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Psychological Biases Play A Part In Vaccination Decisions
NPR: With the recent outbreak of measles originating from Disneyland, there's been no shortage of speculation, accusation and recrimination concerning why some people won't vaccinate their children. There's also been some — but only some — more historically and psychologically informed discussion. Some people's motivation for skipping vaccines likely comes from persistent misinformation and, in particular, the unfounded belief that there's a link between vaccines and autism. And, as Adam Frank pointed out in a post last week, vaccinations also play into a larger cultural conversation about science and its place in society. Read the whole story: NPR
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Driving in Rain, Sleet, or Snow? Cognitive Biases Worsen Winter Driving
This winter much of the United States has been battered by snowstorms and record freezing temperatures. But snowflakes and black ice aren’t the only things making winter roads dangerous -- it’s likely that many drivers succumb to common cognitive biases that lead them to overestimate their skill at handling hazardous road conditions. Psychological scientists have long known that people generally tend to view their skills in optimistic terms—regardless of how their abilities actually hold up in reality.
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Babies Know What’s Up
New York Magazine: Babies as young as 13 months seem to be able to follow the complexities of a tense social situation, even showing surprise when those involved don't behave as expected, suggests a new paper in Psychological Science. You-jung Choi and Yuyan Luo of the University of Missouri did their research by putting on a simple puppet show for 48 infants and their parents. ... Choi and Luo were curious: How would the babies react to subsequent interactions between puppets A and B, and how would those reactions differ according to which version of the show the babies had seen? Obviously, the 13-month-olds couldn't tell the researchers what they were thinking.
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Transgender children aren’t confused about their gender identity, study finds
Fox News: An ongoing longitudinal study of transgender children and their siblings has revealed that these youths have a strong understanding of their gender identity. The paper’s findings, published in the February edition of the journal Psychological Science, counter the belief that transgender children are confused about their gender or are too young to understand what gender means. “We found that gender cognition in the transgender kids was indistinguishable from their non-transgender peers and siblings,” study author Nicholas Eaton, an assistant psychology professor at Stony Brook University in New York, said in a news release.
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Madam C.E.O., Get Me a Coffee
The New York Times: LATE one Friday afternoon at a leading consulting firm, a last-minute request came in from a client. A female manager was the first to volunteer her time. She had already spent the entire day meeting with junior colleagues who were seeking career advice, even though they weren’t on her team. Earlier in the week, she had trained several new hires, helped a colleague improve a presentation and agreed to plan the office holiday party. When it came time for her review for partner, her clear track record as a team player combined with her excellent performance should have made her a shoo-in. Instead, her promotion was delayed for six months, and then a year. ...
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Trying to Be Less Stupid: The Hard Work of Brain Science
National Geographic: Michael Gazzaniga was still a graduate student when he helped make one of the most intriguing discoveries of modern neuroscience: that the two hemispheres of the brain not only have different functions, but also operate independently—the so-called split-brain phenomenon. A lover of fine wine and conversation, Gazzaniga, today a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is also that rarity: a scientist whose life and work cross over into the humanities.
