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The Origins of Violence
NPR Science Friday: We’ve heard that human violence is on the rise, that it’s on the wane, that it’s hard-wired, and that it’s learned. But what do we really know about where violence comes from and how to stop it? Psychologist Steven Pinker, anthropologist Richard Wrangham, and crime writer Harold Schechter discuss the origins of mankind’s most troubling characteristic. Read the whole story: NPR Science Friday
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Wage Disparity and the Masculinity of Money
The US Senate failed yesterday to pass legislation that would amplify women’s ability to sue their employers when they earn less than male colleagues for equal work. Democrats argue that the existing laws aren’t enough, pointing to figures showing women making 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. Republicans opposed the measure, arguing that the pay-gap figures are misleading and that federal law already makes pay discrimination illegal. But beneath the statistics and political debate are some psychological factors that appear to perpetuate the pay inequities no matter what the law says.
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It Was The Best of Times, The Most Indulgent of Times
The Huffington Post: Young Americans have gotten a fair share of criticism in recent decades. College students in particular -- and those leaving college to enter the work force -- have been described as self-absorbed and entitled, grandiose in their sense of their own importance. For the harshest critics, it's a generation of narcissistic brats. I know. I know. It's unfair and perilous to characterize an entire generation, and indeed this narcissistic trend has been disputed by some. There is also a lively debate about what might instill a grandiose self-concept in the minds of the young.
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Why Women Don’t Ask For More Money
NPR: When Emily Amanatullah was a graduate student studying management, she couldn't help noticing that a lot of the classic advice in the field was aimed more at men than women. Negotiation tactics in particular seemed tougher for women to master. "You realize they're pretty at odds with how women comport themselves and how they're expected to comport themselves," she says. She started to talk to other women and to examine her own behavior. All the women she spoke to said they hated advocating for themselves at work. But they had no trouble speaking up for colleagues. So Amanatullah, now an assistant professor of management at the University of Texas, devised an experiment.
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Why You Rarely Notice Major Movie Bloopers
Pacific Standard: Even the most practiced auteurs make embarrassing continuity errors. Take, for instance, Garry Marshall’s otherwise flawless 1990 romantic classic Pretty Woman. In one scene, a croissant makes a radical transformation into a pancake. And then, miraculously, a bite mark in one shot evaporates from the next. The reason these mistakes so often go unnoticed by everyone except next-level blooper detectives may have something to do with the way people process the visual field.
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Why Selfies Sometimes Look Weird to Their Subjects
The Atlantic: Welcome to the department of discarded selfies, a dark place deep inside my phone where dimly lit close-up shots of my face are left to fade away into the cloud. I’ve thought about sending these photos to friends many times—that’s why I took them, after all—but each time my finger lingers over the share button, a few questions stop me: Why does my face look so weird? Are my eyelids that droopy? Is my chin that lop-sided? And how come nobody warned me? Taking purposefully ugly selfies encourages photographers to seize control of their self-image by rejecting beauty standards and embracing the imperfect humanity of our faces.
