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How to Be a Better Decision Maker
Real Simple: Why is decision-making so agonizing? There’s an explosion of options in all areas of modern life—careers, wireless plans, shampoo. So we’re overwhelmed by choice? Definitely. Also, people don’t really know what they want. How can we narrow things down? By focusing on only the factors that are most important to us. You talk about two types of decision-makers: “maximizers” and “satisficers.” Yes. A maximizer looks at every possible choice to determine the strongest contender. A satisficer goes with “good enough.” We found that satisficers are happier with their choices. They also have more free time, since they’re not laboring over the alternatives.
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Having Kids Can Make Parents Less Empathetic
The Atlantic: Throughout my wife’s pregnancy, it seemed like everyone who already had kids was eager to tell us about the changes parenting would bring to our lives. Some were mundane but a little scary (losing the opportunity to shower every day), others profound and hopeful (a powerful new sense of purpose). At any rate, most of them were right—just a few weeks into her life, our daughter has already changed me in many ways. Some new experiences seem par for the course—feeling less annoyed by crying kids on planes, embarrassingly tearing up to dad-themed commercials—but other changes have surprised me. I’ve grown more suspicious of strangers, for example.
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Men eat more pizza when trying to impress women, study suggests
Los Angeles Times: Of all of the ways men try to impress the ladies, from big wallets to big muscles, here is one that has finally been quantified by science. In a woman’s presence, men eat 93% more pizza, according to researchers at Cornell University. ... They found that not only did men eat 93% more pizza (1.44 more slices) when dining with a female than when with another man, but they also ate 86% more salad. “These findings suggest that men tend to overeat to show off,” said Kevin Kniffin, visiting assistant professor and lead author of the study. “Instead of a feat of strength, it’s a feat of eating.” The study was published Nov. 10 in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science.
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Irrational Game Aims to Steer Consumers Toward Rational Choices
The New York Times: In his 2008 best-selling book, “Predictably Irrational,” Dan Ariely, a Duke University professor of psychology and behavioral economics, proposed the idea of a “self-control credit card.” In theory, this card would hinder one’s ability to spend excessively by initiating warning alerts to designated overseers or shutting down completely if certain budgets were exceeded. Mr. Ariely has yet to persuade any financial institution that reining in spendthrifts this way is a rational business proposition. But he continues to experiment with products that might improve consumers’ decision-making. This time around, Mr. Ariely designed playing cards, not credit cards.
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How Fairness Develops in Kids Around the World
The Atlantic: You're sitting at a table with a friend and a stranger offers you some candy. Hooray! Who doesn't like candy? But wait! You're not getting the same amounts. One of you gets four delicious pieces, and the other gets a measly one. Does that feel unfair? Do you bristle? Do you forfeit your candy and your friend’s candy, because they’re unevenly distributed? ... McAuliffe and Blake caution that this doesn't mean that some countries are fairer than others. For a start, the children in the study might all eventually come to reject their own unfair advantages during adolescence or later in life. “We also don’t know precisely why some children reject advantageous offers,” says Blake.
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THE SECRET TO SOUNDING SMART? USING SIMPLE LANGUAGE
Fast Company: It might sound counterintuitive, but using four-syllable textbook words to demonstrate your smarts will actually make you appear less capable. "So often, our intuitions about what will impress others are wrong," says Daniel M. Oppenheimer, professor of psychology at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He led a series of studies on how the use of language can make one appear more or less intelligent. ... The reason for this phenomenon, Oppenheimer explains, is that the ease of processing information is strongly associated with positive qualities such as confidence, intelligence, and capability.
