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Do Fat CEO Faces Equal Fat Profits?
Time: We generally don’t include the shape of a business exec’s face in our investing advice. But according to a new study, maybe we should. In the November issue of the journal Psychological Science, a new study suggests that CEOs with wider faces achieve much greater financial performance than CEOs with thinner mugs. Before you make your own face, there’s some legitimate science behind it. For the last few years, a number of studies have been published showing that greater facial width-to-height ratio (WHR) is associated with more aggressive behavior in men. Hockey players with wider faces spend more time in the penalty box. And men with higher facial width often feel more powerful.
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The connected car: New services pit convenience against safety
Consumer Reports: With the increased popularity of smart phones and social networks, automakers are tapping these connected technologies in vehicles to allow drivers to update Facebook, send a Tweet, check stocks, surf the Web, and more. However, will the need to stay connected affect driver safety? Our latest investigative report provides insight into this trend. In our October report “Connected Cars: A New Risk,” we look at the some of the technologies automakers are offering in their vehicles, address the potential for driver distraction, and speak to a wide range of industry insiders and safety advocates.
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Sick Body, Vigilant Mind
We know that in keeping the body physically healthy, the mind both conscious and unconscious is a principle actor. Indeed, research has shown that the biological, or physiological, immune system that fights pathogens once they’ve entered the body can be kick-started by the “behavioral immune system,” with which we notice, feel repulsed by, and act to avoid people who might make us sick. Now a study in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, offers intriguing new evidence of the connection moving in the other direction: from physiological to psychological immune reactions.
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Don’t Mess With a Nursing Mom!
U.S. News & World Report: Breast-feeding mothers protect their babies and themselves more aggressively than mothers who bottle-feed or women without children, researchers say. The study of 18 nursing mothers, 17 formula-feeding mothers and 20 non-mothers also found that aggression in breast-feeding moms is associated with reduced blood pressure. This suggests that breast-feeding helps lower the body's typical stress response to fear, which gives women extra courage in defending their babies and themselves, according to the authors of the study in the September issue of the journal Psychological Science. Read the full story: U.S. News & World Report
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Psychopaths on Wall Street?
Financial News: 'Are you good or evil', a BBC Horizon documentary which aired last night, examined what makes humans liable to violence. The programme charts the research of criminal psychologist Professor Robert Hare, who developed the Pyschopathy Checklist, which is used to diagnose cases of psychopathy and to ascertain the likelihood of violent behaviour, and neuroscientist Professor Jim Fallon. The two main factors in ascertaining whether an individual is liable to become a psychopath, according to the programme, are: the existence of the so-called 'warrior gene', the Monoamine oxidase A enzyme, and a violent childhood. Read the full story: Financial News
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Seeing is not always believing
Yahoo! Philippines: Paying attention to keep a close watch may quite have the reverse effect. It actually distorts perception of where things are in relation to one another, says a research. 'Figuring out where objects are in the world seems like one of the most basic and important jobs the brain does,' says Yale University cognitive psychologist Brandon Liverence, who led the study. 'It was surprising to discover that even this simple type of perception is warped by our minds,' adds Liverence, the journal Psychological Science reports.
