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It’s Flu Season — Watch Your Prejudices
Huffington Post: I tried not to breathe too much on the elevator this morning. I was trying to avoid the germs of a fellow who clearly had the flu -- or at least a really nasty cold. There seems to be a lot of sickness going around right now, and I'm just being prudent. I know it would have been rude to cover my face or turn my back to this guy, so I just held my breath for the 10-story ride. That's my behavioral immune system kicking in. Behavioral immune system is just a fancy way of summarizing what the mind and body have long known, that one of the most powerful tools we have for staying well is to watch out for sick people, and then give them wide berth.
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Delayed Gratification Study: It Also Predicts Credit Scores
International Business Times: The Stanford marshmallow delayed gratification test is one of the most influential behavior studies in modern history. Conducted by Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel in 1972, it has proven to be a solid predicator of success in life and is used by elite preschools to screen their young candidates. Mischel's experiment measured if children could sacrifice eating a marshmallow immediately in order to receive two marshmallows 15 minutes later. Years later, those who resisted the temptation (and received two marshmallows) went on to perform better in on their SAT tests.
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A Sign That Doctors Care More for Their Patients Than Themselves?
The Atlantic: Here's proof that doctors care more about their patients' safety than their own. A study has found that doctors tended to ignore signs asking them to wash their hands for the sake of their own health; When they were reminded that not washing put their patients' health at risk, they were far more willing to oblige. Whatever was going through the doctors' minds, an appeal to patient safety got their attention much better than an appeal to their personal safety. Soap use rose by over 45 percent. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina were interested in what type of message would be most effective at increasing doctors' hand washing.
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The chewing-gum edge
The Globe and Mail: “Good news for students and worrying parents as researchers discover a quick and easy method to boost final exam scores,” says Psych Central. “In a new study, researchers determined [that] chewing gum for five minutes before taking a test improves test scores. However, students should use the initial boost judiciously as the benefits extend for only the first 15 to 20 minutes of the testing. St. Lawrence University psychologist Dr. Serge Onyper conducted a study that showed that students who chewed gum for five minutes before taking a test did better on the test than non-gum-chewing students. Read the whole story: The Globe and Mail
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Despite Occasional Scandals, Science Can Police Itself
The Chronicle of Higher Education: The public has always been fascinated with the scientific mind, including its corruption. So it is no surprise that the sordid case of the Dutch researcher Diederik Stapel grabbed headlines for a few days, including prominent articles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and this publication. The news stories came after the journal Science expressed concern about one of Stapel's published papers, which is under investigation for data tampering. It is already clear that this one suspicious paper is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, Stapel had been under fraud investigation for some weeks when the news articles broke.
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Can Companies, Political Groups or Organizations Have a Single Mind?
News of employee misconduct always creates a whirlwind for the companies involved — think of Enron, Goldman Sachs and UBS, for example. But are these firms responsible for the actions of their employees? Or do individual members have distinct and independent responsibility separate from a group’s actions? New research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Boston College find that members of a cohesive group are judged to have less responsibility for their own individual actions.
