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Healing the Wounds of the Future
Several years ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran an article about “Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” based on a “study” by the Department of Future Veterans Affairs. Victims of the disorder, according to the report, experience “vivid, ultra-realistic flash-forwards” of disturbing wartime events that are yet to come. Soldiers who have never experienced a day of battle nevertheless “prelive” the hell of war. The story was irreverent and no doubt offensive to some, but it was funny. It was funny because the whole idea of remembering the future is absurd. Or is it? Well, obviously we don’t recall actual memories of things yet to happen, but we can imagine future events—and vividly.
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How All-Nighters Alter Your Memories
Live Science: People who don't get enough sleep could be increasing their risk of developing false memories, a new study finds. In the study, when researchers compared the memory of people who'd had a good night's sleep with the memory of those who hadn't slept at all, they found that, under certain conditions, sleep-deprived individuals mix fact with imagination, embellish events and even "remember" things that never actually happened. Read the whole story: Live Science
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6 Signs You’re A Truly Genuine Person
The Huffington Post: We can all agree that being fake is a negative thing -- no one wants to feel like they're being played by someone who is just acting, nor does anyone want to be known as someone who doesn’t live true to themselves. But what makes a person trulygenuine? Millennials in particular, who have matured in the age of social media, struggle to both pin down this personality trait and determine whether or not they possess it. They spend significant amounts of time curating the most share-worthy photos on Instagram, creating a summarized snapshot of their lives on Facebook, and posting descriptions of themselves on online dating websites.
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Seeing More Blacks in Prison Increases Support for Policies that Exacerbate Inequality
Informing the public about African Americans’ disproportionate incarceration rate may actually bolster support for punitive policies that perpetuate inequality, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Stanford University psychology researchers Rebecca Hetey and Jennifer Eberhardt found that White participants who were exposed to higher racial disparities in incarceration rates reported being more afraid of crime and more likely to support the kinds of punitive policies that exacerbate these racial disparities.
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Feminine Faces Offered Less at the Negotiation Table
Women often come away from the negotiation table with lower salaries and less advantageous terms than men. New research suggests that in the first moments of bargaining negotiators may be equating feminine features with negative stereotypes about women’s negotiating skills. In a recent study, psychological scientists Eric Gladstone and Kathleen M. O’Connor of Cornell University looked at how the possession of feminine facial features impacted negotiations. The researchers hypothesized that people with feminine facial features, even men, would be perceived as more cooperative, less aggressive, and less assertive.
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The Kids Who Beat Autism
The New York Times: At first, everything about L.'s baby boy seemed normal. He met every developmental milestone and delighted in every discovery. But at around 12 months, B. seemed to regress, and by age 2, he had fully retreated into his own world. He no longer made eye contact, no longer seemed to hear, no longer seemed to understand the random words he sometimes spoke. His easygoing manner gave way to tantrums and head-banging. “He had been this happy, happy little guy,” L. said. “All of a sudden, he was just fading away, falling apart. I can’t even describe my sadness. It was unbearable.” More than anything in the world, L. wanted her warm and exuberant boy back. A few months later, B.
