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Reminders of Death Can Sway Political Attitudes
From one day to the next, approval ratings of political figures can plummet or soar. Psychological scientists have long been trying to identify the cognitive factors that might account for the vagaries of public opinion.
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Cleanliness Is Next to…Conservatism?
In every election cycle, politicians on both sides of the aisle are accused of practicing ‘dirty politics.’ Neither side is immune from these charges but research from psychological science suggests that we may subconsciously associate
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Did Your Brain Make You Do It?
The New York Times: ARE you responsible for your behavior if your brain “made you do it”? Often we think not. For example, research now suggests that the brain’s frontal lobes, which are crucial for
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Olympics are fair game for spoiler alerts
Hampton Roads: Spoiler alert. Cover your ears. Sing loudly to yourself. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father. Bruce Willis is already dead in “The Sixth Sense.” And the people who insist upon covering their ears
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The History of Decision Making
APS Fellow Gerd Gigerenzer is the Director at the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany, where he investigates how humans and other animals make decisions and
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Jaw-dropping moments really do make time appear to stand still
The Telegraph: Regular “awesome” experiences may also improve our mental health and make us nicer people, claim psychologists. The findings raise the prospect of “awe therapy” to overcome the stressful effects of fast-paced modern life.
