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Wharton Psychologist on How to Reach Your Potential: People ‘Really Underestimate the Slow Learners, the Late Bloomers’
Are you a formerly “gifted” kid, struggling to find success as an adult? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant may have a solution for you. Put simply: Instead of giving up when things don’t come naturally to you, start thinking like a “late bloomer.” “Natural talent is overrated,” Grant, a bestselling author and psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, recently told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Most child prodigies do not grow up to become adult geniuses. And I think that leaves us to really underestimate the slow learners, the late bloomers.” ...
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Why We Click on Stuff We Know We Won’t Like
Why is there a deluge of divisive and negative content on social media? Is it simply that — despite what we’d prefer to think about ourselves — we like this kind of stuff? After all, research suggests that negativity — especially about our political opponents — is likeliest to go viral online. Maybe the basic explanation is that everyone wants to see content that reinforces their political biases and makes their enemies look bad. But a new study we’ve published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science suggests this couldn’t be further from the truth. Our engagement behavior does not reflect our preferences.
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White Faces Generated by AI Are More Convincing Than Photos, Finds Survey
It sounds like a scenario straight out of a Ridley Scott film: technology that not only sounds more “real” than actual humans, but looks more convincing, too. Yet it seems that moment has already arrived. A new study has found people are more likely to think pictures of white faces generated by AI are human than photographs of real individuals. “Remarkably, white AI faces can convincingly pass as more real than human faces – and people do not realise they are being fooled,” the researchers report.
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Preregistering, Transparency, and Large Samples Boost Psychology Studies’ Replication Rate to Nearly 90%
For the past decade, psychology has been in the midst of a replication crisis. Large, high-profile studies have found that only about half of the findings from behavioral science literature can be replicated—a discovery that has cast a long shadow over psychological science, but that has also spurred advocates to push for improved research methods that boost rigor. Now, one of the first systematic tests of these practices in psychology suggests they do indeed boost replication rates.
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A Psychologist Explains Why Your Brain Loves Cheesy Holiday Movies
'Tis the season for friends, family and cheesy holiday movies. Whether you're a fan of the Christmas classics or prefer the dozens of streamable and made-for-TV specials, experts say there's a reason holiday-themed movies are so popular — even the most corny and predictable. In fact, this is part of what keeps us coming back, says Dr. Pamela Rutledge, a media psychologist and director of the Media Psychology Research Center. "You would almost be disappointed if they weren't a little cheesy and predictable, because that's why you're there. You're there to have a feel-good movie," she says.
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Are AI Faces ‘More Human’ Than Real Ones? See if You Can Tell the Difference
Face the facts. AI-generated faces look more “real” than some humans, according to a new study — at least, when it comes to white people. Published in the Psychological Science journal this week, researchers found that AI could reliably fool people into thinking that computer-generated faces look more real than a photograph.
