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Preferences influence choices we make
Asian News International: We come to place more value on the options we chose and less value on the ones we rejected be it choosing between presidential candidates or household objects, researcher say. One way of explaining this effect is through the idea of cognitive dissonance. Making a selection between two options that we feel pretty much the same about creates a sense of dissonance. Re-evaluating the options after we've made our choice may be a way of resolving this dissonance. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in numerous studies, but the studies have only examined preference change shortly after participants make their decision.
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Estimating Risk
BBC: How good at you at estimating risk? Claudia Hammond talks to Wolfgang Gaissmaier about his analysis of the increase in fatal car accidents in the USA following the 9/11 attacks Watch here: BBC
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The Marketplace in Your Brain
The Chronicle of Higher Education: In 2003, amid the coastal greenery of the Winnetu Oceanside Resort, on Martha's Vineyard, a group of about 20 scholars gathered to kick-start a new discipline. They fell, broadly, into two groups: neuroscientists and economists. What they came to talk about was a collaboration between the two fields, which a few researchers had started to call "neuroeconomics." Insights about brain anatomy, combined with economic models of neurons in action, could produce new insights into how people make decisions about money and life. A photo taken during one of those sun-dappled days captures the group posed and smiling around a giant chess set on the resort lawn.
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Being selfish really does make us happy (as long as we can avoid feeling guilty)
The Daily Mail: Being selfish really does make us happier, researchers have found - so long as we can avoid feeling guilty. Although we are taught the benefits of kindness and altruism, it seems we are happiest when simply told to pursue our own self-interest. Researchers found the key to contentment is feeling we have no choice but to be selfish. In contrast, the study, carried out by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania, found that those who actively choose a selfish path usually have to battle with guilt.
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Can Marriage Save Single Mothers From Poverty?
NPR: Newly released census figures show a long-standing and glaring contrast: A third of families headed by single mothers are in poverty, and they are four times more likely than married-couple families to be poor. The disparity is on the rise, and as the number of single mothers grows, analysts are debating if more marriages could mean less poverty. For many conservatives, the answer is simple: Promote marriages as a balm for poverty. Last week, the Heritage Foundation issued a report called "Marriage: America's Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty." In his run for the Republican presidential ticket, Rick Santorum proclaimed three simple steps to stay out of poverty: "Work.
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Chateaubriand Fellowship Program
The Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. Every year, it allows doctorate students enrolled in American universities to conduct research in France for up to 10 months. The STEM fellowship program and the HSS fellowship program have different modes of selection but they are both highly prestigious and merit-based. Chateaubriand recipients receive a stipend, a round trip ticket to France, and health insurance. Grants Available: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Deadline: February 1st, 2013 Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Deadline: December, 31, 2012
