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Ostracism: just as bad as bullying but harder to ban
The Boston Globe: The proposed plea deal for five defendants charged in connection with harassing 15-year-old Phoebe Prince -- a South Hadley girl who committed suicide last year -- reminds us of the evils of bullying. Schools across the county have instituted anti-bullying rules, suspending students for abusing their peers with words or physical contact. But what about students who are ostracized? Ignored by their peers as if they don't exist? Consider it bullying or not, it's a form of cruelty that's tougher for authorities to prohibit, yet it can be just as psychologically damaging, says Kip Williams, a professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University.
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Powerful people are the most likely to have an affair… be they men OR women
The Daily Mail: One of the oldest accepted notions is that men are more likely to stray than women. But scientists now believe that it is a person's power, rather than gender, that plays the greatest role in infidelity. A team of researchers conducted an anonymous Internet survey of 1,561 adults - the bonus of an online study being that respondents are far more likely to answer truthfully. They found that there is a higher risk of unfaithfulness in people of positions of power, no matter the sex. Read the whole story: The Daily Mail
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Psychological Scientists Ask How Well—or Badly—We Remember Together
The social nature of memory has fast become a keen and enduring area of interest for cognitive scientists.
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Read a Book, Stay Connected
U.S. News & World Report (Healthday): Reading a book can satisfy the crucial human need for belonging, a new study has found. The research involved 140 university students who were given 30 minutes to read a selected passage from either the vampire novel Twilight or the wizard novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The passages focused on the lives of either vampires or wizards. Read the whole story: U.S. News & World Report (Healthday)
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Does Taking Dietary Supplements Lead to Bad Health Choices?
ABC News Radio: New research suggests that people who take dietary supplements may make worse decisions for their health than those who don't. According to the study, published in Psychological Science, the action of taking supplements leads people to believe they are not susceptible to the health consequences of too little exercise or an unhealthy diet. Read the whole story: ABC News Radio
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Facial Attraction
What makes a man or a woman attractive? We all have our individual preferences, but research has found a trend. A study published in Psychological Science found that there’s more to “masculinity” in men and “femininity” in women that makes them attractive to the opposite gender. Researchers created a computer program that analyzed thousands of male and female faces and the ratings they received from various opposite-gender volunteers. They looked at 50 different dimensions of attractiveness and divided them into two categories – “shape” (e.g. plumpness of lips) and “reflectance” (e.g. lightness or darkness of face).
