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Some People May Be Bad to the Bone
Discovery News: Men who have wider faces relative to their facial height are more likely to engage in unethical behavior, according to a new study in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The finding adds to the growing body of evidence that an individual's genes and hormonal development can influence that person's behavior. The research also supports that certain static physical characteristics — in this case, a man's facial bone structure — may serve as reliable visual cues to behavior. "Other researchers have found that differences in facial width-to-height ratio (WHR) emerge around puberty," co-author Michael Haselhuhn told Discovery News.
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In Defense of Wishful Thinking
Scientific American: In my most recent post and others—and in chats with George Johnson and Robert Wright on Bloggingheads.tv—I rail against biological determinism and defend free will. Some critics accuse me of letting wishful thinking cloud my judgment when it comes to these issues. They say that objective reality is objective reality, regardless of our subjective attitudes toward it.
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Ironic Effects of Anti-Prejudice Messages
Organizations and programs have been set up all over the globe in the hopes of urging people to end prejudice. According to a research article, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, such programs may actually increase prejudices. Lisa Legault, Jennifer Gutsell and Michael Inzlicht, from the University of Toronto Scarborough, were interested in exploring how one’s everyday environment influences people’s motivation toward prejudice reduction.
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Mo’mimicry, mo’problems
Financial Post: What is a little money between friends? According to new research, at the very least, it's not going to stimulate bonding. Researchers have longknown mimicry strengthens social bonding between strangers. By subtly imitating a person's posture or gestures, you can create goodwill. But a new study looking at the psychological effects of money on our behaviour suggests this does not apply when money is involved. Mimic someone and he'll feel a warm glow; but mimic someone while he's being reminded of money and he'll feel threatened. Read more: Financial Post
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Cook: The importance of trusting your instincts
Statesman: Are humans liberal or conservative by nature? Scientists have started to provide provocative answers by looking at the roots of morality. Influential psychologist Jonathan Haidt surveyed the world's cultures and suggested that virtually everyone is born with an innate propensity for five broad moral instincts: fairness, not harming others, loyalty to one's group, respecting authority and purity. And in psychological experiments, conservatives value all five of the instincts, yet liberals tend to put far more weight on the first two — fairness and not doing harm — while discounting the other three. It is easy to see how those play out in our political life.
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2 Ways to cope with negative emotions
The Times of India: When confronted with high-intensity negative emotions, they tend to choose to turn their attention away, but with something lower-intensity, they tend to think it over and neutralize the feeling that way. Emotions are useful for example, fear tells your body to get ready to escape or fight in a dangerous situation. But emotions can also become problematic for example, for people with depression who can't stop thinking about negative thoughts, said Gal Sheppes of Stanford University, who co-wrote the study with Stanford colleagues Gaurav Suri and James J. Gross, and Susanne Scheibe of the University of Groningen. Read more: The Times of India
