-
Evil: Is It Us or All Around Us?
Psychological scientist Philip Zimbardo reflected on his controversial Stanford Prison Experiment with Jon Stewart in a past episode of the Daily Show. In 1971, twelve students were randomly assigned to the roles of a prisoner or a guard in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Within 36 hours, the students displayed characteristics of abusive guards and pathological criminals. The experiment was supposed to run for 2 weeks, but it ended after only 6 days. In this clip, Zimbardo also discusses his book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil and explains how our environments can affect our actions.
-
Lying Becomes Difficult as We Age
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Janice Murray from the University of Otago, New Zealand present her poster research, “Age, Lies, and Faces: Emotion Recognition Mediates Age-Related Differences.” Murray and her colleagues asked younger and older participants to identify facial emotion expressions and determine whether younger and older speakers’ opinion statements were true or false. The scientists discovered that older adults were less convincing liars and had more difficulty detecting others’ lies.
-
<em>Better Angels</em>, Believe It or Not
Two World Wars, the Cold War, and the rise of terrorism must make the past century one of the most violent in the history of our species, right? Not according to Harvard psychologist and APS member Steven Pinker, who argues in his new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, that violence is declining. According to Pinker, we are actually living in the most peaceful era in human history. Watch Pinker’s TED talk on the myth of violence to learn more about why Pinker thinks our “better angels” are winning out. You can learn more about Pinker’s by reading coverage from The New York Times and Time.
-
Longitudinal Impacts of 3-D Spatial Training Among Gifted STEM Undergraduates
In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch APSSC Award Winner David I. Miller from the University of California, Berkeley present his research on “Longitudinal Impacts of 3-D Spatial Training Among Gifted Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Undergraduates.” David I. Miller University of California, Berkeley Diane F. Halpern Claremont McKenna College According to Miller’s presentation, twelve hours of spatial training improved gifted students’ performance in a physics class by approximately one-third of a letter grade. The improvement was particularly pronounced in male students.
-
Spoiling the Ending Doesn’t Spoil the Story
People hate to know the ending before they’ve read the story or watched the movie. At least that’s what they think. A study in the September issue of Psychological Science reveals that contrary to this popular belief, knowing the ending actually enhances readers’ enjoyment of a story.
-
Michael Smith Dances His PhD
If you’re a PhD student with mad dancing skills, Science and TEDxBrussels have the contest for you. Dance Your PhD is again offering $1,000 for the best video. This example may provide just the inspiration you need to create your own masterpiece. Michael Smith dances Guarding and Robbing Behavior in Social Insect. According to Goldenberg, her dance and public wikis both utilize textuality, dialogue, and a participatory process. If you find Goldenberg’s wiki dance intriguing, you may consider writing a wiki on your own area of expertise as part of APS’s Wikipedia Initiative.
