-
Stanford Psychologists Entice Students To Eat More Veggies
The old expression “It’s not rocket science...it’s much, much harder” may well apply to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science. A team of researchers led by Bradley Turnwald of Stanford University took on the challenge of figuring out how to get college students to eat more vegetables. ... Turnwald and his team found that re-labeling cafeteria vegetables with palate-enticing names (for instance, “twisted citrus glazed carrots” or “ultimate chargrilled asparagus”) resulted in double-digit increases in vegetable consumption on college campuses around the country.
-
Latitude Adjustment: Distance from the Equator Shapes Our Thinking
In the past decade, psychologists have made a welcome leap, expanding beyond a narrow focus on the North America, Europe and Australia in their research to include people from all over the world. One benefit has been greater insight on global distribution of cultural features—the society-level differences in psychological phenomena such as happiness, individualism and aggressiveness. ... In both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, happiness is higher in countries farther away from the equator (such as Denmark or New Zealand) than those closer to it (such as Vietnam or Cambodia). ...
-
The fast track to a life well lived is feeling grateful
For the Ancient Greeks, virtue wasn't a goal in and of itself, but rather a route to a life well lived. By being honest and generous, embodying diligence and fortitude, showing restraint and kindness, a person would flourish – coming to live a life filled with meaning and finding an enduring, as opposed to ephemeral, happiness. Today, that view hasn't much changed. ... Consider honesty. Say I ask people to play a game of chance where they could flip a virtual coin to win one of two monetary prizes: a small one or a larger one. Let's also say the flip occurs in private.
-
The Decision-Making Puzzle
If you’ve ever played the classic puzzle-like computer game Tetris, you know that it starts out slowly. As the seven different pieces (called “zoids” by the initiated) descend from the top of the screen, a player has to shift the pieces horizontally and rotate them so that they fit into a gap in the stack of pieces at the bottom of the screen, or “well.” In early levels, the pieces might take 10-15 seconds to fall. The speed increases at each level. In world champion Tetris matches, players often start play at Level 18—in which pieces are on the screen for about a second.
-
‘It’s About Human Nature’: What Science Tells Us About Being A Bandwagon Nats Fan
We’ve all done it. We’ve jumped on the bandwagon because something became popular. Many people in the region are now jumping on the Nationals’ bandwagon as they head to the World Series this week. ... Social psychologists such as American University professor Trina Ulrich describe the desire to join trends and popular celebrations as the Bandwagon Effect. “[It’s] essentially a psychological phenomenon that happens when people are doing something because others are doing it already,” Ulrich said. It has to do with a psychology term called dispositional hope. It’s the belief that you can achieve personal goals.
-
National Academy of Medicine Elects APS Fellow Ted Abel
APS Fellow Ted Abel of the University of Iowa is among four psychological scientists newly elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Abel is recognized for his work on the interplay of sleep and memory formation and storage, and the molecular basis of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, including autism. Abel is Professor and Chair of UI’s Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. He is director of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute at the university.
