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Posts

May 17, 2013

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9:05 AM | Less than us: Are people hardwired to dehumanize others?
Being able to quickly assess whether someone is friend or foe has traditionally been helpful in times of war or conflict. But there is also a very ugly side to rushing to judge others. Prejudice, especially for those who are on the receiving end, is an incredibly dehumanising experience — to be dismissed by another […]
Dyani Lewis
Biology

May 16, 2013

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6:12 AM | We’re All Just Looking For a Patsy
If often seems as though policy-making has devolved into nothing more than a contest where the goal is to blame as many people as possible (but not yourself) for the country’s problems. Fossil fuel companies blame environmental regulations for economic stagnation and high energy prices. Neocons blame civil libertarians for national security weaknesses. And of [...]

Rothschild, Z., Landau, M., Molina, L., Branscombe, N. & Sullivan, D. (2013). Displacing Blame over the Ingroup’s Harming of a Disadvantaged Group can Fuel Moral Outrage at a Third-Party Scapegoat, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, DOI:

Peer-reviewed by my neurons
Education | Psychology
Citation

May 15, 2013

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4:28 PM | Finding Mr. Right just got a lot harder
It’s hard being a young woman these days. Chivalry is dying, but many glass ceilings are still firmly in place. We’re supposed to have it all but sacrifice nothing, balancing choosing a career path and a life partner. We can … Continue reading →
Brain Study
Health | Psychology

May 14, 2013

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5:49 AM | Teacher Expectations Have a Stronger Impact On Low-Income Students
In their 1968 book Pygmalion in the Classroom, Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson presented their groundbreaking research that showed teacher expectations are self-fulfilling prophecies. If two students start the school year at the same achievement level, the student the teacher is told is a high achiever will make more gains than the student the teacher believes is [...]

Sorhagen, N. (2013). Early teacher expectations disproportionately affect poor children's high school performance., Journal of Educational Psychology, 105 (2) 465-477. DOI:

Peer-reviewed by my neurons
Education | Psychology
Citation

May 13, 2013

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5:00 PM | National Coalition for the Homeless
The National Coalition for the Homeless is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission: To prevent and end homelessness while ensuring the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness are met and their civil rights protected. We envision a world where everyone has a safe, decent, affordable and accessible home. We are […]
PsychSplash
Psychology
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12:00 AM | The Inadvertent Psychological Experiment
Escape from Camp 14 is deeply disturbing, and I highly recommend it. Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine HardenEscape from Camp 14 is a chilling tale of Shin Dong-hyuk's escape from a North Korean prison camp. What is so interesting about Shin Dong-hyuk's story as written by Blaine Harden is that he was born inside this North Korean prison camp. Apparently they allow breeding between prisoners as a reward for 'good behavior.'Escape from Camp 14 reveals the obscene violations of human rights that […]

Lee YM, Shin OJ & Lim MH (2012). The psychological problems of north korean adolescent refugees living in South Korea., Psychiatry investigation, 9 (3) 217-22. PMID:

TheCellularScale
Cell Biology | Neuroscience
Citation

May 11, 2013

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12:38 AM | Searching for happiness: What makes life meaningful?
Recently I’ve been contemplating giving up on the modern world and moving to a cabin in the woods. I mean – what is with all of this technology, the 50+ hour work week, and guilt over the simple pleasures like spending time with friends and family on the weekends? Maybe I would be able to feel happier and more fulfilled if I turned my back on the world of today and instead started living a simple life. After all, despite the fact that technology has made our lives easier over the past […]

Wilson, Timothy D. & Gilbert, Daniel T. (2003). Affective Forecasting, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 35 345-411. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation
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12:38 AM | Searching for happiness: What makes life meaningful?
Recently I’ve been contemplating giving up on the modern world and moving to a cabin in the woods. I mean – what is with all of this technology, the 50+ hour work week, and guilt over the simple pleasures like spending time with friends and family on the weekends? Maybe I would be able to feel happier and more fulfilled if I turned my back on the world of today and instead started living a simple life. After all, despite the fact that technology has made our lives easier over the past […]

Wilson, Timothy D. & Gilbert, Daniel T. (2003). Affective Forecasting, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 35 345-411. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

May 10, 2013

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2:26 AM | Where’s your compassion? Generation Y and the new empathy deficit
Humans are extraordinarily social creatures – our ability to form complex communities where we exchange goods and services, as well as knowledge, has no doubt been essential to our success as a species. Empathy is central to our desire to care for and connect with our fellow human beings – whether they are close friends or […]
Dyani Lewis
Biology

