X

Posts

January 06, 2013

+
10:15 PM | Do I have the least stressful job in 2013?
About a week ago, Forbes magazine published a list of the least stressful jobs in 2013 (here). At the very top of the list was the college Professor. This sparked some outrage among my colleagues who (rightly) point out that a Professor's job is not without stress (here). The swell of outrage was so immense, that the original author posted an addendum stating that indeed, some of the characterizations of a Professorial job made in the original post--e.g., that Professors don't work […]

Sherman GD, Lee JJ, Cuddy AJ, Renshon J, Oveis C, Gross JJ & Lerner JS (2012). Leadership is associated with lower levels of stress., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (44) 17903-7. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

December 21, 2012

+
12:30 AM | Friday Fun: My Favorites of 2012!
Hello again PYM readers! The end of 2012 marks the end of our second year as a psychology research blog (the first full year). I feel like a proud papa (Also, I will be an actual papa in March). With the close of our second year here at PYM, I'd like to highlight some of my favorite blog entries from the past 12 months. Read More->
Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science

December 11, 2012

+
6:41 AM | Tabula Rasa: Do genes influence personality?
wikipedia.org If I were to ask you the simple question, "Do you think that genes influence your personality?" The first thing you might think, is that I'm asking you a stupid question. After all, nearly all our lay beliefs about the world include beliefs that some of our genetic material influences who we become as people. And though we do believe, to varying degrees, that our experiences shape who are, I'm sure we can't think of all that many people who believe, like […]

Whitfield, C. (2003). Gene Expression Profiles in the Brain Predict Behavior in Individual Honey Bees, Science, 302 (5643) 296-299. DOI:

Derringer, J., Krueger, R., Dick, D., Saccone, S., Grucza, R., Agrawal, A., Lin, P., Almasy, L., Edenberg, H., Foroud, T. & Nurnberger, J. (2010). Predicting Sensation Seeking From Dopamine Genes: A Candidate-System Approach, Psychological Science, 21 (9) 1282-1290. DOI:

de Moor, M., Costa, P., Terracciano, A., Krueger, R., de Geus, E., Toshiko, T., Penninx, B., Esko, T., Madden, P., Derringer, J. & Amin, N. (2010). Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for personality, Molecular Psychiatry, 17 (3) 337-349. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

November 30, 2012

+
9:00 AM | Friday Fun: Psychology at the Movies III
www.imdb.com It's been a few months since we last discussed movies on PYM. Since my spouse and I moved to Chambana, we have had a lot of time to enjoy $5.50 movie nights at the local cinema. Yeah, you read that right, movie tickets are sold on the cheap out here in the Midwest! As in my previous posts examining psychological constructs in movies, I'll proceed by describing what happens in a film--roughly from my own memory--and then I will link those events to a construct studied […]

Kraus MW, Piff PK, Mendoza-Denton R, Rheinschmidt ML & Keltner D (2012). Social class, solipsism, and contextualism: How the rich are different from the poor., Psychological review, 119 (3) 546-72. PMID:

Seery, M. (2011). Resilience: A Silver Lining to Experiencing Adverse Life Events?, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20 (6) 390-394. DOI:

Swann, W., de la Ronde, C. & Hixon, J. (1994). Authenticity and positivity strivings in marriage and courtship., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66 (5) 857-869. DOI:

van IJzendoorn, M. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness, and infant attachment: A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the Adult Attachment Interview., Psychological Bulletin, 117 (3) 387-403. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

November 26, 2012

+
1:31 AM | What is Charisma?
Did charisma win the 2012 election? Today on PYM we are pleased to bring you the second guest blog from Emily Plutov, advanced undergraduate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In some of PYM’s election coverage, Amie cited an example of the incredible influence television has over voters’ conceptions of political figures: the famous debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. In this debate, Kennedy was the clear victor; not only was he calm and […]

Simonton, D. (1988). Presidential style: Personality, biography, and performance., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55 (6) 928-936. DOI:

Flynn, F. & Staw, B. (2004). Lend me your wallets: the effect of charismatic leadership on external support for an organization, Strategic Management Journal, 25 (4) 309-330. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

November 10, 2012

+
7:23 PM | Another Lay Theory of Success in Graduate School
source My first semester as a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (referred to affectionately as Chambana) is coming to an end. Arriving with the Winter, is an important time in my new job--the time for graduate school applications. As a new faculty member, this will be my first chance guide the academic future of a new research career, from admission to dissertation. That's heavy! This event made me think: What the heck am I looking for in a graduate […]

