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The Sound of Status: People Know High-Power Voices When They Hear Them
Being in a position of power can fundamentally change the way you speak, altering basic acoustic properties of the voice, and other people are able to pick up on these vocal cues to know who is really in charge, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Hard To Think Straight: Processing Prejudice
We all have a bit of irrationality in us. Even if we think of ourselves as logical and deliberative, we still make decisions and judgments, based not entirely on the facts of the matter, but upon seemingly inconsequential information, random cues that we take from the world around us. Some of our irrational thinking is just quirky. For example, simply reading food labels in a difficult-to-read typeface can make us more fearful of food additives, while an easy-to-read label can diminish our perception of risk. We are more reluctant to ride roller coasters—and even to invest in new companies—with difficult-to-pronounce names.
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How to Maximize the 2 Most Productive Hours of the Day
Inc.: Wake up, smell the coffee, and get right to work. That should be your new mantra to start the day, according to Dan Ariely, a Duke University professor of psychology and behavioral economics. This week, Ariely conducted an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit where he revealed that generally people are most productive during the first two hours after becoming fully awake. Unfortunately, most people's morning routines and work schedules are not designed to maximize this bright-and-early potential. The first things we cross off our list in the mornings are the mindless tasks to prepare for the day ahead. Read the whole story: Inc.
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How ‘Solution Aversion’ and Global Warming Prescriptions Polarize the Climate Debate
The New York Times: Anyone eager to understand, and move past, the deep political polarization around global warming would do well to explore the findings in “Solution aversion: On the relation between ideology and motivated disbelief,” published in the November issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The paper is behind a subscription wall, but a Duke University news release does a fine job laying out the basic findings, as does Chris Mooney, getting into gear in his new blogging position at the Washington Post.
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The Ice-Bucket Racket
The New York Times: Ever since the ice-bucket challenge swept the Internet this summer, raising more than $115 million for A.L.S. research, a legion of imitators has sprung up to try and cash in themselves. In the approaching holiday season, as fund-raising appeals swell, we can now smash a pie in our faces, snap selfies first thing in the morning or take a photo of ourselves grabbing our crotches, among other tasteful gestures, to express solidarity with various worthy causes.
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Have You Heard? Gossip Is Actually Good and Useful
The Atlantic: While gossiping is a behavior that has long been frowned upon, perhaps no one has frowned quite so intensely as the 16th- and 17th-century British. Back then, gossips, or “scolds” were sometimes forced to wear a menacing iron cage on their heads, called the “branks” or “scold’s bridle.” These masks purportedly had iron spikes or bits that went in the mouth and prevented the wearer from speaking. (And of course, of course, this ghastly punishment seems to have been mostly for women who were talking too much.) Today, people who gossip are still not very well-liked, though we tend to resist the urge to cage their heads. Progress.