May 08, 2013

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2:13 PM | The Psychology of Nothing: Phantom Symptoms
Lovable anti-hero George Costanza is having a salad for lunch when he suddenly clutches at his chest and declares, “I think I’m having a heart attack!” His companions, Jerry and Elaine, seem remarkably unconcerned with George’s seemingly life-threatening predicament. As George breathlessly lists off the symptoms he’s experiencing (Tightness… Shortness of breath… Radiating waves of pain!), Jerry arrives at a less catastrophic diagnosis: “I know what this is. You saw that show on […]
Random Assignment
Psychology

May 07, 2013

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5:41 PM | Group gender composition: Does it matter?
source When I was younger, I can remember being split into teams in gym class and different tables in art class and having one question: how many girls and how many boys are in my group? Depending on the activity, it seemed important to know this so you could assess your chances for success. More boys on your team, and you might be more likely to win dodgeball. More girls at your art table, and you might paint a better mural. An adult might have told me that was silly - how many […]

West, T., Heilman, M., Gullett, L., Moss-Racusin, C. & Magee, J. (2012). Building blocks of bias: Gender composition predicts male and female group members’ evaluations of each other and the group, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48 (5) 1209-1212. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation
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5:41 PM | Group gender composition: Does it matter?
source When I was younger, I can remember being split into teams in gym class and different tables in art class and having one question: how many girls and how many boys are in my group? Depending on the activity, it seemed important to know this so you could assess your chances for success. More boys on your team, and you might be more likely to win dodgeball. More girls at your art table, and you might paint a better mural. An adult might have told me that was silly - how many […]

West, T., Heilman, M., Gullett, L., Moss-Racusin, C. & Magee, J. (2012). Building blocks of bias: Gender composition predicts male and female group members’ evaluations of each other and the group, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48 (5) 1209-1212. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

May 03, 2013

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7:31 PM | Paul Rozin on Music, Food, and Sex
I’m not sure how it’s possible that until yesterday I had never seen Paul Rozin speak. However it happened, I corrected a huge mistake by going to see him give an invited address at the Midwestern Psychological Association meeting in Chicago titled, The Aesthetics and Pleasures of Temporal Sequences. The talk spanned far more than that topic, but as Rozin’s research predicts, it was made extremely memorable by ending with a bang.
Random Assignment
Psychology
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7:04 AM | Online reviews and movie critics are fantastic – so why do we ignore them??
The carpet is sticky and the smell of hotdogs mingles with sweet popcorn. The trailers are rolling. Even though person’s knee from the seat behind jabs into my back, I don’t care. The summer blockbuster is about to start and I’ve heard great things about it… But two hours, a bursting bladder and numb bottom … Continue reading »

Chintagunta, P., Gopinath, S. & Venkataraman, S. (2010). The Effects of Online User Reviews on Movie Box Office Performance: Accounting for Sequential Rollout and Aggregation Across Local Markets, Marketing Science, 29 (5) 944-957. DOI:

Duan, W., Gu, B. & Whinston, A. (2008). Do online reviews matter? — An empirical investigation of panel data, Decision Support Systems, 45 (4) 1007-1016. DOI:

BOOR, M. (1992). RELATIONSHIPS AMONG RATINGS OF MOTION PICTURES BY VIEWERS AND SIX PROFESSIONAL MOVIE CRITICS, Psychological Reports, 70 (3c) 1011-1021. DOI:

Dr Stu's Blog
General Science
Citation
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7:04 AM | Online reviews and movie critics are fantastic – so why do we ignore them??
The carpet is sticky and the smell of hotdogs mingles with sweet popcorn. The trailers are rolling. Even though person’s knee from the seat behind jabs into my back, I don’t care. The summer blockbuster is about to start and I’ve heard great things about it… But two hours, a bursting bladder and numb bottom … Continue reading »

Chintagunta, P., Gopinath, S. & Venkataraman, S. (2010). The Effects of Online User Reviews on Movie Box Office Performance: Accounting for Sequential Rollout and Aggregation Across Local Markets, Marketing Science, 29 (5) 944-957. DOI:

Duan, W., Gu, B. & Whinston, A. (2008). Do online reviews matter? — An empirical investigation of panel data, Decision Support Systems, 45 (4) 1007-1016. DOI:

BOOR, M. (1992). RELATIONSHIPS AMONG RATINGS OF MOTION PICTURES BY VIEWERS AND SIX PROFESSIONAL MOVIE CRITICS, Psychological Reports, 70 (3c) 1011-1021. DOI:

Dr Stu's Blog
General Science
Citation
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7:04 AM | Online reviews and movie critics are fantastic – so why do we ignore them??
The carpet is sticky and the smell of hotdogs mingles with sweet popcorn. The trailers are rolling. Even though person’s knee from the seat behind jabs into my back, I don’t care. The summer blockbuster is about to start and I’ve heard great things about it… But two hours, a bursting bladder and numb bottom … Continue reading »

