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Software Detects CEO Emotions, Predicts Financial Performance
The Wall Street Journal: Computer programs that scan facial expressions have been used to detect whether people respond positively to commercials or whether hospital patients are in pain. Can they also read a CEO’s mind? James Cicon thinks they can. A finance professor at University of Central Missouri, Cicon built software that analyzed video of the faces of Fortune 500 executives for signs of emotions like fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. The emotions, he found, correlated with profit margins, returns on assets, stock price moves, and other measures of performance at the associated companies. Dr.
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Experiencing Financial Stress May Lead to Physical Pain
People who feel that their financial outlook is shaky may actually experience more physical pain than those who feel financially secure, a psychological study suggests.
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Allow These Two Olympic Runners to Demonstrate the Motivational Powers of Belonging to a Team
New York Magazine: Over the long weekend, NBC aired what is essentially the Super Bowl of American running: the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Distance running is typically thought of as an individual sport, but the race also happened to inadvertently demonstrate a concept that’s recently been explored in the scientific literature — the incredible psychological power of feeling like part of a team. ... Cragg finished first, and Flanagan held on to third, securing her own ticket to Rio in August. Some have speculated that if it weren’t for Cragg’s encouragement, Flanagan may have fallen behind or dropped out entirely.
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How Economic Uncertainty Produces Physical Pain
Fortune: Embrace uncertainty — it’s the only surety in life, we’re often told. New research suggests these words may be easier said than done, particularly when it comes tofinancial uncertainty. During the Great Recession of 2008, stocks, bank accounts and IRAs weren’t the only things hurting. People were hurting, physically, and more so than usual. That year, Americans spent an estimated $300 billion on painkillers and other pain-related expenses, a 1,000 percent increase over two decades earlier and more than the combined yearly costs of cancer, heart disease or diabetes (based on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey).
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Five-Month-Old Infants Have General Knowledge of How Nonsolid Substances Behave and Interact Susan J. Hespos, Alissa L. Ferry, Erin M. Anderson, Emily N. Hollenbeck, and Lance J. Rips Research has shown that infants have a sophisticated understanding of the properties of objects, but it is less clear whether infants develop a similar understanding of nonsolid objects. Four- and 5-month-old infants were habituated to the sight of a solid object or the sight of a nonsolid substance (sand or liquid).
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When rejection is the kindest thing a person can do
The Washington Post: Getting dumped is never fun. Neither is finding out that the crush you’ve been nursing is going nowhere. But when I think about all the times I’ve been rejected, the worst part wasn’t the moment of finding out the relationship was over. It was the part before — that awful stretch of uncertainty when I didn’t know whether the person I was into loved me or loved me not. There was the boy I dated in high school who went off to college and started seeing someone else. He couldn’t bring himself to tell me – for months – as I agonized over how hard it was to reach him on his dorm room phone. In the end, his best friend broke the news to me. ...
