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Turn That Frown Upside Down
How can you make your day better? Turn that frown upside down. As corny as that phrase is, science can back it up. As part of the Wall Street Journal's "Is It True" video series, Christina Tsuei interviewed APS member George Bonanno about whether smiles really do improve your mood. Bonanno, author of “The Other Side of Sadness,” talked about the benefits of a spontaneous joy-filled smile. The video below also references a 2010 study published in Psychological Science, Cosmetic Use of Botulinum Toxin-A Affects Processing of Emotional Language.
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Evil: Is It Us or All Around Us?
Psychological scientist Philip Zimbardo reflected on his controversial Stanford Prison Experiment with Jon Stewart in a past episode of the Daily Show. In 1971, twelve students were randomly assigned to the roles of a prisoner or a guard in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Within 36 hours, the students displayed characteristics of abusive guards and pathological criminals. The experiment was supposed to run for 2 weeks, but it ended after only 6 days. In this clip, Zimbardo also discusses his book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil and explains how our environments can affect our actions.
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<em>Better Angels</em>, Believe It or Not
Two World Wars, the Cold War, and the rise of terrorism must make the past century one of the most violent in the history of our species, right? Not according to Harvard psychologist and APS member Steven Pinker, who argues in his new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, that violence is declining. According to Pinker, we are actually living in the most peaceful era in human history. Watch Pinker’s TED talk on the myth of violence to learn more about why Pinker thinks our “better angels” are winning out. You can learn more about Pinker’s by reading coverage from The New York Times and Time.
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Loving the iPhone? Thank Steve Jobs and Human-Computer Interactions
iTechnologies pave the way for new fields of psychological science The late Steve Jobs is considered the Thomas Edison of our time. His innovations not only sold in a down economy, but the technology created by Jobs revolutionized the way we live our lives and interact with others. With the anticipated release of the iPhone4, a New York Times op-ed by Martin Lindstrom said that brain scans of participants who saw a vibrating iPhone “responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond to the presence or proximity of a girlfriend, boyfriend or family member. In short, the subject didn't demonstrate the classic brain-based signs of addiction.
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<em>Psychological Science</em> Authors Honored With Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine
Watching Nobel laureates dancing the sirtaki and witnessing a flight of 1,200 paper airplanes were two of the unconventional events used to honor the winners of the 2011 Ig Nobel Prizes. Among the winners were Mirjam Tuk, Debra Trampe, and Luk Warlop, who received this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine for research demonstrating that people with full bladders make less impulsive choices. Their work was published earlier this year in Psychological Science. At first, Tuk wasn’t sure what to make of the prize. “I was curious to what extent this reward only highlights hilarious research [as opposed to] serious research, which mine was in the end.
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Spoiling the Ending Doesn’t Spoil the Story
People hate to know the ending before they’ve read the story or watched the movie. At least that’s what they think. A study in the September issue of Psychological Science reveals that contrary to this popular belief, knowing the ending actually enhances readers’ enjoyment of a story.
