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Spoilers freshen up stories
ScienceNews: People who read the last page of a mystery novel first may be on to something. Giving away plot surprises generally makes readers like stories better, say psychology graduate student Jonathan Leavitt and psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld, both of the University of California, San Diego. Volunteers especially enjoyed classic short stories, including mysteries and tales with ironic twists, after seeing spoiler paragraphs that revealed how the yarns ended, Leavitt and Christenfeld report in a paper published online August 12 in Psychological Science.
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Inside the Mind of a Creationist
Huffington Post: Texas governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry is ambivalent about the "theory" of evolution. He says it's just one theory that's out there, on equal footing with creationism. He's proud of the fact that, in Texas, children are taught both, so they can choose for themselves. There's a serious problem with this approach to education, however. It has to do with humans' very limited ability to weigh probabilities rationally. Calculating likelihoods and odds is tough cognitive work, and we only do it when we must. Years of research on human thinking has shown this.
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Spoiler alert: Learning ending might not ruin stories after all
Journal and Courier Lafayette: Jessica Simms of West Lafayette goes out of her way to avoid hearing or reading spoilers. "I love getting through a story and not knowing what is going to happen at the end," said the 23-year-old. "It's really annoying when you come across (a spoiler) or someone tries to ruin it for you." However, there's no need to plug your ears, change the channel or cut someone off to avoid hearing a spoiler, according to a new psychology study. Contrary to public opinion, hearing spoilers -- learning the ending of a story -- doesn't actually ruin the experience for the reader. In fact, it makes the experience more enjoyable.
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When Mimicking Reflects Badly On You
The Huffington Post: Have you ever crossed your arms to match a friend’s stance or leaned in a little closer as your date did the same thing? If so, you’ve experienced mirroring. Whether you realize you’re doing it or not, subtly mimicking people in social settings helps you form bonds and establish connections. Mirroring -- copying a person’s looks, gestures and general body language -- is especially handy on job interviews and dates when we're trying to establish a rapport and develop trust. While this unconscious activity has its benefits -- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all -- new research reveals that unchecked mirroring can backfire.
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What use of pronouns reveals about personality
The Boston Globe: The way in which we use pronouns like I, you, or him -- or choose not to use them -- reveals quite a bit about our personalities but not necessarily in the ways we might think. That’s the premise of a new book, The Secret Life of Pronouns, by psychologist James Pennebaker, which hits bookstores on August 30 and draws some surprising conclusions. Favoring the word “I” in sentences, for example, doesn’t mean a person is a narcissist but rather reflects self awareness and self monitoring.
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Delusional and mad they may be, but I love my big pile of self-help books
The Belfast Telegraph: Do you need help? Well, help yourself. Fill, as it were, your boots. Your own boots, mind. Yup, we live in do-it-yourself society or, perhaps more accurately, a read about doing-it-yourself society. We can't help buying self-help books. Self-certified gurus have taken the place of priests and ministers, who fell from grace with the discovery by Darwin that they were talking cack. Even then, it was a rare Sunday in church when you'd be offered five ways to improve your self-esteem, make friends through aromatherapy, or what to expect in the afterlife.
