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Stumped by a Problem? This Technique Unsticks You
Stuck solving a problem? Seek the obscure, says Tony McCaffrey, a psychology PhD from the University of Massachusetts. “There’s a classic obstacle to innovation called ‘functional fixedness,’ which is the tendency to fixate on the common use of an object or its parts. It hinders people from solving problems.” McCaffrey has developed a systematic way of overcoming that obstacle: the “generic parts technique” (GPT), which he describes in the latest issue of Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. The article also reports on McCaffrey’s test of GPT’s effectiveness.
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Does Preschool Matter?
Wired: For many kids, the most important years of schooling come before they can even read. Consider the groundbreaking work of the Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman, who has repeatedly documented the power of early childhood education. One of his best case studies is the Perry Preschool Experiment, which looked at 123 low-income African-American children from Yspilanti, Michigan.
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Study of the Day: Why That Last Piece of Chocolate Tastes the Best
The Atlantic: PROBLEM: Our fondest memories usually involve the last of something, be it a farewell kiss or the final day of school. Does this last-is-best bias extend to more trivial events in everyday life? METHODOLOGY: University of Michigan psychologists Ed O'Brien and Phoebe C. Ellsworth recruited 52 students for a taste test of Hershey's Kisses to see if even the smallest of endings have a "positivity effect." The experimenters drew five chocolates -- milk, dark, crème, caramel, and almond -- in random order from a hidden pocket inside a bag without sharing to the participants how many chocolates there would be.
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Hungry people ‘have clearer picture of food-related words’
Yahoo! India: Famished people tend to see food-related words more clearly than people who've just eaten, a new study has revealed. The study finds that this change in vision happens at the earliest, perceptual stages, before higher parts of the brain have a chance to change the messages coming from the eyes. Psychologists have known for decades that what's going on inside our head affects our senses. For example, poorer children think coins are larger than they are, and hungry people think pictures of food are brighter.
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Red Dress Effect: Women In Red Deemed Open To Sexual Advances, Study Of Men Shows
Huffington Post: Red dresses muddle men's minds, just ask The Matrix's Neo. In a scene from the 1999 sci-fi film, the hero is famously ambushed after becoming distracted by a woman on the street wearing a slinky red outfit. Now, a new study shows how such duds attain their sway. Men rate women wearing red clothing as being more interested in sex, hinting that humans may be conditioned to associate the color with fertility. The pull of red is nothing new. Women have donned pinkish blush and bright lipstick for nearly 12,000 years. And, if you're lucky enough to get a Valentine's Day card, it will probably come decorated in tiny red hearts.
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Stress turns men into risk-takers, while women play it safe
Toronto Star: Stress increases the differences in how men and women think about risk, according to a newly published article in Current Directions in Psychological Science. The article reviewed a number of previous studies that looked at how stress affects people when they’re making a decision. It seems that stress affects the way people assess risk and reward. When it comes to stress and gender there are some surprising differences, said Mara Mather, a professor of gerontology and psychology at the University of Southern California who co-wrote the paper with Nichole R. Lighthall, a PhD student in her lab.
