Participants and newspapers were more likely to blame video games when a school shooter was white than when he was black. Photo: Richard Levine / Alamy Stock Photo What causes mass shootings? Of course, we have no experimental evidence on this question. Correlational evidence (both within the U.S. and evidence that compares the U.S. to …
Continue reading Racial stereotypes behind how we explain school shootings
According to the study, Captain Marvel's eyebrows have something to do with her dominant pose. Credit: Collection Christophel/Alamy Stock Photo Captain Marvel looks tough. Perhaps one reason is the tilt of her head, which enhances the appearance of dominance, according to a series of studies that appears in Psychological Science. The studies were summarized by …
Continue reading Tilt your head down to appear more intimidating
In one of the conditions of this experiment, parents interacted with their young children while playing a shapes game on an ipad. What was the other condition? Photo credit: Gettyimages For young children, play is school: Children can learn math, physics, language, social skills, and more. And when caregivers interact with them, children at play …
Which one of these people will benefit most from sharing good ideas with the group? Credit: Dean Drobot/Shutterstock Imagine you're working at a company and you'd like people to view you as a potential leader. How might you go about it? Perhaps you'd share your good ideas at meetings, hoping they'll notice your talent. Perhaps …
Continue reading How we spot leadership potential in men and women
Does pairing this cute puppy with a photo of your partner help improve your relationship?Photo credit: Matanya/Wikimedia Commons Professor James McNulty, a social psychologist who studies relationships, was asked by the Department of Defense to develop an intervention to help couples cope with the separation of a deployment. How can couples stay close when their partner …
Which version of Tetris helped the most? Photo: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo NPR's journalists covered a study that tested whether different forms of Tetris would help people feel less anxious. The journalist writes that ...research suggests that Tetris can ease us through periods of anxiety by getting us to a blissfully engrossed mental …
What do you think about the external validity of the study? Photo credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock This story's headline reads, "social ties could preserve memory, slow brain aging" and it's illustrated with an image similar to the one shown here. The press release sets out the goal of the study: “We know that in humans there’s a …
He is concentrating so much that he might not notice the coffee smell.... Photo: baranq/Shutterstock At times, we've all been so engrossed in a task that we've lost awareness of our surroundings. Maybe you didn't hear someone calling your name when you were finishing your paper, or maybe you missed the oven timer when you …
Under what conditions did Southerners find this dish especially tasty? Credit: Andre Baranowski/Getty Images I was skeptical at first of the causal claim in the headline, From Collards To Maple Syrup, How Your Identity Impacts The Food You Like. After all, in order to support a causal claim, you need to manipulate a variable, and …
Continue reading Claim: Cultural identity impacts the food you like
I have a standing desk in my office. Am I getting smarter as a result? An editorial summarizes some of the evidence. I'm standing at my desk as I compose this post....could that make my writing go better? Yes, according to an editorial entitled, "Standing up at your desk could make you smarter." The editorial …
Continue reading Claim: Standing up at your desk could make you smarter