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Revealing the Psychology of Playing Card Magic
Scientific American: Think of a playing card. Got one in mind? Although it may have felt like a free choice, think again: Most people choose one of only four cards, out of a deck of 52. For now, remember your card — we’ll return to it later. For thousands of years, magicians have amazed audiences by developing and applying intuitions about the mind. Skilled magicians can manipulate memories, control attention, and influence choices. But magicians rarely know why these principles work. Studying magic could reveal the mechanisms of the mind that enable these principles, to uncover the why rather than just the how. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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A Sense of Awe Extends Time
The Wall Street Journal: When people feel permanently harried and strapped for time, maybe what they are missing in their lives is a sense of awe. A new study finds that people who are made to feel awe believe they have more time available to them, they’re less impatient, and they are more willing to do volunteer work. They also express a preference for experiences, such as watching a movie, over material goods of equal value (say, a $10 gas card). And that choice could, in turn, pay dividends, because other psychological studies have found that events and activities create more long-term happiness than does accumulating things. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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Conservatism makes you happy
Salon: In general, political conservatives haven’t been very pleased with a slew of scientific attempts — sometimes dating back well over a decade — to psychoanalyze their beliefs and behavior. Indeed, some on the right wrongly interpret these analyses as implying that conservatives have “bad brains” or a “mental defect.” Yet if psychology-of-politics research is really a veiled attack on the right, then why does it contain so many findings that cast conservatives in a positive light? Chief among these, perhaps, is the discovery that conservatives, across countries, tend to be just plain happier people than liberals are.
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Politics and Prejudice – Insights from Psychological Science
New research from psychological science explores factors operating in political attitudes that could explain why political ideology and prejudice are often linked. Liberals and Conservatives Both Prejudiced Against Groups with Opposing Values Research has associated political conservatism with prejudice toward various stereotyped groups. But research has also shown that people select and interpret evidence consistent with their own pre-existing attitudes and ideologies. In this article, Chambers and colleagues hypothesized that, contrary to what some research might indicate, prejudice is not restricted to a particular political ideology.
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Post-Olympic Blues? 10 Ways To Achieve ‘Personal Life’ Best
The Huffington Post: There will be few people today who aren't going to miss the feel-good factor of the Games. If you weren't moved to tears by the achievements of medal winners, broken by the humility of athletes apologising for coming 'second' and motivated by the commitment of sports men and women who have sacrificed friendships and family time in order to break world records, well, you might not be of this planet. Of course, we've still got the Paralympics to go. But, if you're not sure those daily doses of sport will be enough, Elaine Fox, author of Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, suggests now is the time to for a little 'brain training'.
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Yes, algebra is necessary
The Washington Post: When I first saw yesterday’s New York Times op-ed, I mistook it for a joke. The title, “Is algebra necessary?” had the ring of Thurber’s classic essay, “Is sex necessary?”, a send-up of psychological sex manuals of the 1920s. Unfortunately, the author, Andrew Hacker, poses the question in earnest, and draws the conclusion that algebra should not be required of all students. Read the whole story: The Washington Post
