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Number Crunching May Make People More Selfish
In the 1970s, the Ford Pinto became synonymous with unethical management decisions. Although it was known that the car had an unfortunate tendency to explode in rear-end collisions, Ford went ahead with production after a cost-benefit analysis predicted savings of $11 per car, at a cost of only 180 burn deaths. As a result, several dozen people were injured or killed before the design flaw came to light. New research suggests that even basic math calculations may significantly increase people’s likelihood of engaging in selfish and unethical behavior. Researchers Long Wang (City University of Hong Kong) Chen-Bo Zhong (University of Toronto), and J.
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Alcohol Makes Smiles More “Contagious,” but Only for Men
Consuming an alcoholic beverage may make men more responsive to the smiles of others in their social group, according to new research in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings suggest that, for men, alcohol increases sensitivity to rewarding social behaviors like smiling, and may shed light on risk factors that contribute to problem drinking among men. “This experimental alcohol study, which included a social context, finds the clearest evidence yet of greater alcohol reinforcement for men than women,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Catharine Fairbairn of the University of Pittsburgh.
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Hand Size Appears to Stay Constant, Provides Natural ‘Ruler’
People tend to perceive their dominant hand as staying relatively the same size even when it’s magnified, lending support to the idea that we use our hand as a constant perceptual “ruler” to measure the world around us. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: White Matter Morphometric Changes Uniquely Predict Children's Reading Acquisition Chelsea A. Myers, Maaike Vandermosten, Emily A. Farris, Roeland Hancock, Paul Gimenez, Jessica M. Black, Brandi Casto, Miroslav Draho, Mandeep Tumber, Robert L. Hendren, Charles Hulme, and Fumiko Hoeft Researchers have found several predictors of early reading ability, including family history and phonological awareness. In this study, the researchers examined whether variations in structural brain development could also serve as an early predictor of reading ability.
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Which Personality Traits Are Most Important to Employers?
While most employers evaluate job candidates on their skills and experience, many companies are increasingly using personality measures to determine whether a candidate is a good fit. According to a survey from the Society for Human Resource Management, nearly 20% of employers say they use some type of personality test as part of the hiring process. In a new study published in the journal Perspectives in Psychological Science, psychologists Paul R. Sackett and Philip T. Walmsley of the University of Minnesota analyzed several large data sets of hiring and job performance information to find out which personality attributes companies value most.
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Why Hands-Free Phones Are A Driving Danger
By now, we should all know that talking on a cell phone while driving is a bad idea. So far, 14 states have banned driving with a handheld phone, but researchers caution that hands-free phones may be just as dangerous and distracting. In 2011 the National Transportation Safety Board called for an end to all cellphone use in the car saying, "there is no difference between hand-helds and hands-free." New research from a team of psychological scientists from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada further confirms that even hands-free phone conversations can have a negative impact on driver performance.
