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How the Internet Has Changed Bullying
The New Yorker: In some ways, bullying research has affirmed what we already know. Bullying is the result of an unequal power dynamic—the strong attacking the weak. It can happen in different ways: through physical violence, verbal abuse (in person or online), or the management of relationships (spreading rumors, humiliation, and exclusion). It is usually prolonged (most bullies are repeat offenders) and widespread (a bully targets multiple victims). Longitudinal work shows that bullies and victims can switch places: there is an entire category of bully-victims—people who are victims in one set of circumstances and perpetrators in another.
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The Psychological Case Against Tipping
New York Magazine: Welcome to the weirdness of tipping in America. It carries with it such a strong psychological pull that many consumers are unwilling to abandon it, and in light of recent estimates that 58 percent of a server’s income comes from tips, it seems as though there are considerable economic issues to untangle before many others follow Meyer's lead. The basic idea behind tipping, of course, is that service workers are getting rewarded for doing a good job, but the science simply doesn't back this up. There's decades’ worth of consumer-psychology research demonstrating that tipping hardly improves service at all.
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When Decisions Satisfy, and When They Upset
Should I sign that contract? Should I fire that lazy employee? Should I eat lunch at my desk or go out? Business professionals face a daily dose of decisions like these — some that we can change, others that are irreversible. While it may seem safer to make choices we can later revise, a small body of research suggests that people tend to be more satisfied after making unalterable decisions rather than those they can undo. This partly stems from humans’ tendency, demonstrated in psychological research, to overestimate the regret they’ll feel over their decisions.
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The Science of Compassion
NPR: Kellie Gillespie is in her early 40s. She lives in London. And until a couple of years ago, she was basically an ordinary person. That was before she took a psychology class with Scott Plous of Wesleyan University. "My life changed after doing Professor Plous' course," Kellie says. "And now I'm studying to be a psychotherapist and counselor." ... Plous' course was offered online, hosted by the educational platform Coursera. Kellie learned several psychological concepts in the class. One is the norm of reciprocity: if you're nice to someone, or you open up to them, they're likely to do the same with you.
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Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.
The New York Times: COLLEGE students tell me they know how to look someone in the eye and type on their phones at the same time, their split attention undetected. They say it’s a skill they mastered in middle school when they wanted to text in class without getting caught. Now they use it when they want to be both with their friends and, as some put it, “elsewhere.” ... In 2010, a team at the University of Michigan led by the psychologist Sara Konrath put together the findings of 72 studies that were conducted over a 30-year period. They found a 40 percent decline in empathy among college students, with most of the decline taking place after 2000. ... But we are resilient.
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I asked psychologists to analyze Trump supporters. This is what I learned.
The Washington Post: ALL him whatever names you like. A clown. A Know Nothing. A political greenhorn who can barely complete a sentence. A nativist, a racist and -- worse -- a New York liberal with a comb-over. You can call him a blowhard if you want, but -- to the consternation of the conservative elite and to the surprise of just about everybody else inside the Beltway -- Donald Trump won't blow off. ... Still, he is an effective speaker, psychologists say. In fact, decades of research show that charisma has more to do with a person's demeanor than what he or she is saying, says Stanford University's Jeffrey Pfeffer.
