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When It’s An Error To Mirror
In human relationships, mimicry can act as a kind of ‘social glue’ and foster rapport in subtle ways. If, for example, Amy and Ted are engaged in a conversation, Amy might mirror some of Ted’s mannerisms, leading Ted to like Amy more, trust her, and think of Amy as more similar, even though both are unaware that any mimicry took place. All this has been confirmed by much of psychological research, leading to a popular perception (and advice) that imitating is “good for you”. But new research suggests that mimicry may not always lead to positive social outcomes. In fact, sometimes not mimicking is the smarter thing to do.
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Men and women perceive risks differently
Times of India: Though it is well known that women take fewer risks than men, now, according to a new research, the reality of who takes risks when is actually a bit more complicated. A lot of what psychologists know about risk-taking comes from lab studies where people are asked to choose between a guaranteed amount of money or a gamble for a larger amount. But that kind of decision isn't the same as deciding whether you're going to speed on the way home from work, wear a condom, or go bungee jumping. Research in the last 10 years or so has found that the way people choose to take risks in one domain doesn't necessarily hold in other domains.
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The Vitamin Paradox: Do Nutritional Supplements ‘License’ Unhealthy Behavior?
Huffington Post: Last night I had a chocolate milkshake for dinner. I don't eat like this all the time, but often enough. I eat lots of salads, but I also eat cheeseburgers. And if I'm tired I eat pretzels or skip eating entirely. In short, I'm far from a nutritional purist. But I take a multivitamin every day and have for as long as I can remember. I figure it's the least I can do for my personal health, plus it's easy and fairly cheap. I guess I'm hedging my bets. And I'm not alone: Sales of nutritional supplements have grown dramatically over the past decade or so and now total more than $20 billion a year. More than half of Americans take some kind of vitamin pill.
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Nickelodeon offers 90s nostalgia with Kenan and Kel, All That and more
The Washington Post: For a contingent of Americans born between 1975 and 1992, Monday night is going to be a childhood fantasy fulfilled. Starting at midnight, Nickelodeon is digging into the archives and airing four classic shows in a block of neatly packaged programming: “The ’90s Are All That.” Go ahead and watch a promo, the one with Kenan Thompson sitting on that bright, orange sofa. Yes, he is on the Snick couch. The Snick couch. “The good old Snick couch!” Thompson is as excited as you are. “That brought back so many memories for me, immediately. Years and years of it, all around that couch.
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Mistakes are more tolerated if you’re the right gender for the job
Financial Post: In these modern times, people can have jobs that weren’t traditionally associated with their genders. Men are nurses; women are chief executives. A new study examines perceptions of people in high-powered jobs and finds that they’re likely to be judged more harshly for mistakes if they’re in a job that’s not normally associated with their gender. ”The reason I got interested is, there was so much talk about race and gender barriers being broken,” says Victoria Brescoll, a psychological scientist at Yale University and first author of the study.
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Kindness is in our genes: How desire to do good deeds is hard-wired into us by evolution
Daily Mail: Tipping waiters is hard-wired into our brains, according to scientists. Theories of evolution suggest we should incur a cost only if there’s a prospect of receiving something in return, but researchers say generosity evolved from simple co-operation. They believe humans have evolved to think it’s better to take the risk of being generous and getting nothing in return than destroying a potentially beneficial future relationship by being stingy. Read more: Daily Mail
