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Spoilers ‘do not ruin stories’, study says
BBC: Knowing how a book ends does not ruin its story and can actually enhance enjoyment, a study suggests. Researchers at the University of California San Diego gave participants 12 short stories where two versions were spoiled and a third unspoiled. In all but one story, readers said they preferred versions which had spoiling paragraphs written into it. Although the study could not explain why, it suggested the brain may find it easier to process a spoiled story. "You get this significant reverse-spoiler effect," study author and professor of social psychology Nicholas Christenfeld said.
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US study questions if pets make owners healthier
Taipei Times: Pet owners have long been encouraged to think that they are happier, healthier and live longer than people without pets, but a new US study claims they might be barking up the wrong tree.
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Social Acceptance and Rejection: The Sweet and the Bitter
Psychology researchers have long been interested in close relationships, but have only more recently begun investigating social exclusion.
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Study: The Rich Really Are More Selfish
TIME: “Lower-class” individuals—i.e., folks without much money or education—demonstrate more compassion and empathy than their wealthy counterparts, according to a series of psychological studies. In social scientist speak, “self-oriented behavior” is more likely to be exhibited by people with good educations, prestigious jobs, high incomes, and overall higher-ranking social status. How you rank in society purportedly has a lot to do with how much you care about your fellow man.
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The Culture of Coffee Drinkers
Scientific American: The idea of the morning person aside, morning commuters seem to fall into one of two categories: the Caffeinated and the Un-caffeinated—the latter category being those who intend to consume coffee, but haven’t quite gotten their morning java yet. And they’re easily recognizable as such. The Caffeinated are bright-eyed and engaged with the day’s events already—they’re reading their morning papers, or checking email, or reading for pleasure. They’re sometimes armed with travel mugs or Ventis from their coffee shop of choice. They rattle the ice in the clear plastic beverage cups from mobile vendors on summer days.
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Spoiler alert: Spoilers don’t ruin stories, after all
Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's dad. Rosebud is a sled. Soylent Green is PEOPLE. Kristin shot J.R. Maggie shot Mr. Burns. And Bruce Willis, a.k.a. child therapist Malcome Crowe? You guys, he was dead the whole time. We hate for the twist endings of movies, TV shows and books to be given away. But here's a bit of relief for those of you who are just now learning that Snape, in fact, killed Dumbledore: Spoilers don't really ruin stories for us. In fact, a new study suggests that we actually enjoy spoiled stories more than those left unspoiled. "Writers use their artistry to make stories interesting, to engage readers, and tosurprise them.