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Is Bilingualism Really an Advantage?
The New Yorker: In 1922, in “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus,” the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” The words that we have at our disposal affect what we see—and the more words there are, the better our perception. When we learn to speak a different language, we learn to see a bigger world. Many modern language researchers agree with that premise. Not only does speaking multiple languages help us to communicate but bilingualism (or multilingualism) may actually confer distinct advantages to the developing brain.
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The Devotion Leap
The New York Times: The online dating site OkCupid asks its clients to rate each other’s attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 5. When men rated the women, the median score was about 3 and the ratings followed a bell curve — a few really attractive women and an equal number of women rated as unattractive. But when women rated men, the results were quite different. The median score was between 1 and 2. Only 1 in 6 of the guys was rated as having above average looks. Either the guys who go to places like OkCupid, Tinder and other sites are disproportionately homely, or women have unforgiving eyes. Looks, unsurprisingly, dominate online dating.
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Your Pet Says More About Your Personality Than You Might Think
The Huffington Post: Cat people and dog people really do have different personality traits, new research suggests. People who own cats tend to be more creative, adventurous, and anxious. Dog owners, on the other hand, tend to be more extroverted, secure, and risk-averse. Those differences were seen in a fascinating new study (see video above) by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley and California State University, East Bay. And in addition to pinpointing those personality differences, the researchers uncovered something surprising about pet owners' affection for their companion animals. Read the whole story: The Huffington Post
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Even Airports Can Have Inferiority Complexes
New York Magazine: Strongly signaling your inclusion in a group does not always mean you’re a core member of that group — sometimes it means you’re actually on the fringe. If it’s a high-status group, jumping up and down yelling that you’re one of the cool kids might, in fact, signal status anxiety. In a new and highly self-aware paper, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (a real Ivy, they’ll have you know) demonstrated this phenomenon in several contexts, ranging from Ivy undergrads to "international" airports. Read the whole story: New York Magazine
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Brain Science: The Patriots Will Forget Deflategate
TIME: Distraction: it might be the most needlessly analyzed term in all of sports. Especially over the last year or so. Jason Collins signs with the Nets: will the first openly gay player in the NBA serve as a distraction? (Turns out, no). Will Michael Sam fall in the NFL draft, because teams fear that the first openly gay player in the NFL would distract the locker room? (Such a fear surely cost Sam draft position). Every year, distractions are a rote Super Bowl story line. Will the players be able to handle all ticket requests, the glare and anticipation of over a hundred million Americans, and still play football? This year, the distractions lurk like a lobby autograph hound.
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Bilingual Studies Reveal Flaw In How Info Reaches Mainstream
NPR: A host of studies and popular reports tout the cognitive benefits of being bilingual. Is that because being bilingual has mental benefits, or because the science is biased? You know, there's a theory that if you know more than one language, it makes your brain stronger. That theory has shown up in scientific journals and newspapers and magazines. Es impresionante pero es la verdad. The truth is it's a bit more complicated. And that fact might expose a flaw in how scientific research reaches the mainstream. Our own David Greene spoke about that with NPR's Shankar Vedantam. Hey, Shankar. Hi, David. Well, let's start with this theory. What is it?