Kahneman, D. & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk, Econometrica, 47 (2) 263. DOI:

ROBERTS, B., CHERNYSHENKO, O., STARK, S. & GOLDBERG, L. (2005). THE STRUCTURE OF CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION BASED ON SEVEN MAJOR PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRES, Personnel Psychology, 58 (1) 103-139. DOI:

Flynn, F., Reagans, R., Amanatullah, E. & Ames, D. (2006). Helping one's way to the top: Self-monitors achieve status by helping others and knowing who helps whom., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91 (6) 1123-1137. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

October 28, 2012

+
9:36 PM | Obama or Romney? Leave the decision to your parents!
Tell your parents that obedience  is overrated! (source) Whenever I teach a group of undergraduates I always hope that I will be shaping their young political minds in meaningful ways. I hope that our discussions in class will open their eyes to the various and important social issues of our time, and maybe lead to greater awareness of injustice, unfairness, and inequality in society. I've often thought that this is my most important role as a Professor. I also think that this is one of […]

Fraley, R., Griffin, B., Belsky, J. & Roisman, G. (2012). Developmental Antecedents of Political Ideology: A Longitudinal Investigation From Birth to Age 18 Years, Psychological Science, DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

October 19, 2012

+
12:27 PM | Friday Fun: Oxytocin and the Zombie Apocalypse
I got your oxytocin right here! (source) If you've been watching AMC's riveting series about zombie apocalypse, the Walking Dead, then you're probably into blood and guts like me. You might also be watching because you're interested in the moral dilemmas that the characters face during each twist and turn of fate. As the misfortune adds up and the body count rises, some of the most honest and trustworthy people must do some pretty terrible things all in the name of survival! […]

De Dreu CK, Greer LL, Handgraaf MJ, Shalvi S, Van Kleef GA, Baas M, Ten Velden FS, Van Dijk E & Feith SW (2010). The neuropeptide oxytocin regulates parochial altruism in intergroup conflict among humans., Science (New York, N.Y.), 328 (5984) 1408-11. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

October 15, 2012

+
2:28 PM | Is there a feminine side to dominance?
Is there a female dominance hormone? (source) Today on PYM we are pleased to bring you a guest blog from Emily Plutov. Emily is an advanced undergraduate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who has recently become interested in social psychology research on power and dominance. When it comes to research on the hormonal correlates of dominance behaviors, what becomes clear is that males have garnered considerable attention within this sphere. As Michael mentioned in a […]

Stanton SJ & Schultheiss OC (2007). Basal and dynamic relationships between implicit power motivation and estradiol in women., Hormones and behavior, 52 (5) 571-80. PMID:

Stanton SJ & Schultheiss OC (2009). The hormonal correlates of implicit power motivation., Journal of research in personality, 43 (5) 942. PMID:

Sapienza P, Zingales L & Maestripieri D (2009). Gender differences in financial risk aversion and career choices are affected by testosterone., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106 (36) 15268-73. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

September 30, 2012

+
3:01 PM | Science Utopia (Continued): Methods Integrity Workshop
"Winter is coming." --Ned Stark/Greg Francis On Friday afternoon I attended a seminar in methods integrity in research (here). The speakers were Hal Pashler of UC San Diego and Greg Francis of Purdue University. In the seminar, the speakers raised a number of interesting points that I think add to last week's post on PYM about questionable research practices (here). I'll summarize the main points that I took from the seminar: Read More-> […]

Francis G (2012). Evidence that publication bias contaminated studies relating social class and unethical behavior., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (25) PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

September 24, 2012

+
6:33 PM | Science Utopia: Some Thoughts About Ethics and Publication Bias
Science Utopia, next exit Psychology's integrity in the public eye has been rocked by recent high profile discoveries of data fabrication (here, here, and here) and several independent realizations that psychologists (this is not unique to our field) tend to engage in data analytic practices that allow researchers to find positive results (here, here, and here). While it can be argued that these are not really new realizations (here), the net effect has turned psychologists to the […]

Simmons JP, Nelson LD & Simonsohn U (2011). False-positive psychology: undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant., Psychological science, 22 (11) 1359-66. PMID:

