-
New York, New York: Study Determines Difference Between Abstract and Concrete Jungle
The Big Apple, a densely populated metropolis of more than 8.2 million people in the 332 square miles of blocks, boroughs and buildings, could have been named metaphorically by outsiders as a fertile land of
-
Person x Situation x System Dynamics
To the Editor: A major task of psychological science is to explain behavioral variance, often by determining the extent to which observed behavior can be attributed to internal variables such as individual differences, to external
-
I Need to Hold Your Hand: The Social Regulation of Emotion
Have you ever wondered why people surrounded by friends or family appear happier and healthier? Or why a mother’s hand so quickly soothes a scared child? University of Virginia researcher James Coan addressed these and
-
They All Look the Same: Why we are Unable to Distinguish Faces of Other Races (and Sometimes Our Own)
There’s a troubling psychological phenomenon that just about everyone has experienced but few will admit to; having difficulty distinguishing between people of different racial groups. This isn’t merely a nod to the denigrating expression “they
-
Not So Situational
To the editor: We are concerned by the message that has been conveyed to the general public regarding the power of the situation to “trump individual dispositions” (“The Banality of Evil,” Observer, April 2007). In
-
Bad Apples and Bad Barrels: Bad Metaphors and Blind Spots Regarding Evil?
To the editor: The subtitle of Philip Zimbardo’s (2007) book, The Lucifer Effect, (reviewed by Wray Herbert, Observer, April 2007) is Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. The book follows Zimbardo’s talk of the same
