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Interracial Roommate Relationships: An Experimental Field Test of the Contact Hypothesis
While prejudice and racism are unfortunate realities of our society, psychologists are revealing valuable insights into this complicated human tendency. A new study shows that living with someone of a different race can help to reduce anxiety and other negative feelings towards minorities. In a study by Natalie J. Shook of Virginia Commonwealth University and Russel H. Fazio of Ohio State University, white college freshmen were randomly paired with either white or African American roommates to examine how a natural setting, such as a college dorm room, could improve interracial relationships.
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Hey, Look at That! New Study Shows Saliency is Only Short-Lived in the Brain
Our eyes see millions of things every single day. It doesn’t take much to realize that in a visual field, we tend to look at the most distinctive, or salient, features: a bright, red, feather boa among black suits is more eye-catching than a dark-grey tie, for example. But a new study has found that the human brain retains information of distinctive features for only a short period of time. According to psychologists Mieke Donk and Wieske van Zoest of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, vision is only affected by salient features for a limited amount of time after the presentation of a visual scene.
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Age-Old Money Matters: Positivity in Older Adults Leads to Balanced Investments
The economic and psychological term known as “sunk-cost fallacy” is a bias that leads someone to make a decision based solely on a previous financial investment. For example, a baseball fan might attend every game of the season only because he already purchased the tickets. But not everyone would force themselves to brave the pouring rain for a single game in one season simply because they previously paid for the seats. So who is more likely to commit or avoid the sunk-cost fallacy and why?
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The Perils of Overconfidence
Overestimating one’s abilities can have hazardous consequences. The overconfident investment banker may lose millions on a “can’t-miss” start up or a driver who’s had one too many may insist on making it home in the car. Research has backed up this notion but with one glaring problem: It relies on participants to give accurate reports of their own confidence.
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When the Powerless Rise Up: Power Leads to Positive Action, But Only When Acquired Legitimately
In an effort to reconcile the science stating that power leads to action and lack of power leads to inhibition -- despite constant historical reminders of the powerless rising up and taking action -- new research in the June issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that the legitimacy of the power relationship is an important determinant of whether power leads to action. The research, led in part by Kellogg School of Management Professor Adam Galinsky, sought to determine at what point the powerless rise up and take action.
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Study Pinpoints Strategies that Protect Older Adult’s Physical Health
In his famous poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night,” Dylan Thomas urges us to “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Researchers are now backing up this counsel in the lab; showing just how “raging” against threats to one’s health is critical to good health and survival in late life. The existing research on longevity supports the notion that one should become actively involved in one’s health in an effort to prevent further decline. The elderly are urged to use “active control strategies” aimed at counteracting physical threats.
