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You are less beautiful than you think
Salon: In April 15, 2013, Dove launched a 3-minute video entitled “Dove Real Beauty Sketches.” The video achieved instant popularity and has been watched millions of times — a successful viral campaign which has been widely talked about. In the video, a small group of women are asked to describe their faces to a person whom they cannot see. The person is a forensic artist who is there to draw pictures of the women based on their verbal descriptions. ... The most direct evidence that the Dove commercial is misleading comes from the work of Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago and Erin Whitchurch of the University of Virginia. Read the whole story: Salon
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How the hot hand delusion messes with the game
The Boston Globe: HERE’S SOME ADVICE for NBA coaches: If one of your players is on a hot streak, tell him to cool off. An analysis of consecutive shots in the 2010-2011 NBA season finds that players who had just scored during regular play (not a free throw), especially from longer range, were more likely to take the next shot for their team. However, that follow-up shot was riskier, as it was more likely to be taken from longer range, and was therefore more likely to miss. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
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The new (and nastier) ageism
America is a rapidly graying society. This demographic trend has been underway for a while—and anticipated for a long while—yet some of its implications are just now coming into focus. Most notably, the aging of America will almost certainly trigger a retirement crisis, with elderly boomers competing for limited financial and medical resources—and working longer just to stay afloat. The elderly have never been honored in American society. They have more often been stereotyped, stigmatized and pitied as outdated and weak, both physically and mentally.
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Sweaty Babies
BBC: A study of one year old babies has found an intriguing connection between their physiological symptoms when they are confronted with a frightening situation, and their levels of aggression two years later. Professor Stephanie Van Goozen from Cardiff University’s School of Psychology in Wales conducted this new research. It was published online this week in the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: BBC
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Au bureau, assumons nos erreurs (How to accept our mistakes)
Le Monde: Lisa Legault, chercheuse en psychologie à l'université Clarkson (Etats-Unis), vient d'en faire la démonstration, avec son équipe. Son article "Préserver son intégrité quand nos performances sont menacées : l'affirmation de soi accroît la réponse neurophysiologique aux erreurs" était publié dans le numéro de février de la revue Psychological Science. Les chercheurs américains ont mené une première expérience qui consistait à déstabiliser la moitié d'un groupe de participants. Puis ils leur ont fait faire un test. Quand ils se trompaient, "Faux", criait le système, pour effrayer les cobayes encore davantage.
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If Your Shrink Is A Bot, How Do You Respond?
NPR: Her hair is brown and tied back into a professional-looking ponytail. She wears a blue shirt, tan sweater and delicate gold chain. It's the first time she has met the man sitting across from her, and she looks out at him, her eyes curious. ... Now, obviously this work raises all kinds of issues, and even on a practical level, real obstacles remain. Jeff Cohn, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh, studies the relationship between physical movements and emotion and says signals from the face, voice and body are incredibly complicated to interpret. "Individuals vary a lot in how expressive they are," Cohn explains.
