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Rats Shown to Feel Regret Over Bad Decisions
BBC: It is the first time regret has been identified in mammals other than humans. Researchers created situations where rats had to choose whether to wait a set amount of time for a food reward, or move onto another one. Those that moved on and found the next offering was even worse showed regretful behaviour. Read the whole story: BBC
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Researchers: Nothing Special About Einstein’s Brain
NPR: SCOTT SIMON: Albert Einstein had an enviable mind. So much, in fact, that when he died in Princeton's hospital, the pathologist on-call stole his brain. Dr. Einstein had asked for his brain to be cremated along with the rest of him, but eventually, it wound up in slices in various research labs. And over the years, scientists have claimed to have found brain ridges or cells that might shed some light on his singular human mind. But a new scientific paper says that, in fact, there was nothing special about Einstein's brain. Dr. Terrence Hines wrote that paper. He's a professor of psychology at Pace University and joins us from his home in New York. Thanks so much for being with us.
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Researchers Build Profile of the Drowsy Trucker
Among truck drivers, the practice of driving with a critical lack of sleep is an open secret. The transgression captured public attention earlier this month amid news of a New Jersey Turnpike accident that critically injured actor Tracy Morgan and killed comedian James McNair. Prosecutors say the Walmart truck driver, whose tractor-trailer plowed into the van shuttling the entertainers, had not slept in more than 24 hours. Health and behavioral researchers worldwide have uncovered the prevalence of sleep-deprived driving among truckers and commercial vehicle operators.
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Moral Tales With Positive Outcomes Motivate Kids to Be Honest
A moral story that praises a character’s honesty is more effective at getting young children to tell the truth than a story that emphasizes the negative repercussions of lying, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings suggest that stories such as “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and “Pinocchio” may not be effective cautionary tales when it comes to inspiring honest behavior in children. Stories have long been employed to instill moral and cultural values in young children, but there is little research exploring the effectiveness of such stories.
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Morality Can Trump Tribalism
Pacific Standard: The top news stories have been even more depressing than usual of late, with tribalism—accompanied by active hatred for perceived outsiders—emerging as a driving force everywhere from Middle Eastern battlefields to the halls of Congress. But encouraging new research points to a surprising way around this us.-vs.-them mindset. It suggests a set of moral beliefs often associated with antagonism toward outsiders can, in fact, temper such aggressive impulses. Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
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Surprising Psychology Can Make the Country Healthier
Scientific American: Public health communications are designed to tackle significant medical issues such as obesity, AIDS, and cancer. For example, what message can best combat the growing obesity epidemic? Are educational messages effective at increasing condom use? Should cancer prevention messages stress the health risks of too much sun exposure? These are not just medical problems. These are fundamentally questions about perception, beliefs, and behavior. Psychologists bring a unique expertise to these questions and are finding consequential, and often non-intuitive, answers. Read the whole story: Scientific American
