-
Sophie Scott and the Science of Laughter
The Wall Street Journal: The first time that the neuroscientist Sophie Scott performed standup comedy, in 2010, she did it out of professional jealousy. One of her colleagues at University College London had done his own amateur routine at a new comedy club and was bragging about how good he’d been. As one of the world’s leading researchers on laughter, Dr. Scott, 48, decided that she had to try it herself. At the pub where she made her debut, she locked herself in the restroom and wondered, “What am I doing? Why would I put myself through this needless level of stress?” Once she got on stage, though, she was hooked.
-
Why Do We Experience Awe?
The New York Times: HERE’S a curious fact about goose bumps. In many nonhuman mammals, goose bumps — that physiological reaction in which the muscles surrounding hair follicles contract — occur when individuals, along with other members of their species, face a threat. We humans, by contrast, can get goose bumps when we experience awe, that often-positive feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends our understanding of the world. Why do humans experience awe? Years ago, one of us, Professor Keltner, argued (along with the psychologist Jonathan Haidt) that awe is the ultimate “collective” emotion, for it motivates people to do things that enhance the greater good.
-
Advil vs. Tylenol: Which to use and when
Fox News: When a headache, back pain or other complaint strikes, many people believe Advil, Tylenol and other over-the-counter analgesics are pretty much interchangeable. Far from it. These medications are each at their best when taken for certain ailments, in part because they work differently in the body and can have different side effects. Got a headache? Tylenol, or its generic version acetaminophen, might be your best bet since it comes with fewer side effects, many experts say. Inflamed elbow? Advil, whose active ingredient is ibuprofen, is likely to bring greater relief.
-
Impossible Knowledge: Are You an Expert?
I grew up with a habitual overclaimer. He wildly exaggerated his expertise, at times claiming knowledge of things he couldn’t possibly know—people, events, ideas that simply do not exist. Being unfamiliar with overclaiming, I just called him a liar. I couldn’t have known the word overclaimer, nor the concept. The word didn’t exist, and is only used today in the world of psychological science. Even so, we’re all familiar with these people who feel the need to overestimate what they know about the world. What underlies such assertions of impossible knowledge?
-
Storing Information In Other People’s Heads
NPR: To function effectively in the world, you need to acquire a whole lot of information. You need to know exactly which medicine is appropriate for each ailment. You need to know how to fix your car and your router and your irrigation system. You need to know the date of every major holiday and how it is observed. Right? Of course not. That would be crazy. We don't keep all the information we could possibly need in our own heads, just as we don't make all our own clothes and manufacture our own doorknobs. We rely on a division of labor.
-
How Self-Promotion Can Backfire
TIME: There are social consequences to tooting your own horn too often. Tuesday in social faux pas news comes a paper showing that when we try to make people like us, we often come across as braggy and annoying. We often practice a little self-promotion when we’re trying to be impressive. Turns out, it doesn’t always come across the way we want it to. New research published in the journal Psychological Science shows that people frequently overestimate how much their self-promotion works in their favor and underestimate how much it achieves the opposite effect. Read the whole story: TIME
