-
Too Many Choices? How Humans Cognitively Manage an Abundance of Mate Options
Can’t find the right guy or girl for Valentine’s Day? Research suggests you might be looking in the wrong place. A study published in Psychological Science found that people who have the choice of many potential mates pay very little attention to important characteristics which take more time to elicit, and instead choose potential love interests based on trivial characteristics that are quickly and easily assessed.
-
Pitfalls and Opportunities in Nonverbal and Verbal Lie Detection
Full Text HTML (Available to the Public) Aldert Vrij, Par Anders Granhag, and Stephen Porter Unlike Pinocchio, most of the time people do not give telltale signs that they are being dishonest. In lieu of a growing nose, is there a way to distinguish people who are telling the truth from those who aren’t?
-
Is it Over Yet? How We Recover From Conflict
It’s the second week of February and you unfortunately find yourself in the middle of a heated argument with your significant other. Can you resolve the fight and recover your relationship in time for Valentine’s Day? According to a new study published in Psychological Science, your ability to bounce back from conflict may depend on what you and your partner were like as infants. The study, part of a two-decade longitudinal study, compared participants’ attachment styles during infancy to their adult conflict recovery styles, emotions, and ratings of relationship satisfaction and stability when they were 20 years old.
-
Husband and Wife Team Trace the Roots of Youth Violence
APS Fellow Avshalom Caspi and APS Fellow Terrie Moffitt hold professorships at two institutions: Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and King's College London. The pair, who research mental health and human development have just won the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize, given to individuals from all disciplines who make outstanding scientific contributions to improvement of young people’s development and perspectives worldwide. The prize includes 1 million Swiss francs to further the couple's research. The Jacobs Foundation considers it vital to ensure that scientific findings from interdisciplinary research are incorporated in practice, giving out two awards annually — the Klaus J.
-
Halfalogue Makes the NYT Words of the Year List
“There are buzzwords and there are great words,” said Sam Sifton and Grant Barrett, writers of the The New York Times article, “The Words of the Year” article. Debuting amidst “G.T.L” and “shellacking” was a word of the year coined from a Psychological Science journal article: Halfalogue. Lauren Emberson, PhD candidate in psychology at Cornell University, coined the catchy term for her research in “Overheard Cell-Phone Conversations: When Less Speech is More Distracting.” Halfalogue is the hearing of only half of a conversation, like an overheard phone call on the bus or metro.
-
Marching to the Beat of the Same Drum Improves Teamwork
Armies train by marching in step. Religions around the world incorporate many forms of singing and chanting into their rituals. Citizens sing the National Anthem before sporting events. Why do we participate in these various synchronized activities? A new study in Psychological Science suggests that when people engage in synchronous activity together, they become more likely to cooperate with other group members. The results of the study, conducted by Stanford University psychologists Scott S. Wiltermuth and Chip Heath, showed that synchrony fosters cooperation.
