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Virtuous Rhythms: Night Owls and Early Birds
I have been an early bird for as long as I can remember. Even in college and grad school, when circumstances more or less forced me to be a night owl—even then I secretly preferred being awake and alert as the morning dawned. You genuine night owls really don’t want to know what time I’m up and about these days. Psychological scientists are very interested in “chronotypes”—a jargony label for early birds and night owls. These preferences, or biological propensities, have important consequences, affecting school performance, work life choices, friendships, even romance.
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How Long Does the ‘Cool Kid’ Effect Last?
The Wall Street Journal: A University of Virginia study tracked teenagers for one decade and found that teenagers who were considered "cool" at a young age had more problems as adults. University of Virginia psychology professor Joseph Allen, who led the study, discusses the research on Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Watch here: The Wall Street Journal
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Why Behavioral Economics Is Cool, and I’m Not
The Huffington Post: Here are some of my favorite surprising studies. What do they have in common? • People are more likely to buy jam when they're presented with 6 flavors than 24. • After inspecting a house, real estate agents thought it was $14,000 more valuable when the seller listed it at $149,900 than $119,900. • When children play a fun game and then get rewarded for it, they lose interest in playing the game once the rewards are gone. • People conserve more energy when they see their neighbors' consumption rates.
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How Cursors Betray Our Gut Feelings
The Atlantic: Quick! Match the person with the noun: Man Kitchen Woman Test Tube Mother Programming Husband Liberal Arts That’s not a real psychology test, of course, but it’s a play on what’s called an “implicit association test,” a type of activity that psychologists ask study participants to perform in order to determine whether they might secretly harbor, in this case, sexist ideas. Read the whole story: The Atlantic
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In Pitching Veggies to Kids, Less Is More
The New York Times: One of the fiercest marketing battles in the world takes place in kitchens and at dining room tables across the world. The sellers are parents, trying everything to persuade their children to eat their vegetables. Now, new research shows why parents — and food marketers — might be doing themselves no favors. The problem is the pitch: It is too aggressive, even at its most well-meaning and heartfelt. The best way to pitch food to children, the research finds, is to present it with no marketing message whatsoever. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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The Search for Psychology’s Lost Boy
The Chronicle of Higher Education: The grainy, black-and-white footage, filmed in 1919 and 1920, documents what has become a classic psychology experiment, described again and again in articles and books. The idea is that the baby was conditioned to be afraid, instilled with a phobia of all things furry. The man in the tie is John Watson, the father of behaviorism, a foundational figure in psychology, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who rose from poverty to prominence only to watch his academic career cut short by scandal. When he’s remembered now, it’s often in connection with this experiment, his legacy forever entwined with the baby nicknamed Little Albert.
