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New Center Aims to Make Science More Open and Reliable
National Geographic: The field of psychology is going through a period of introspective turmoil. One the one hand, it has never been more popular. Its results lead to attention-grabbing headlines, and fill books that sit happily on bestseller lists. Conversely, some of its own practitioners are starting to ask themselves a difficult question: What proportion of the field’s findings are genuine and reliable insights into the human mind, and what proportion are red herrings produced by questionable research practices and, in rare cases, outright fraud? ... Nosek’s solution launches today—the Center for Open Science, a new laboratory at Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Freshman Funk: Is Harmful Thinking Contagious?
The Huffington Post: I know very few people who would describe first semester, freshman year of college, as a time of unqualified joy. I was certainly ready to leave home, but even so it was a disruptive time. I was disconnected from my family and close friends for the first time and, even more difficult, thrown into a dormitory full of strangers -- young men from unfamiliar places with diverse experiences and values. University of Notre Dame psychological scientist Gerald Haeffel and his colleagues have been exploring what's called cognitive vulnerability -- a way of thinking, and interpreting life's travails, that predisposes people to clinical depression.
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Deciphering Hidden Biases During Interviews
NPR: Research suggests the timing of an applicant's interview, whether it's for a job or admittance to a school, may determine the outcome of that interview. A new study shows that interviewers who have seen a string of strong candidates are more likely to view the next applicant negatively. ... Simonsohn thinks this is exactly what's happens with interview panels, that if you're interviewing candidates and the first candidate is really weak and the second is really weak and the third is really weak, you believe, generally, that there should be an equal number of strong and weak candidates.
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Q&A: Art Glenberg, on how the body affects the mind
Smartplanet: Psychologists and philosophers have long thought of the brain as the primary tool for all abstract thinking, like reasoning or judgment. But recently, science has been changing its mind on this. ... Our awareness of this phenomenon will have a profound impact on our day-to-day behavior. We now know that our facial expressions can absolutely change our moods. And that children are more successful in math if they use their hands and bodies to guide themselves through algebraic problems. In fact, a new study suggests that the number one thing we can do to preserve our brain function is to be physically active — regardless of any intellectual enrichment.
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How To Not Come Off As Being Overly Confident
Business Insider: Confidence is indisputably a good thing. But over-confidence can spell trouble—especially when we’re learning. Research has shown over and over again that we are not very good judges of how effectively we’re learning new information, or how accurately we’ll remember it. This means we may stop the studying or training process prematurely, before new material is truly absorbed, and it means we may be in for an unpleasant surprise when we realize (at test or performance time) that we didn’t know that material as well as we assumed.
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How To Defuse a Hateful Slur
I grew up in a town, and a time, with a great deal of racial and ethnic tension, and I heard hateful slurs constantly at school. African-Americans, then politely called Negroes, were disparaged as niggers, and Italian-Americans, as wops or guineas. The Puerto Ricans in the neighboring communities were spics. Perhaps because of this, I was taught early and forcefully never to use these cruel labels. And that included any stigmatizing label—queer, bitch, kike—all of which I heard a lot. This rule was an absolute in my family, no exceptions, and it worked. I don’t even like writing these words right now.
