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Bracket Frenzy Moves Beyond College Basketball
NPR: March madness means NCAA brackets, along with brackets for practically everything else, from Star Wars characters to grooming products to public radio shows. What makes brackets so appealing? Barry Schwartz has spent a career studying the psychology of choice at Swarthmore College. Read the whole story: NPR
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The Touch-Screen Generation
The Atlantic: On a chilly day last spring, a few dozen developers of children’s apps for phones and tablets gathered at an old beach resort in Monterey, California, to show off their games. One developer, a self-described “visionary for puzzles” who looked like a skateboarder-recently-turned-dad, displayed a jacked-up, interactive game called Puzzingo, intended for toddlers and inspired by his own son’s desire to build and smash. Two 30‑something women were eagerly seeking feedback for an app called Knock Knock Family, aimed at 1-to-4-year-olds. “We want to make sure it’s easy enough for babies to understand,” one explained. ... To a toddler, this is less magic than intuition.
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Can Our Beliefs About Exercise Make Us Fat?
The Huffington Post: Everyone is an expert when it comes to weight and weight control, and I'm no exception. I am what's known as an "exercise theorist." That is, I ascribe to the lay theory that sedentary lifestyle is a major cause of obesity, and that regular exercise is the cure. That's one of the reasons I show up at the gym most days -- and nag others to come with me. ... So what are the consequences of such lay theories? And more important, what are the consequences of embracing the wrong theory?
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Math Careers Just Don’t Add Up For Women
LiveScience: Having skills suited for a variety of careers helps explain why few women pursue math and science jobs, new research finds. A study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan revealed that women may be less likely to want careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) because they have more career choices, not because they have less ability.
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Damned Spot: Guilt, Scrubbing, and More Guilt
Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and by far the bard’s most obsessive. Immorally ambitious, she prods her husband to murder Scotland’s king, and then deludes herself into believing that “a little water will clear us of this deed.” But for all of her repeated hand washing, the ritual cannot cleanse her of her consuming guilt, and by Act V the stubborn blood stains have driven the illegitimate queen to madness and suicide. Cruel fate. But Lady Macbeth has recently enjoyed something of a second career, this one in the field of psychological science.
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Brief Mindfulness Training May Boost Test Scores, Working Memory
College students who underwent mindfulness training showed improved working memory and verbal reasoning scores.
