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The Secret of Comedy Really Is Timing
Pacific Standard: Did you hear the one about Hurricane Sandy? Did you find it hilarious? Tasteless? Or just lame? Newly published research concludes the answer depends in part on exactly when the joke reached your ear, or inbox. An analysis of responses to humorous quips referencing last year’s devastating storm suggests the adage that “comedy equals tragedy plus time” needs to be modified. A research team led by University of Colorado psychologist A. Peter McGraw concludes that, at some specific point in the days and weeks after a horrible event, there is a “sweet spot” when we’re particularly likely to find humor in the darkness. Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
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Food Rituals
BBC: Does performing rituals improve the taste of food? Claudia Hammond investigates. Listen to the whole story: BBC
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Study: Test-score gains don’t mean cognitive gains
The Washington Post: In a finding that should give pause to backers of standardized test-based school reform, a new study by neuroscientists at three major universities shows that students who achieved the highest gains on standardized tests did not show the same gains in the ability to analyze material and think logically.
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Can Thinking About Time Make You A Better Person?
Fast Company: Imagine: Briefcases full of cash. Scrooge McDuck diving into his swimming pool vault of gold coins. Winning $100 at a blackjack table. Feeling a little dishonest yet? Just thinking about getting our grubby little hands on some cold hard cash can make us more likely to cheat, according to a new study in Psychological Science. Oddly enough, thinking about time seems to make people more honest.
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Adventures in Experimenting On Toddlers
The Wall Street Journal: The Gopnik lab is rejoicing. My student Caren Walker and I have just published a paper in the well known journal Psychological Science. Usually when I write about scientific papers here, they sound neat and tidy. But since this was our own experiment, I can tell you the messy inside story too. First, the study—and a small IQ test for you. Suppose you see an experimenter put two orange blocks on a machine, and it lights up. She then puts a green one and a blue one on the same machine, but nothing happens. Two red ones work, a black and white combination doesn't. Now you have to make the machine light up yourself.
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The Life of Dan Wegner: A Meeting Place for Joy and Intelligence
Scientific American: Dan Wegner published his last paper here in this edition of Scientific American. It marked the end of a prolific, decades-long career in social psychology—one studded by every major award in the field, over 100 articles, seven books and an endowed professorship at Harvard University. But what the public record does not reveal is how Dan approached science and how that approach influenced his academic progeny. A mere inspection of his CV also misses why it meant so much to him that his final paper would appear here in Scientific American.
