You don't see people blogging about interaction effects, at least not every day. I just ran into this 2011 Ben Goldacre column about interactions, which he describes in my favorite way, as a "difference in differences." Take a look here. Instructors, this might be a handy example for teaching Chapter 11.
Category: Complex Experiments (Factorial Designs)
Trashing your thoughts reduces their power
Another article from the mindfulness desk, this time graphable as an interaction. Read on. A recent study by psychologist Richard Petty and his colleagues investigated the situations in which people's thoughts have more power over them. Specifically, they wanted to know if thoughts would affect people less when they wrote them down and then threw …
What makes someone an angry drunk?
What makes someone an angry drunk? This MSNBC article discusses the difference in life focus and how that affects one’s level of retaliation while intoxicated. The average age of the study's 495 volunteers was 23, all of whom described themselves as social drinkers and none of whom had any past or present drug, alcohol, or …
Attention to detail in Body Dysmorphic patients
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental illness in which people focus critically and negatively on the fine details of their bodies. The disorder is linked to eating disorders and to behaviors such as repeated checking in the mirror or embarassment about one's body. Science News Daily reports a study that used fMRI techniques to …
Continue reading Attention to detail in Body Dysmorphic patients
Can a fake smile be bad for you?
Here's a study on the moods of a sample of bus drivers. Bus driving is a profession in which people must be courteous to others throughout the day. What impact might such job-mandated courtesy have on bus drivers? The article reports that, ... on days when the smiles were forced, the subjects’ moods deteriorated and …