John, L., Loewenstein, G. & Prelec, D. (2012). Measuring the prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth telling., Psychological Science, 23 524-532. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

September 10, 2012

+
1:17 AM | Status Hierarchies: Do We Need Them?
Emile Durkheim (source) I have been studying the topic of social status ever since I started my graduate training. That was in 2004 when George W. Bush was starting his second term as President, Clint Eastwood was busy winning an Oscar for best picture (Million Dollar Baby), and Lindsay Lohan wasn’t a punchline. In all of that time I hadn’t ever considered the question of whether society needs social hierarchies in the first place? That is, do we really need to rank ourselves in […]

Tracy JL & Matsumoto D (2008). The spontaneous expression of pride and shame: evidence for biologically innate nonverbal displays., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105 (33) 11655-60. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

August 27, 2012

+
1:45 AM | A Game of Thrones: Lessons About Status II
Lord Varys, the eunuch (source) This week is my first week of teaching a new course at the University of Illinois. The course is called "Power, Status, and Influence" and so far I've finished preparing about 80% of the lecture materials. I'm pretty excited about the topic and I think (hope?) the students will be as well. In my last post about the course I mentioned considering the popular George R. R. Martin fantasy novel "A Game of Thrones" (now filming its […]

Mazur A & Booth A (1998). Testosterone and dominance in men., The Behavioral and brain sciences, 21 (3) 353. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

August 13, 2012

+
2:46 AM | How the Rich are Different from the Poor II: Empathy
In the many conversations that F. Scott Fitzgerald had with his friend Ernest Hemingway, Fitzgerald was believed to have said "The rich are different from the poor." Hemingway's alleged response: "Yes, they have more money." While this conversation may have never occurred, it goes without saying that the rich do indeed differ from the poor. In this second part of a four part PYM series I will be exploring precisely how the rich differ from the poor--in a […]

Kraus, MW, Horberg, EJ, Goetz, J & Keltner, D. (2011). Social class rank, threat vigilance, and hostile reactivity, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, DOI:

Kraus MW, Côté S & Keltner D (2010). Social class, contextualism, and empathic accuracy., Psychological science, 21 (11) 1716-23. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

July 23, 2012

+
4:02 PM | Perils of Positive Thinking
Fantasies are not the same as positive expectations. This morning, Kate Reilly, graduate student at New York University, joins Psych Your Mind again (her previous post) to discuss some perils of positive thinking. Read on! When you walk through the self-help aisle of any bookstore, you are likely to see plenty of books based on the notion that positive thinking is the key to getting what you want. The message is clear: if you want to achieve something, just keep telling yourself  “I […]

Kappes, H. B. & Oettingen, G. (2011). Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy., Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47 719-729. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

July 20, 2012

+
4:06 PM | Friday Fun: Science is Slow
Picture by Scientific American blogger Jason Goldman When I was in my first year as a graduate student, one sage Emeritus professor said to me, probably in a reaction to some of my bubbling enthusiasm about psychology, "Michael, you know that science is slow, don't you?" In response I must have said something like "Oh yeah!" or "Of course I do!" but in reality, I didn't. Now, having several battle-tested years under my belt (battling reviewers, […]

Yu, G., Wang, X. & Yu, D. (2006). The influence of publication delays on impact factors, Scientometrics, DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

July 16, 2012

+
5:14 AM | How the Rich are Different from the Poor I: Choice
In the many conversations that F. Scott Fitzgerald had with his friend Ernest Hemingway, Fitzgerald was believed to have said that "The rich are different from the poor." Hemingway's alleged response: "Yes, they have more money." While this conversation may have never occurred, it goes without saying that the rich do indeed differ from the poor. In this first part of a four part PYM series I will be exploring precisely how the rich differ from the poor--in a […]

Stephens, N. M., Fryberg, S. A. & Markus, H. R. (2011). When Choice Does Not Equal Freedom: A Sociocultural Analysis of Agency in Working-Class American Contexts, Social Psychological and Personality Science, DOI:

Stephens, N. M., Markus, H. R. & Townsend, S. (2007). Choice as an act of meaning: The case of social class, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, DOI:

Kraus MW, Piff PK, Mendoza-Denton R, Rheinschmidt ML & Keltner D (2012). Social class, solipsism, and contextualism: How the rich are different from the poor., Psychological review, 119 (3) 546-72. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

