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Trimming super-size with psychology, from half-order sides to color of the plates
The Washington Post: Call it the alter-ego of super-sizing. Researchers infiltrated a fast-food Chinese restaurant and found up to a third of diners jumped at the offer of a half-size of the usual heaping pile of rice or noodles — even when the smaller amount cost the same. Giant portion sizes are one of the culprits behind the epidemic of bulging waistlines, and nowhere is the portion-creep more evident than in restaurants with French fry-heavy meal deals or plates overflowing with pasta. Now scientists are tapping into the psychology of eating to find ways to trim portions without people feeling cheated — focusing on everything from the starchy sides to the color of the plates.
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Why the last chocolate tastes the best
The Telegraph: Psychologists discovered that people become “motivated” when they know an experience is about to be completed. The University of Michigan study found that this led to a person thinking the experience would end happily. The findings, reported in the journal Psychological Science, could add weight to the saying “leaving the best for last”. “Endings affect us in lots of ways and one is this ‘positivity effect,” said researcher Ed O'Brien, who led the study. “It is something motivational. You think ‘I might as well reap the benefits of this experience even though it is going to end’ or ‘I want to get something good out of this while I still can’.
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Comment réduire la douleur sans médicaments
Le Figaro: On en sait aujourd'hui plus sur les mécanismes cérébraux à l'origine d'une baisse de la sensation de douleur sans antalgiques. Des études avaient déjà montré que l'effet placebo (on donne au patient un médicament sans effet en lui faisant croire qu'il en a) pouvait abaisser la sensation de douleur. Et on sait aussi que s'occuper l'esprit, par exemple faire un puzzle, peut avoir le même résultat. Dans les deux cas, l'imagerie cérébrale montre qu'une même zone du cerveau (dans le cortex préfrontal) est concernée. Des chercheurs de la Columbia Université et de l'université du Colorado ont voulu savoir si ces deux effets avaient réellement un chemin cérébral identique.
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The M.R.S. and the Ph.D.
The New York Times: Today women earn almost 60 percent of all bachelor’s degrees and more than half of master’s and Ph.D.’s. Many people believe that, while this may be good for women as income earners, it bodes ill for their marital prospects. As Kate Bolick wrote in a much-discussed article in The Atlantic last fall, American women face “a radically shrinking pool of what are traditionally considered to be ‘marriageable’ men — those who are better educated and earn more than they do.” Educated women worry that they are scaring away potential partners, and pundits claim that those who do marry will end up with unsatisfactory matches.
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The Need to Feel Connected
The Atlantic: The need for people to feel connected runs deep. According to a study conducted at Purdue University, even the gaze of a stranger makes a difference. When strangers pass you by without acknowledging you, you feel more disconnected. And it hurts. The study looked at traffic along a well-traveled path on campus. A research assistant walked along the path and either met a passing person's eyes, met their eyes and smiled, or looked right past the person, essentially ignoring them. The person on the path was then immediately interviewed and asked how disconnected they felt right then.
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Different Bodies, Different Minds
We like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, absorbing information, weighing it carefully, and making thoughtful decisions. But, as it turns out, we’re kidding ourselves. Over the past few decades, scientists have shown there are many different internal and external factors influencing how we think, feel, communicate, and make decisions at any given moment. One particularly powerful influence may be our own bodies, according to new research reviewed in the December issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
