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Itchy Trigger Finger? How About Itchy Brain?
The Huffington Post: Police work is very dangerous, often involving bad people with guns, and one of the most dangerous policing tasks is searching and clearing a house. This is where the police go through a building room to room in pursuit of a suspect who may be armed and dangerous. The police officer must be fully prepared to shoot -- finger on the trigger, mind alert -- in case he or she does confront a suspect who is armed and ready to shoot. But the officer must also have the self-restraint to refrain from pulling the trigger if he or she bursts into a room and confronts an innocent bystander.
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How Not to Be the Next Brian Williams
Slate: For years, Brian Williams told various versions of a story about his experiences during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Last week, he admitted he had gotten crucial facts wrong, and he apologized. It’s possible that Williams was lying all along for self-aggrandizing reasons, but his serial misstatements could also be the product of ordinary, unintentional memory distortion. We may never know which is true. But the scientific evidence for the fallibility of human memory is now so well established and widespread that claims of false memory should no longer earn anyone a free pass.
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A Solo Traveler’s Guide to Meeting People
The New York Times: When you are traveling solo, it’s not always a breeze to strike up a conversation with a stranger. In fact, how do you meet other single travelers or locals in the first place? And if you’re looking for friendship — or even something more — how do you ensure that amid all the fun you don’t neglect to take safety precautions? Before we get to tactics, it’s helpful to know that you are likely to be rewarded for overcoming apprehensions about approaching someone new when you’re on the road.
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Time-as-Money Mindset Decreases Green Behaviors
Pacific Standard: How can people be convinced to think about the environmental consequences of their behaviors? New research suggests one surprising piece of the answer may be: Pay them a salary, rather than an hourly wage. “People are less likely to engage in environmentally friendly behavior if they are paid by the hour, a form of compensation that leads people to see their time as money,” write University of British Columbia psychologists Ashley Whillans and Elizabeth Dunn.
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Hit-and-run drivers not uncommon, but not well understood
The Baltimore Sun: Over the past eight days, three people died and another was injured in three hit-and-run accidents in the Baltimore region. Police are still seeking the drivers in all three incidents. On Wednesday, Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook was indicted on charges of automobile manslaughter, driving under the influence, texting while driving, and leaving the scene of the accident that killed bicyclist Thomas Palermo just days after Christmas. What leads someone to flee an accident where another person might have suffered harm? Data shows fleeing an accident is not uncommon, but there's little research on the behavior.
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Training the Mind Not to Wander
The New York Times: A wandering mind can lead to accidents and lost productivity. Now, a study finds that real-time brain monitoring can be used to help people regain focus. Neuroscientists at Princeton University monitored the brain activity of students who were asked to perform a repetitive task that required close attention. While lying inside an functional magnetic resonance imaging, or f.M.R.I., machine, the students were shown a series of pictures of human faces superimposed over scenery. They were told to press a button when they saw a particular kind of face (female or male) or when they saw a particular kind of scenery (inside or outside).
