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The ritual of eating chocolate is almost as important as the chocolate itself
The Telegraph: Fascinating recent research suggests that rituals associated with food and drink enhance the enjoyment of what is consumed. Writing in the journal Psychological Science, Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota suggests that such rituals – clinking glasses of wine, shaking a little pack of sugar before adding it to coffee – ensure that people are paying proper attention to the food or drink when they get to it, which makes it taste better. Naturally Professor Vohs turned to chocolate to test her hypothesis, and had her subjects unwrap a bar in a systematic manner before consuming it.
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Residents of poor countries have greater sense of meaning in life than those in rich nations, research says
PBS: According to new research, people living in poor countries have a greater sense of meaning in their lives than those living in wealthy countries. These new findings, published in the Association for Psychological Science's academic journal "Psychology Science," suggest that this greater sense of life meaning stems from residents' strong family ties and solid connections to religious tradition. "Thus far, the wealth of nations has been almost always associated with longevity, health, happiness, or life satisfaction," Shigehiro Oishi, a professor at the University of Virginia and original publisher of this study, said.
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Americans Are Terrible at Estimating Income Inequality
The Atlantic Cities: Income inequality is an abstract idea, measurable in many ways. And so perhaps it's not surprising that Americans are terrible at estimating the true extent of the problem (or how fast it's grown with time). The question, after all, requires several mental leaps: from our own income, to a sense of where we fit on the national scale, to an awareness of the outer poles of that distribution. There are some serious math and reasoning skills required here. You may be surprised, though, by exactly how – and how consistently – people get this wrong: A new study in the journal Psychological Science from researchers at St.
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What Your Brain Sees May Not Be What You See
National Geographic: According to research published in the journal Psychological Science, our brains pick up on images that we never consciously perceive. Volunteers were shown a series of black-and-white images while hooked up to an EEG device that recorded their brain activity. Each image was shown for just under two-tenths of a second. Then the subject pressed a button to indicate if the object was something familiar (like a turtle or telephone) or novel (a random shape that they didn't recognize).
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Why Lottery Dreams Are Good for You–and Your Business
Inc.: With the Mega Millions jackpot set to top $550 million for tomorrow night's drawing, you've probably given some thought to what you might do with the winnings. Done the right way, research shows this kind of thinking--daydreaming--can be healthy. Many studies have shown that letting your mind wander enhances creativity. A paper published in Psychological Science showed that after 12 minutes of letting the mind wander, subjects were able to come up with much stronger ideas about how to make use of common everyday items, like toothpicks and clothes hangers. This mirrors the story of Yitang Zhang, the mathematician who worked for years to solve one of math's oldest problems.
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Terrible Twos Who Stay Terrible
The New York Times: To understand the violent criminal, says Richard E. Tremblay, imagine a 2-year-old boy doing the things that make the terrible twos terrible — grabbing, kicking, pushing, punching, biting. Now imagine him doing all this with the body and resources of an 18-year-old. ... “It’s highly reliable,” said Brad J. Bushman, a psychology professor at Ohio State University and an expert on child violence, who noted that toddlers use physical aggression even more than people in violent youth gangs do. “Thank God toddlers don’t carry weapons.” The son of a professional football player, Dr.
