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Why Do Humans Talk to Animals If They Can’t Understand?
The Atlantic: “Do you think it’s weird that I tell Nermal I love her multiple times a day?” My sister’s question was muffled, her face stuffed in the fur of her six-month-old kitten (named for the cat from Garfield). We were sitting in the living room of her apartment and, as always, Nermal was vying for our attention—pawing at our hair, walking along the couch behind us, spreading across our laps and looking up at us with her big, bright eyes. She’s almost aggressively cute, and inspires the kind of love that demands to be vocalized. I’d find it weirder if my sister weren’t doing so. ... But why do we do it?
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What Happens to Creativity as We Age?
The New York Times: One day not long ago, Augie, a 4-year-old Gopnik grandchild, heard his grandfather wistfully say, “I wish I could be a kid again.” After a thoughtful pause, Augie came up with a suggestion: Grandpa should try not eating any vegetables. The logic was ingenious: Eating vegetables turns children into big strong adults, so not eating vegetables should reverse the process. No grown-up would ever come up with that idea. But anyone with a 4-year-old can tell similar stories. Young children’s creativity seems to outstrip that of even the most imaginative adults. How does the ability to come up with unusual ideas change as we grow older? Does it begin to flag in adolescence?
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Like Adults, Children Show Bias in Attributing Mental States to Others
Young children are more likely to attribute mental states to characters that belong to the same group as them relative to characters that belong to an outside group.
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People Favor Highly-Reviewed Products, Even When They Shouldn’t
We often rely on the ratings and reviews of others to help us choose a product or service, but we sometimes use this information in ways that can actually work to our disadvantage.
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Psychologists surveyed hundreds of alt-right supporters. The results are unsettling.
Vox: Recently, psychologists Patrick Forscher and Nour Kteily recruited members of the alt-right (a.k.a. the “alternative right,” the catchall political identity of white nationalists) to participate in a study to build the first psychological profile of their movement. The results, which were released on August 9, are just in working paper form, and have yet to be peer-reviewed or published in an academic journal. That said, the study uses well-established psychological measures and is clear about its limitations. (And all the researchers’ raw data and materials have been posted online for others to review.) Read the whole story: Vox
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Social And Emotional Skills: Everybody Loves Them, But Still Can’t Define Them
NPR: More and more, people in education agree on the importance of schools' paying attention to stuff other than academics. But still, no one agrees on what to call that "stuff." I originally published a story on this topic two years ago. As I reported back then, there were a bunch of overlapping terms in play, from "character" to "grit" to "noncognitive skills." This bagginess bugged me, as a member of the education media. It bugged researchers and policymakers too. It still does. If anything, the case for nonacademics has gotten even stronger since then. In fact, it has been enshrined in federal law.
