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One in 25 bosses ‘is a psychopath’ but hides it with charm and business-speak
Daily Mail: Business leaders are four times more likely to be psychopaths than the general population, a study has found. One out of every 25 company high-flyers is believed to have the mental disorder but disguises it through their high status, charm and manipulation in the workplace. And only favourable environmental factors - such as having had a happy childhood - prevent their psychopathic tendencies turning them into serial killers. Psychologists say today's ruthless corporate culture benefits people like Kevin Spacey's character in the recent movie Horrible Bosses, by rewarding their natural callousness and disregard of others' feelings. Read the full story: Daily Mail
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Breast-feeding mums more likely to aggressively defend their baby than bottle milk users
The Daily Mirror: Mothers who breast feed are more likely to act like “mama bears” – aggressively protecting their babies when threatened – than those who use bottles. And they have lower blood pressures than other women when riled, which suggests feeding a child naturally may make them braver, researchers found.
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Daily check up: Handwashing, a sympathetic act
The Boston Globe: A study in Psychological Science suggests that, to get doctors to wash their hands more regularly, hospitals could appeal to their sympathies, changing the message from “wash your hands to protect yourself” to “wash your hands to protect your patients.” The study compared the effectiveness of those slogans when posted in hospitals. The patient-focused sign was associated with a 33 percent increase in the use of soap and disinfectant over two weeks, Anahad O’Connor reports on the New York Times Well blog. Read the full story: The Boston Globe
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Stanley Milgram taught us we have more to fear from zealots than zombies
The Guardian: If you were a reporter instructed by your editor to hack into a grieving parent's phone, would you do it? If you were a Syrian soldier ordered to fire on unarmed protesters, would you obey? What if you were asked by a white-coated scientist to deliver lethal electric shocks as part of an experiment? Your answer to all of these questions will undoubtedly be "no" – or at least, "I hope not". Certainly when Stanley Milgram put the last question to 110 Americans — psychiatrists, students and middle-class adults — all of them insisted that they would defy anyone in authority who asked them to do such a terrible thing. But Milgram was not satisfied with this answer.
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The Check-Up: Wash Your Hands, Doc
Philadelphia Magazine: In the department of “things I wish I hadn’t read”: “Compliance rates for hand washing in American hospitals are only around 40 percent.” Geez. Thanks a lot, New York Times. Apparently it’s really, really hard to get doctors and nurses to wash their hands between patients, despite sign after posted sign that tells them they have to. Turns out, those signs are the problem! According to a study coming out in the journal Psychological Science, changing the wording from “Wash your hands to protect yourself” to “Wash your hands to protect your patients” might be enough to spur hospital workers to wash their hands more frequently.
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Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Inc. Annual Conference
This is the premier event in industrial-organizational psychology, the 3-day conference features more than 300 sessions, an exhibit hall, social activities, one theme track of programming, and a job placement center. Location: The Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego Dates: April 26-28, 2012 For more information visit: http://www.siop.org/confpart.aspx
