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People Are Pretty Bad at Reading Faces
The Atlantic: The truth was written all over her face. The eyes are the window to the soul. From our clichés, you would think that we could read faces like they were … well, open books. In fact, the skill has more in common with dancing, or writing confessional poetry: People tend to overestimate their ability to do it. Most of us can’t distinguish between certain expressions without contextual clues. In one study, participants were unable to tell whether faces in photos were showing pain or sexual pleasure about a quarter of the time [1]. In another, when people watched silent videos of the same person experiencing pain and faking pain, they couldn’t tell which was which.
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The crippling thing about growing up poor that stays with you forever
The Washington Post: Poverty has a way of rearing its ugly head, slipping into the cracks in people's lives when they're young and then re-emerging later in life. Sometimes it happens in ways that are easily observable—what poor babies are fed, for instance, has been shown to alter what they crave as adults, creating life-long affinities for foods that might be better left uneaten. But sometimes the influences are hidden, and all the more insidious as a result.
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Why People Are Confused About What Experts Really Think
The New York Times: GIVEN the complexities of the modern world, we all have to rely on expert opinion. Are G.M.O. foods safe? Is global warming real? Should children be vaccinated for measles? We don’t have the time or the training to adjudicate these questions ourselves. We defer to the professionals. And to find out what the experts think, we typically rely on the news media. This creates a challenge for journalists: There are many issues on which a large majority of experts agree but a small number hold a dissenting view. Is it possible to give voice to experts on both sides — standard journalistic practice — without distorting the public’s perception of the level of disagreement?
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Obnoxious Sixth-Graders Grow Up to Become High Earners
A new study suggests that the personality traits we possess as middle schoolers may end up having a major impact on our career choices and lifetime earnings as adults. But, after reviewing data spanning 40 years, researchers were surprised to find that obnoxious, rule-defying behavior in childhood was a predictor of career success in adulthood. As one might expect, students who did well in school – i.e., those who got good grades and positive assessments from their teachers – tended to end up with more successful careers as adults.
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OK, Google, Where Did I Put My Thinking Cap?
NPR: Take a look at this question: How do modern novels represent the characteristics of humanity? If you were tasked with answering it, what would your first step be? Would you scribble down your thoughts — or would you Google it? Terry Heick, a former English teacher in Kentucky, had a surprising revelation when his eighth- and ninth-grade students quickly turned to Google. "What they would do is they would start Googling the question, 'How does a novel represent humanity?' " Heick says.
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This Is Your Memory on Love
Scientific American: The approach to Valentine's Day is a reminder that we humans are so intrigued by the idea of love that we have made it into something to celebrate in it’s own right. Love is something amazing. Love is something special. But what are the implications of love for our memories? ... If brains are generally better at making memories when they are in love, do these memories last untainted forever and ever? Of course not. Memories are never perfect, and they can even be entirely fictitious. Research on so-called false memories has shown that memory distortions can exist for highly emotional memories, including for positive events.
