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As New Year’s resolutions begin to fade away, what are the best ways to ensure new habits stick?
St. Louis Public Radio: Another January 1 has come and gone. Now we’ve entered the doldrums of February. So, how are those New Year’s resolutions going? On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, we discussed how to form habits that actually stick with Henry “Roddy” Roediger, a Washington University psychology professor. Roediger is co-author of “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.” Read the whole story: St. Louis Public Radio
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Words Can Sound “Round” or “Sharp” Without Us Realizing It
Our tendency to match specific sounds with specific shapes, even abstract shapes, is so fundamental that it guides perception before we are consciously aware of it.
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Can a Caffeine Buzz Improve Driving Safety?
A study conducted by the Australian Department of Defence finds that caffeine significantly improved driving performance in sleep-deprived individuals – even after 40 straight hours of wakefulness.
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The Tricky Psychology of Holding Government Accountable
The Atlantic: I spoke with Tetlock about when being held accountable leads people to make more careful decisions and when it doesn’t, and what lessons this suggests for the public’s ability to hold government accountable. A lightly edited and condensed transcript of our conversation is below. Julie Beck: What are the conditions where being held accountable makes people consider other points of view, and when does it not really change how people make decisions? Philip Tetlock: It virtually always influences how people make decisions, but it’s not always good. Accountability is a multidimensional concept. It refers to who must answer to whom for what under what ground rules.
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Just alike: Twins separated at birth
CBS: Identical twins are as close to being JUST ALIKE as genetics will allow. And for researchers, those similarities are providing very important insights. Here’s Erin Moriarty of “48 Hours”: On a recent afternoon at London’s Heathrow Airport, 11-year-old Evie Hanlon-Moores stood impatiently alongside her mother. She was waiting for someone she hadn’t seen for nearly a year. “Are you nervous at all?” Moriarty asked. “Maybe,” Evie replied. Despite the long separation she had no trouble recognizing her. ...
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In Choosing a Job, Focus on the Fun
The New York Times: If you don’t like your job, you aren’t alone. In fact, two out of three working Americans do not feel engaged at work, according to a Gallup survey. And many of these people spend more of their waking time working than doing anything else. As a psychology professor at a business school, I have chatted with many unhappy employees. I have found that one big reason people are unhappy at work is that when they choose a job or a project, they are not aware of what will truly matter to them once they are in the midst of it. People send résumés and go to interviews thinking that they care only about salaries and promotions. These are important, yes, but they are not enough.
