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Altruism and the Preschooler
The Wall Street Journal: Preschool-age children from wealthier families generally behave less charitably than those from lower economic brackets, according to a recent study. What’s more, the study says, that lack of altruism could affect the physical and mental health of the wealthier children. The study, published recently in the journal Psychological Science, examined the roots and benefits of altruism in preschool-age children. The study’s authors argue that their findings highlight the importance of a child’s early environment in developing charitable tendencies. ...
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Why You Bought That Ugly Sweater
The Atlantic: There is a science to every sale. Among other findings of interest to retailers, researchers have shown that customers are drawn to items sitting on the middle of a shelf, as opposed to the ends [1], and that we perceive prices to be lower when they have fewer syllables and end with a 9 [2, 3]. Stores have figured out how to manipulate us by overpricing merchandise with the intention of later marking it down, knowing that (thanks to a cognitive bias psychologists refer to as “anchoring”) we will see the lowered price as a deal [4].
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If you give a man a gun: the evolutionary psychology of mass shootings
The Conversation: Men commit over 85% of all homicides, 91% of all same-sex homicides and 97% of all same-sex homicides in which the victim and killer aren’t related to each other. These startling statistics are driven home with each new mass shooting (though the most recent tragedy in San Bernardino, California is a bit unusual in that a married couple were the shooters). In any event, politicians and the media are trotting out the usual suspects to explain the tragedy, whether it’s the lack of attention paid to mental illness or the easy availability of guns. But these explanations dance around the big questions: why is there always a man behind these shootings?
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Helping Others Dampens the Effects of Everyday Stress
Providing help to friends, acquaintances, and even strangers can mitigate the impact of daily stressors on our emotions and our mental health, according to research published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association Visit Page
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Scientists say this simple psychological shift can help you achieve your goals
Business Insider: Statistically speaking, there's a good chance you'll fail to keep your New Year's resolutions. Fortunately, you'll have plenty of opportunities to redeem yourself, even before January 1, 2017. The key? Be on the lookout for days that seem like transition points. ... In one experiment, researchers asked participants to describe a goal they would like to pursue. Then they prompted participants to imagine that they had just moved to a new apartment. Some were told that this was the first time they had moved since coming to this city nine years ago; others were told they had moved every year. Read the whole story: Business Insider
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The Vicious Cycle of Cops Behaving Badly
Pacific Standard: Cops act badly. The public loses confidence in cops. Cops behave worse. The public's trust in cops drops to an all-time low. It's a dangerous, vicious cycle. With the recent surge in media coverage of unarmed black men being gunned down by police officers, America's faith in police officers is plummeting. And it's not just the public that's losing faith: According to a new study in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, this "crisis in police legitimacy" is not only detrimental to the general public, but also to the future of policing as a whole. Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
