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To Avoid Stupid Mistakes, Think in French
Bloomberg BusinessWeek: Would you take a bet that offered you an even chance of winning $12 and losing $10? If you’re like most people, you would not. But what if someone offered you the bet in French? New research in the journal Psychological Science suggests that, assuming you understand French, you would. What is going on here? The explanation is not—as a France-bashing wag might suggest—that it’s always good to bet against the French. The same effect appears when wagers are presented in Japanese, Spanish—even English, if it’s a person’s second language.
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How to Handle Little Liars
The Wall Street Journal: When Cindy Ballagh's 10-year-old son Kaden lost his portable videogame recently, she asked him where he last put it. His answer: on his dresser. After they spent several minutes searching on, under and all around the dresser, she happened to spot the game—buried in his bed. He had been playing with it there the night before and broke a rule by falling asleep with it, says Ms. Ballagh, of Clarksville, Tenn.
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Featured Interview – Dr. Raymond Green
Online Psychology Degrees: Interview with Dr. Raymond Green: The science behind psychology, and emerging trends in the field Watch the interview here
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Culture, Not Biology, Shapes Language
NPR: There's no language gene. There's no innate language organ or module in the human brain dedicated to the production of grammatical language. There are no meaningful human universals when it comes to how people construct sentences to communicate with each other. Across the languages of the world (estimated to number 6,000-8,000), nouns, verbs, and objects are arranged in sentences in different ways as people express their thoughts. The powerful force behind this variability is culture. So goes the argument in Language: The Cultural Tool, the new book I'm reading by Daniel Everett.
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Frans de Waal: Moral behavior in animals
TedTalk: Empathy, cooperation, fairness and reciprocity -- caring about the well-being of others seems like a very human trait. But Frans de Waal shares some surprising videos of behavioral tests, on primates and other mammals, that show how many of these moral traits all of us share. Frans de Waal studies primate social behavior -- how they fight and reconcile, share and cooperate. Watch here: TedTalk
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Michael Norton: How to buy happiness
TedTalk: At TEDxCambridge, Michael Norton shares fascinating research on how money can, indeed buy happiness -- when you don't spend it on yourself. Listen for surprising data on the many ways pro-social spending can benefit you, your work, and (of course) other people. Through clever studies, Michael Norton studies how we feel about what we buy and spend. Watch here: TedTalk