Chintagunta, P., Gopinath, S. & Venkataraman, S. (2010). The Effects of Online User Reviews on Movie Box Office Performance: Accounting for Sequential Rollout and Aggregation Across Local Markets, Marketing Science, 29 (5) 944-957. DOI:

Duan, W., Gu, B. & Whinston, A. (2008). Do online reviews matter? — An empirical investigation of panel data, Decision Support Systems, 45 (4) 1007-1016. DOI:

BOOR, M. (1992). RELATIONSHIPS AMONG RATINGS OF MOTION PICTURES BY VIEWERS AND SIX PROFESSIONAL MOVIE CRITICS, Psychological Reports, 70 (3c) 1011-1021. DOI:

Dr Stu's Blog
General Science
Citation

April 22, 2013

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5:00 PM | Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND)
URL: http://www.alz.uci.edu/UCI MIND seeks to conduct research to enhance the quality of life for the elderly by identifying factors and life-style approaches that promote successful brain aging. For: Anyone, ConsumersTopics: Chronic Disease, Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Fitness, Cognitive Training, Depression, Emotional Health, Health Psychology, Health and Social Services, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Quality of Life, Quality of Life Assessment, Relationships, Social Psychology, Social […]
PsychSplash
Psychology

April 21, 2013

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3:19 PM | Heroism Is Our Default Setting
One of the oft-cited takeaways from the past week is that people are basically awesome. In the midst of unpredictable danger and tragedy, residents (and guests) of the Boston area didn’t hesitate to help their fellow citizens. But what’s troubling about these realizations of human goodness is that they suggest an a priori doubt about [...]

Fischer, P., Krueger, J., Greitemeyer, T., Vogrincic, C., Kastenmüller, A., Frey, D., Heene, M., Wicher, M. & Kainbacher, M. (2011). The bystander-effect: A meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies., Psychological Bulletin, 137 (4) 517-537. DOI:

Greitemeyer, T. & Mügge, D. (2013). Rational bystanders, British Journal of Social Psychology, DOI:

Peer-reviewed by my neurons
Education | Psychology
Citation

April 20, 2013

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6:07 PM | SWAG: Racial Bias in Pain Perception
Tom Brady is no stranger to pain (source) Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). This week in SWAG we read an article about racial biases in perceptions of others’ pain. The American medical field has a long […]

Trawalter S, Hoffman KM & Waytz A (2012). Racial bias in perceptions of others' pain., PloS one, 7 (11) PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation
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6:07 PM | SWAG: Racial Bias in Pain Perception
Tom Brady is no stranger to pain (source) Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). This week in SWAG we read an article about racial biases in perceptions of others’ pain. The American medical field has a long […]

Trawalter S, Hoffman KM & Waytz A (2012). Racial bias in perceptions of others' pain., PloS one, 7 (11) PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

April 19, 2013

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6:35 AM | Carrots that stick: Rethinking pleasure and pain as human motivators
It’s an eternal question for parents, teachers and managers the world over – how does one person go about motivating another to perform a task, and to perform it well? Even on a personal level, we often struggle to muster the enthusiasm to achieve the goals that we set ourselves – whether it’s to exercise […]
Dyani Lewis
Biology

April 18, 2013

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5:02 PM | The Daddy Chronicles: What Happened To My Testosterone?
Zoë at two weeks I'm not sure how many of you know this, but on March 19th of this year I became a new daddy. It's hard to describe the meaning of this event and its impact on my life, but here is a useful comparison that might put things into perspective: My dissertation was accepted for publication on the same day that my daughter was born and despite the near month passing, I still haven't filed the publication forms for the paper. Fatherhood changes the way I see the world […]

Gettler LT, McDade TW, Feranil AB & Kuzawa CW (2011). Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (39) 16194-9. PMID:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

April 17, 2013

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7:43 PM | Narrowing the Achievement Gap with a Psychological Intervention
There is an academic achievement gap in the United States. Compared to their White peers, African American and Latino American students earn lower grades and are more likely to drop out of school. Recently, a small intervention, aimed at easing the psychological burdens that impair minority performance, has been found to interrupt this downward trajectory, improving the performance of minority students, narrowing the achievement gap, and with long lasting effects.
Random Assignment
Psychology
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4:45 AM | Why You Should Always Confront Prejudice
What goes through your mind when somebody makes a racist or sexist remark? Perhaps you feel a strong desire to expose their morally bankrupt worldview through an artful recitation of contemporary philosophy and social science research. Perhaps the potential awkwardness of scolding an acquaintance leads you to avoid confrontation. Whatever you’ve done in the past, [...]

