- If you want to capture a little more self-control, just think of money.
- Natural (and other) disasters may make us all a little dumber. (But don't take these results to heart - they're based on a study of 16 people.)
- Snakes and guns: a study in how threats to our ancestors get translated into threats today.
- How we self-segregate - even when we don't necessarily want to.
- We prefer masculine vs. feminine leaders depending on whether or not we're at war.
- Why do institutions look so similar across the globe? Maybe it's because humans like them to be that way.
- America in Italians' eyes: father figure or nation of barbarians, depending on ones political orientation.
- Is democracy good for us? Only in the grand historical sweep of things...
- But whether or not democracy makes us wealthy, wealth tends to make us democratic.
- Before Facebook, hunter gatherers had social networks of their own. And they looked surprisingly similar.
- Foraging robots help explain why groups develop certain communication systems: they balance efficiency and robustness.
- A new entrant into the club of "what makes us human" theories: our brain's development of "frontal feedback".
- There's evidence that we become smarter about predictions when real money is on the line - but that's not the case when it comes to optimistic football fans.
- Low on glucose? You're conscious thinking powers may fail on you - but, don't worry, your unconscious thinking has you covered.
- There's evidence groups can make us collectively dumber: now they're saying pairs may do the same.
- Want to emphasize differences in performance? Use small numbers.
- Get creative: try to experience unexpected unusual events. Or decrease your latent inhibition. Or practice the generic parts technique.
- Anxiety can make us more vigilant and aware, but it also debilitates performance.
- The risk of finding explanations for inconsistencies: you may start missing inconsistencies altogether.
- Fines can get us to change our behavior - but only for a limited time.
- Ideologues create God in their ideological image.
- The newest installment in the Jonathan Haidt's five fundamental values theory: they do a good job of picking people's preferences on issues like immigration, abortion and same-sex marriage.
- When we're freaked out by death (ie "mortality salience" is high), we have a harder time understanding reading passages that conflict with our views.
- Curiosity: an antidote to aggression.
- An argument for matching campaign funds, using NYC as a model.
- Representative democracy may not be perfect, but given voters' "bounded rationality" it may be better than pure democracy or technocracy.
- Interest groups on not just good for lobbying - they also stimulate civic participation.
- Conservatives may not be happier because they're "system justifiers" - but because they can afford to be part of more groups.
- We look up to people who break the rules - as long as they're doing so to benefit the group.
- How big is someone's Facebook network? Just check the size of their "temporal sulcus".
- Humans are a cooperative species; one of the reasons we are (or can be) so is because we're so diverse.
- I'm not going to pretend I understand this, but public information can make us worse off when we're also picking up private information.
- Peers go to colleges their peers prefer.
- Want to keep free-riders in your group in line? Disapproval works better than approval. So do small penalties.
Monday, February 27, 2012
recent research
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