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Was Brian Williams a Victim of False Memory?
The New York Times: How reliable is human memory? Most of us believe that our memory is like a video camera, capturing an accurate record that can be reviewed at a later date. But the truth is our memories can deceive us — and they often do. Numerous scientific studies show that memories can fade, shift and distort over time. Not only can our real memories become unwittingly altered and embellished, but entirely new false memories can be incorporated into our memory bank, embedded so deeply that we become convinced they are real and actually happened. ...
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Is Expressing Anger Associated with Good or Bad Health?
BBC: It has traditionally been thought that expressing your anger can be associated with increased blood pressure and higher rates of heart disease. But new research just published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that this is only true in some cultures. Professor Shinobu Kitayama, from the University of Michigan in the United States, looked at large populations in the US and Japan and measured anger being expressed as well as blood pressure and markers of inflammation. The results and analysis have just been published in the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: BBC
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Itchy Trigger Finger? How About Itchy Brain?
Police work is very dangerous, often involving bad people with guns, and one of the most dangerous policing tasks is searching and clearing a house. This is where the police go room to room through a building, in pursuit of a suspect, who may be armed and dangerous. The police officer must be fully prepared to shoot—finger on the trigger, mind alert—in case he or she does confront a suspect who is armed and ready to shoot. But the officer must also have the self-restraint not to pull the trigger if he or she bursts into a room and confronts an innocent bystander.
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The Perils of Being a ‘Chameleon’ in a Job Interview
We often unconsciously mirror the behavior of those around us, particularly when we’re trying to make a good impression, a phenomenon known as the “chameleon effect.” Research shows that, in general, mimicking another person’s gestures, inflections, or posture tends to make us come across as more likeable to that person. But a new study conducted by a team of psychological scientists from Texas Tech University and Drew University finds that people will also unwittingly mimic negative behaviors that can potentially get them into trouble. Researchers K. Rachelle Smith-Genthôs, Darcy A. Reich, Jessica L. Lakin, and Mario P.
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In the Bully Pulpit: ‘It’s the Right Thing to Do.’
The Huffington Post: In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama urged the Congress to take action on paid sick leave for American workers. Forty-three million workers currently have no paid sick leave, the President noted, forcing many to make "the gut-wrenching choice between a paycheck and a sick kid at home." Rectify this situation, he told the lawmakers: "It's the right thing to do." ... After the volunteers read these justifications, the scientists asked them how much they supported each policy, and also asked them to rate the leaders on kindness, compassion and caring.
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The Technology that Unmasks Your Hidden Emotions
The Wall Street Journal: Paul Ekman, perhaps the world’s most famous face reader, fears he has created a monster. The 80-year-old psychologist pioneered the study of facial expressions in the 1970s, creating a catalog of more than 5,000 muscle movements to show how the subtlest wrinkling of the nose or lift of an eyebrow reveal hidden emotions. Now, a group of young companies with names like Emotient Inc., Affectiva Inc. and Eyeris are using Dr. Ekman’s research as the backbone of a technology that relies on algorithms to analyze people’s faces and potentially discover their deepest feelings.
