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The Limits of Friendship
The New Yorker: Robin Dunbar came up with his eponymous number almost by accident. The University of Oxford anthropologist and psychologist (then at University College London) was trying to solve the problem of why primates devote so much time and effort to grooming. In the process of figuring out the solution, he chanced upon a potentially far more intriguing application for his research. At the time, in the nineteen-eighties, the Machiavellian Intelligence Hypothesis (now known as the Social Brain Hypothesis) had just been introduced into anthropological and primatology discourse.
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Asking Advice Makes a Good Impression
Scientific American: What do you do when you can’t figure out how to finish a tricky task at work? Or you’re lost on those back roads? Or you’re trying a new DIY project in your house and just can’t seem to make it look like the photo that inspired you on Pinterest? In life, when you’re stuck in a conundrum, there are many solutions. For example, you could invest more time and effort by brainstorming alternative approaches, using trial-and-error (until you get that paint line just right), or looking up tricks of the trade online. But there is one thing most people know to avoid for sure: asking for advice. It’s inconsiderate—we don’t want to bother others.
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When men drink, their smiles get more ‘contagious’
The Washington Post: When bros share brews, they also start sharing smiles, according to a new study published in Clinical Psychological Science. That could explain why men are much more likely to drink in excess than women are -- they just have more fun. Humans and some other animals experience something called "emotional contagion". Without realizing it, your emotional state is affected by the facial expressions and cues of the people you interact with. If someone is smiling genuinely, you're likely to "catch" that smile -- especially if they're a close friend or family member. People often tout alcohol as a lubricant in social settings.
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Bonding through pain
The Boston Globe: HAZING HAS A BAD reputation, whether in the military, on sports teams, or in college fraternities, but it does serve a purpose, as demonstrated by psychologists in Australia. They randomly assigned small groups of students to experience pain together—by immersing their hands in cold water, maintaining a leg squat, or eating a hot pepper—and found that students in these groups reported bonding more with the group and were more cooperative in a game where individual and group payoffs conflicted. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
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Teens’ Science Interest Linked With Knowledge, but Only in Wealthier Nations
It seems logical that a student who is interested in science as an academic subject would also know a lot about science, but new findings show that this link depends on the overall wealth of the country that the teen calls home. The research suggests that individual science achievement may be influenced as much by broad national-level resources as it is by personal interest and motivation.
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Logic Trumps Gut Instinct in Peer Reviews of Decision Makers
When faced with making a tough decision do you tend to trust your gut, or do you logically review all the facts? In a recent study, psychological scientists Nicole L. Wood and Scott Highhouse of Bowling Green State University examined whether we can distinguish between “good” decision makers and “bad” decision makers by analyzing people’s go-to decision making style. Are rational decision makers seen as making better choices than people who follow their intuition? One model for looking at decision-making, the General Decision-Making Style (GDMS), identifies five major styles that people use in making decisions: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous.
