-
The Brain, in Exquisite Detail
The New York Times: ST. LOUIS — Deanna Barch talks fast, as if she doesn’t want to waste any time getting to the task at hand, which is substantial. She is one of the researchers here at Washington University working on the first interactive wiring diagram of the living, working human brain. ... Dr. Barch is explaining the dimensions of the task, and the reasons for undertaking it, as she stands in a small room, where multiple monitors are set in front of a window that looks onto an adjoining room with an M.R.I. machine, in the psychology building. She asks a research assistant to bring up an image.
-
Are We Genetically Inclined To Be Materialistic?
NPR: People tend to hate to lose stuff they already own. This trait, known as the endowment effect, is likely handed down to us by evolution, since it is visible cross-culturally as well as in non-human primates. However, new research suggests certain cultures place a brake on this evolutionary trait, whereas capitalistic societies put it on steroids. A common complaint about the holiday season is that it's become too commercial. Selfishness and materialism are a part of human nature. At least that's what we thought. But in a recent experiment, researchers found a group of people with a very different kind of nature.
-
The Open-Office Trap
The New Yorker: In 1973, my high school, Acton-Boxborough Regional, in Acton, Massachusetts, moved to a sprawling brick building at the foot of a hill. Inspired by architectural trends of the preceding decade, the classrooms in one of its wings didn’t have doors. The rooms opened up directly onto the hallway, and tidbits about the French Revolution, say, or Benjamin Franklin’s breakfast, would drift from one classroom to another. Distracting at best and frustrating at worst, wide-open classrooms went, for the most part, the way of other ill-considered architectural fads of the time, like concrete domes.
-
How Cyclical Thinking Might Help You Save Money
Pacific Standard: Whether it’s a lack of decent-paying jobs or an advertising-induced confusion between wants and needs or a propensity to spend without simultaneously practicing the refined art of saving, many Americans reside in financially precarious conditions. National household debt, for example, is on the rise, with consumers currently owing $11.3 trillion. Furthermore, nearly half of the country’s occupied homes are one monetary disaster away from poverty. Then there’s the growing problem of student loans.
-
The Perils of Performance Appraisals
Performance appraisals are sold as a tool to not only praise good work, but to help employees improve on their shortcomings. But often, the worker simply views the criticism as a proverbial slap across the face, and becomes so bitter or disoriented by the feedback that those improvements never come. What motivates employees to correct deficiencies in their performance? How can a manager deliver criticism without harming morale? In a recent study, a team of psychological scientists theorized that the way people react to negative work evaluations rests largely on their individual goal orientation.
-
When Charitable Acts Are ‘Tainted’ by Personal Gain
We tend to perceive a person’s charitable efforts as less moral if the do-gooder reaps a reward from the effort, according to new research. This phenomenon — which researchers call the “tainted-altruism effect” — suggests