Rasinski, H., Geers, A. & Czopp, A. (2013). "I Guess What He Said Wasn't That Bad": Dissonance in Nonconfronting Targets of Prejudice, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, DOI:

Peer-reviewed by my neurons
Education | Psychology
Citation

April 03, 2013

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12:04 PM | A pronunciation guide to great men (and the obligatory token woman)
If you’re like me, when you’re reading about someone it helps to know how their name’s pronounced. Just seeing it on the page isn’t enough; there’s always that slight mental hiccup as your inner voice tries to say the word, and fails. And for some of the great names who’ve shaped the history of Western [...]
neurotaylor
Neuroscience | Academic Life

April 01, 2013

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2:37 AM | SWAG: Video Games and Violence
wikipedia.org Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG). This week, SWAG was led by Jesse Preston, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois. Her summary of the SWAG discussion follows below: Can […]

Ferguson, C. (2013). Violent video games and the Supreme Court: Lessons for the scientific community in the wake of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association., American Psychologist, 68 (2) 57-74. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation

March 26, 2013

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10:42 PM | Advice vs Victim-blaming: a proposed study on #safetytipsforladies
So there has been a lot of noise about whether giving women 'safety tips' to avoid being raped is a form of 'victim blaming'.Don't get Raped (source)This culminated in a great hashtag (as many things do). Follow #safetytipsforladies to see some lovely tips for avoiding rape.For example:Don't be anywhere. 100% of rapes happen in places and locations. #safetytipsforladies— Conna Stevenson (@1000DaysOfRain) March 25, 2013Others suggest simply not being a woman, not ever drinking anything, not […]

Bieneck S & Krahé B (2011). Blaming the victim and exonerating the perpetrator in cases of rape and robbery: is there a double standard?, Journal of interpersonal violence, 26 (9) 1785-97. PMID:

TheCellularScale
Cell Biology | Neuroscience
Citation

March 25, 2013

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7:16 PM | 5 Ways Gratitude Can Backfire
Gratitude is good. Good for your health and well-being. Good for your relationships. In fact, I've written about the benefits of gratitude here, here, here, and here. But is gratitude always good? No. Although a focus on appreciating what you have instead of lamenting what you have-not is generally good advice, gratitude is not a panacea. Here are a few ways in which gratitude may be the wrong prescription: 1.       Overdosing on gratitude. When it comes to keeping track of your […]

Sheldon, K. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1 (2) 73-82. DOI:

McNulty JK & Russell VM (2010). When "negative" behaviors are positive: a contextual analysis of the long-term effects of problem-solving behaviors on changes in relationship satisfaction., Journal of personality and social psychology, 98 (4) 587-604. PMID:

Watkins, P., Scheer, J., Ovnicek, M. & Kolts, R. (2006). The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and indebtedness, Cognition & Emotion, 20 (2) 217-241. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation
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7:16 PM | 5 Ways Gratitude Can Backfire
Gratitude is good. Good for your health and well-being. Good for your relationships. In fact, I've written about the benefits of gratitude here, here, here, and here. But is gratitude always good? No. Although a focus on appreciating what you have instead of lamenting what you have-not is generally good advice, gratitude is not a panacea. Here are a few ways in which gratitude may be the wrong prescription: 1.       Overdosing on gratitude. When it comes to keeping track of your […]

Sheldon, K. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1 (2) 73-82. DOI:

McNulty JK & Russell VM (2010). When "negative" behaviors are positive: a contextual analysis of the long-term effects of problem-solving behaviors on changes in relationship satisfaction., Journal of personality and social psychology, 98 (4) 587-604. PMID:

Watkins, P., Scheer, J., Ovnicek, M. & Kolts, R. (2006). The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and indebtedness, Cognition & Emotion, 20 (2) 217-241. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation
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7:16 PM | 5 Ways Gratitude Can Backfire
Gratitude is good. Good for your health and well-being. Good for your relationships. In fact, I've written about the benefits of gratitude here, here, here, and here. But is gratitude always good? No. Although a focus on appreciating what you have instead of lamenting what you have-not is generally good advice, gratitude is not a panacea. Here are a few ways in which gratitude may be the wrong prescription: 1.       Overdosing on gratitude. When it comes to keeping track of your […]

Sheldon, K. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1 (2) 73-82. DOI:

McNulty JK & Russell VM (2010). When "negative" behaviors are positive: a contextual analysis of the long-term effects of problem-solving behaviors on changes in relationship satisfaction., Journal of personality and social psychology, 98 (4) 587-604. PMID:

Watkins, P., Scheer, J., Ovnicek, M. & Kolts, R. (2006). The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and indebtedness, Cognition & Emotion, 20 (2) 217-241. DOI:

Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
Citation
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