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It Pays To Be Overconfident
The Huffington Post: The eye is an exquisite sensory device -- honed over hundreds of millions of years of evolution -- and yet people are incredibly biased in their perception. If you don't believe you're biased, think for a moment about the last time you saw a candid photo of yourself that you liked. If you're similar to most people, you probably think that 80 percent of the shots of yourself are poorly taken. But your friends are not bad photographers; you're just not as good looking as you think you are. And that's why you don't like their pictures of you, because they capture what you really look like.
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The psychology of political beliefs (or, why hard data isn’t always convincing)
The Washington Post: When Donald Trump declared last weekend that he saw television footage of thousands of Muslims cheering from New Jersey on the day of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, fact-checkers moved quickly. The Post's Glenn Kessler found no evidence of Trump's claim, awarding it four Pinocchios. Others came to the conclusion. And then something odd happened.
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Quick Thinkers Are Charismatic
Charisma may rely on quick thinking, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research shows that people who were able to respond more quickly to general knowledge questions and visual tasks were perceived as more charismatic by their friends, independently of IQ and other personality traits.
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Five Ways to Give Better Gifts (Backed by Science)
The Wall Street Journal: Bundling a big, generous present with a little extra “stocking stuffer” actually detracts from the appreciation of your big gift. Contrary to everything we’ve been taught, receivers feel closer to you afterward if you choose a gift that reflects your interests rather than theirs. If you’re in a romantic relationship or hoping to nurture one, you need to be more careful giving a present to a man than a woman. These are some of the findings from psychologists and other researchers who study gift-giving that you may want to take into account this holiday season. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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Black Friday: The Jury is Still Deliberating
Scientific American: Halloween decorations have been taken down, costumes have been stowed away and all of the candy corn has been eaten. Americans are now preparing for their next major holiday—Black Friday. Black Friday is the unofficial official name for the day after Thanksgiving. On this day retailers proclaim the start of the holiday shopping season by offering steep discounts. For example, last year, Black Friday shoppers could buy a Panasonic 50-inch LED HD TV from Best Buy for just $199.99 while supplies lasted. This was a 64 percent discount!
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What really drives you crazy about waiting in line (it actually isn’t the wait at all)
The Washington Post: If the people who study the psychology of waiting in line — yes, there is such a thing — have an origin story, it’s this: It was the 1950s, and a high-rise office building in Manhattan had a problem. The tenants complained of an excessively long wait for the elevator when people arrived in the morning, took their lunch break, and left at night. Engineers examined the building and determined that nothing could be done to speed up the service. Desperate to keep his tenants, the building manager turned to his staff for suggestions.