July 02, 2012

+
7:01 AM | The Happiness Chronicles III: Does Status Increase Happiness?
"Beggars do not envy millionaires, but of course, they do envy other beggars who are more successful." --Bertram Russell (1930) This is the final part of a three-part series on the science of happiness. In Part I, I discussed some pitfalls to pursuing happiness. In Part II, I suggested that money doesn't buy happiness, unless it is spent on others. In Part III, I discuss new research suggesting that having high status might improve happiness. People (some more than others) can […]

Anderson C, Kraus MW, Galinsky AD & Keltner D (2012). The Local-Ladder Effect: Social Status and Subjective Well-Being., Psychological science, PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

June 04, 2012

+
6:11 PM | This is NOT advice about the academic job search
Last week I read Tal Yarkoni's excellent blog post on the things he learned during a failed academic job search last year (available here). Reading that piece brought me back to my own memories of the two job searches I've attempted (one successful). I remember the anxiety a lot, the feeling that there may not actually be a job out there for you (this is a common concern). Then there is also the feeling that you may not, in fact, be as awesome as you thought you were. It's classic […]

Higgans, E. (1999). When do self-discrepancies have specific relations to emotions? The second-generation question of Tangney, Niedenthal, Covert, and Barlow (1998)., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77 (6) 1313-1317. DOI:

Swann, W., Pelham, B. & Krull, D. (1989). Agreeable fancy or disagreeable truth? Reconciling self-enhancement and self-verification., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57 (5) 782-791. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

June 01, 2012

+
6:17 AM | Friday Fun: A Postdoc's Running Diary
Not to be confused with this oatmeal (source) Last Friday, Amie gave us an all-access pass to her weekly graduate school routine (see it here). It was very interesting to read about how Amie breaks up her daily activities and manages her time. In fact, I was so captivated by Amie's post that I thought I'd add one of my own. Today, I give you a running diary of my work day--A Postdoc's Running Diary. I took some notes about a single day of work this week and for this blog post I […]

Kraus MW, Huang C & Keltner D (2010). Tactile communication, cooperation, and performance: an ethological study of the NBA., Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 10 (5) 745-9. PMID:

Lopez-Garcia E, van Dam RM, Li TY, Rodriguez-Artalejo F & Hu FB (2008). The relationship of coffee consumption with mortality., Annals of internal medicine, 148 (12) 904-14. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

May 20, 2012

+
11:13 PM | More Authors or Less Authors?
source In my brief time in research I have written journal articles authored by as few as two people and as many as six people. Many of those authors have been faculty members (senior researchers who provided me with valuable mentoring), colleagues (graduate students with similar experience and training), and trainees (early researchers learning the research process from me and others). This experience has got me wondering: What is the best combination of authors for writing a research […]

Ross, M. & Sicoly, F. (1979). Egocentric biases in availability and attribution., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37 (3) 322-336. DOI:

Sapolsky, R. (2005). The Influence of Social Hierarchy on Primate Health, Science, 308 (5722) 648-652. DOI:

Latane, B., Williams, K. & Harkins, S. (1979). Many hands make light the work: The causes and consequences of social loafing., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37 (6) 822-832. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

May 07, 2012

+
8:00 PM | A Game of Thrones: Lessons About Status
source In the Fall of 2012 I will be teaching a new course titled "Status, Power, and Influence" at the University of Illinois. I'm very excited about the topic and probably have too many ideas floating around in my head about what the course should cover. It is like being a kid in a candy store: In terms of course textbooks, there are literally dozens of great books about power and hierarchy! Interestingly, my first thought about a textbook was the popular George R. R. Martin [...]

Flynn FJ, Reagans RE, Amanatullah ET & Ames DR (2006). Helping one's way to the top: self-monitors achieve status by helping others and knowing who helps whom., Journal of personality and social psychology, 91 (6) 1123-37. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

April 27, 2012

+
6:32 AM | Friday Fun: Mad Men With Power Moves
When Mad Men started it's final season on AMC, I received a good laugh when I was alerted to the hashtag #draping. The lead character of Mad Men, Don Draper (Jon Hamm), is pictured in advertisements for the popular television show sitting on a couch with his hand draped over the back of the couch, holding either a cigarette or a cocktail. It appears that fans of the popular show have taken to posing in this fashion, and then posting to tumblr. Read More-> [...]

