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Little Authoritarians: The Closing of Young Minds
The Huffington Post: John Dean, former Nixon crony, White House lawyer and Watergate co-conspirator, turned on the Republican Party a few years ago. The reason for his turnabout, he writes in his book Conservatives Without Conscience, is that true conservatism has been perverted by politicians and thinkers -- primarily the religious right -- who embrace an extreme version of authoritarianism, in both philosophy and policy. This authoritarian mentality, as Dean sees it, celebrates obedience, intolerance, and government intrusion into citizens' choices and personal values.
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Study finds women may be more likely to have fling with wide-headed men
Wired: Are you a man with a wide head in search of a fling? If so, you're in luck, as according to a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, women may find men with wide heads more appealing for short-term dates and perceive them to be more masculine than men with narrower offerings. "Our study shows that within three minutes of meeting in real life, women find more dominant, wider-faced men attractive for short-term relationships, and want to go on another date with them," says psychological scientist and lead researcher Katherine Valentine of Singapore Management University.
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The Meat Paradox: How Carnivores Think About Dinner
Temple Grandin is widely known as an advocate for animal welfare. She is also a slaughterhouse designer and meat eater. She has spent much of her professional life promoting humane practices for livestock farms and slaughtering plants, and has been recognized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for her tireless efforts. She has also written in defense of meat as a food, and is embraced as an ally by the meat industry. A couple years ago, she even defended the beef industry’s controversial marketing of pink slime. Grandin has no trouble reconciling these views and activities. But she does have to reconcile them, as we all do.
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Mindfulness Meditation May Improve Decision Making
A focused 15-minute focused-breathing meditation may help to counteract the deep-rooted sunk cost bias.
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Warum Jamaika nicht beim Bobfahren gewinnt (Why not win at Jamaica Bobsledding)
Suddeutsche Zeitung: Vermutlich werden Winston Watt und Marvin Dixon, das Zweier-Bob-Team aus Jamaika, auch bei den diesjährigen Olympischen Winterspielen in Sotschi keine Medaille gewinnen. Über die Gründe lässt sich viel spekulieren, doch eine Ursache ist aus Sicht der modernen Sportwissenschaft offenkundig: Mangels eigener Schneeberge in der Karibik werden Skifahrer, Rodler und Eiskunstläufer aus tropischen Gefilden niemals in den Genuss eines Heimvorteils kommen.
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How Inequality Hollows Out the Soul
The New York Times: One of the well-known costs of inequality is that people withdraw from community life and are less likely to feel that they can trust others. This is partly a reflection of the way status anxiety makes us all more worried about how we are valued by others. Now that we can compare robust data for different countries, we can see not only what we knew intuitively — that inequality is divisive and socially corrosive — but that it also damages the individual psyche. Our tendency to equate outward wealth with inner worth invokes deep psychological responses, feelings of dominance and subordination, superiority and inferiority. This affects the way we see and treat one another.
