitudes Toward Arab Ascendance: Israeli and Global Perspectives Felicia Pratto, Tamar Saguy, Andrew L. Stewart, Davide Morselli, Rob Foels, Antonio Aiello, Maria Aranda, Atilla Cidam, Xenia Chryssochoou, Kevin Durrheim, Veronique Eicher, Laurent Licata, James H.
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Genes affect GCSE results. But your school can change how much they matter
The Telegraph: Last week a genetics experiment caused a bit of a stir. A study – a rigorous, well-grounded study – showed that genes count for 58 per cent variation in GCSE results. Genes are more important than home life, than school, than whether you are rich or poor. On reflection, all the excitement was a bit odd. We already know genes have power over behaviour. I mean, I’d understand the fuss if genes were suddenly found to cause 98 per cent variation. In fact I’d join the shouts of revolution. Genes are destiny! Don’t bother making your kid revise! Maybe find a different father, though, for the next one! But it’s only 58.
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Test Prep Doesn’t Help Raise Intelligence Scores
Scientific American: Young American students take a variety of standardized tests. But the ways that students are educated so that they’ll do well on such tests presents a problem. The preparation increases what’s called crystallized knowledge: that’s factual information, such as ‘the capital of Texas is Austin.’ But the tests do not enhance what is referred to as fluid intelligence: the ability to think logically or theoretically. That’s according to a study in the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Study: smartphone game shows baggage screeners likely to miss ultra-rare items
Wired: A study has used data collected from a smartphone game that allows users to act as airport baggage screeners to prove that ultra-rare items are highly susceptible to search errors. Cognitive psychologists from Duke University in North Carolina analysed data collected from a game called Airport Scanner, which was developed by Kedlin Company and tests gamers' visual scanning skills. Overall the team studied 20 million virtual suitcase search results collected between December 2012 and March 2013 and discovered that in the majority of cases, participants failed to identify objects which only occurred rarely.