Tiedens, L. & Fragale, A. (2003). Power moves: Complementarity in dominant and submissive nonverbal behavior., Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 84 (3) 558-568. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

April 23, 2012

+
3:30 PM | An Inconvenient Truth: Race in America (Part I)
source It is an American tragedy whenever an unarmed teenage boy--of any color--is fatally shot. And when you strip down the Trayvon Martin shooting to its core, that is exactly what we were all faced with in Florida several weeks ago--a senseless tragedy. As a result, there has been a re-emergence of questions about the meaning of race in today's America. I will be taking on some of these tough questions in a series of blog posts I'm calling "An Inconvenient Truth." In [...]

Devine, P. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56 (1) 5-18. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

April 02, 2012

+
5:30 PM | Genes and the Power of the Situation
Today on PYM, I thought it would be a good idea to reach back into our archives to find a post on the Nature v. Nurture debate. In this post, I considered how the situation in which you were raised determines how much your genes influence your intelligence. Do you know this man? (source) Most people don't know Kurt Lewin, and I think that is a travesty of epic proportions. In the ivory tower of the academy (where most researchers live), he is considered to be the father of modern [...]

Turkheimer E, Haley A, Waldron M, D'Onofrio B & Gottesman II (2003). Socioeconomic status modifies heritability of IQ in young children., Psychological science, 14 (6) 623-8. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

March 26, 2012

+
4:03 PM | The NFL Needs a Lesson in Bounded Ethicality
source Over the last week we learned that the New Orleans Saints defense was delivering bonus money to players who were able to injure opposing offensive players. When the NFL discovered this bounty system, they conducted a swift investigation and handed out a stiff punishment: Gregg Williams, the defensive coordinator, was suspended indefinitely, Sean Payton, the head coach, was suspended for one year, and several fines were levied on the Saints organization itself. The result of these [...]

Kern, M. & Chugh, D. (2009). Bounded Ethicality: The Perils of Loss Framing, Psychological Science, 20 (3) 378-384. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

March 16, 2012

+
1:19 PM | Friday Fun: An Insider's Guide To Psychology Prose
source I have been writing empirical articles for a little while now, and one of things I have come to notice is that there is a very specific style that social psychologists develop in their articles. It's not a style that is reflected in other disciplines of science or even in other realms of psychology. Nor is this style represented in popular guides to academic writing (e.g., Gullickson, 1997) or in the official publication manual of the American Psychological Association.  In [...]

Gullickson, T. (1997). Writing in Psychology: A Student Guide., PsycCRITIQUES, 42 (1) DOI:

APA Publications and Communications Board Working Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards (2008). Reporting standards for research in psychology: why do we need them? What might they be?, The American psychologist, 63 (9) 839-51. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

March 14, 2012

+
4:17 PM | Happy Birthday, Psych Your Mind!
source On this day last year, Psych Your Mind (PYM) was born. The first post was a brief summary of our expectations for the future of this blog, and I must admit that we have exceeded those expectations. How you ask? Well, let me put the blog into perspective for you: Read More-> [...]
Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science

March 05, 2012

+
11:32 PM | Can Mitt Romney connect with the working-class voter?
Mitt Romney (source) During a US Presidential campaign it is common practice for a candidate to engage in some form of impression management. For instance, in 2008 many media outlets thought John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate was a move to boost McCain's image as a "Maverick" candidate. For similar reasons, Bill Clinton played saxophone live on the Arsenio Hall Show during the 1992 campaign. In these examples, candidates tend to [...]

Kraus, M. W. & Keltner, D. (2009). Signs of Socioeconomic Status: A Thin-Slicing Approach, Psychological Science, 20 (1) 99-106. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

February 27, 2012

+
5:15 PM | Is trust Jeremy Lin's secret weapon?
Vintage Linsanity, circa 2006 (source) “It’s just us, being us, playing for us.” –Jeremy Lin I’ve got a confession to make: I’ve caught the Linsanity along with everyone else. It’s only been two weeks, but in that time former Harvard point guard Jeremy Lin has transformed a failed Knicks season into the most compelling storyline in the NBA. And make no mistake, Jeremy Lin is at the very center of this transformation. But what is it about Lin that has transformed [...]

Kraus MW, Huang C & Keltner D (2010). Tactile communication, cooperation, and performance: an ethological study of the NBA., Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 10 (5) 745-9. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation
123
71 Results