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Life is one big priming experiment . . .
One of the most robust ideas to come out of cognitive psychology in recent years is priming. Scientists have shown again and again that they can very subtly cue people’s unconscious minds to think and
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I Know You Can – So I Believe I Can
Do you ever get unusually anxious before taking a test? Do you ever choke and blank-out during a test? If so, research suggests you try thinking about a competent person before you take the test.
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Sneaky Stars and Stripes
Believe it or not, basking in the glow of the grand old flag may shift our political beliefs. A study in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science found that exposure to the American flag led
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No Such Thing as Clean Politics
Who knew we subconsciously relate cleanliness with conservatism? A study published in Psychological Science found that people who are reminded of physical purity report being more politically conservative and had harsher moral judgments regarding sexual
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When the Zebra Loses its Stripes
The capacity to remember that a zebra has stripes, or that a giraffe is a four-legged mammal, is known as semantic memory. It allows us to assign meaning to words and to recall general knowledge and concepts
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The Mind Uses Syntax to Interpret Actions
Most people are familiar with the concept that sentences have syntax. A verb, a subject, and an object come together in predictable patterns. But actions have syntax, too; when we watch someone else do something
