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Studies Find That Gossip Isn’t Just Loose Talk
The New York Times: GOSSIP. Almost all of us do it, most of us are embarrassed about it, and sometimes, to our horror, we get caught. But not all gossip is bad, and, in fact, gossip can be useful in maintaining social norms and keeping people in line. Maybe it sounds as if I’m just trying to rationalize the desire to sometimes spread a few juicy bits of information, but recent research looks at the good side of gossip. First, the definition of gossip is fairly neutral.
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Legacy in Mind: Why We Bother to Save the Planet
The Huffington Post: It's supposed to hit 97 degrees this week in Washington, D.C., my hometown. My plan is to stay indoors and crank up the AC, for as long as the heat wave lasts. I know that the price tag for my comfort will show up in my next utility bill, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. I also know that my choice has other, hidden costs -- costs that will be paid by future generations, including my children and their children. Global warming is an undisputed scientific fact now, and there is little doubt that this ominous trend is related to human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels.
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Formula written for math success
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Mastery of fractions and early division is a predictor of students' later success with algebra and other higher-level mathematics, based on a study done by a team of researchers led by a Carnegie Mellon University professor. That means more effective teaching of the concepts is needed to improve math scores among U.S. high school students, which have remained stagnant for more than 30 years.
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Essay mills — a coarse lesson on cheating
Los Angeles Times: Sometimes as I decide what kind of papers to assign to my students, I worry about essay mills, companies whose sole purpose is to generate essays for high school and college students (in exchange for a fee, of course). The mills claim that the papers are meant to be used as reference material to help students write their own, original papers. But with names such as echeat.com, it's pretty clear what their real purpose is. Professors in general are concerned about essay mills and their effect on learning, but not knowing exactly what they provide, I wasn't sure how concerned to be. So together with my lab manager Aline Grüneisen, I decided to check the services out.
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iPhone-Addicted Lego Lover Seeks Same For Fun, Romance, Brand Worship
Fast Company: A few years back, the results of a study conducted to determine if brand exposure motivates behavior was published in the Journal of Consumer Research. The researchers determined that when primed with the Apple logo, respondents did indeed think different, and became more creative than when exposed to the IBM logo. Similarly, in a paper published by Psychological Science, Zhong and DeVoe flashed fast-food images in front of one group of participants. The second group was exposed to neutral images. The fast-food group were spurred on, reading a 320-word passage a full 15 seconds faster than the neutral group. Read the whole story:
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Organic Eaters Might Be Meaner Than Their Counterparts, Study Finds
Huffington Post: Eating organic food may make people develop a holier-than-thou complex, according to a new study in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Researchers divided subjects into three different groups. One was shown pictures of organic food, like apples and spinach, and another comfort food, like brownies and cookies. The remaining group, which served as the control, was shown foods that weren't organic or comfort foods, like rice, mustard and oatmeal. Afterward, the subjects were asked to pass judgment on a variety of moral transgressions. The results were stark: People in the organic food group judged the issues much more harshly than the others.
