-
How Diversity Makes Us Smarter
Scientific American: The first thing to acknowledge about diversity is that it can be difficult. In the U.S., where the dialogue of inclusion is relatively advanced, even the mention of the word “diversity” can lead to anxiety and conflict. Supreme Court justices disagree on the virtues of diversity and the means for achieving it. Corporations spend billions of dollars to attract and manage diversity both internally and externally, yet they still face discrimination lawsuits, and the leadership ranks of the business world remain predominantly white and male. It is reasonable to ask what good diversity does us.
-
Can Memories Be Implanted and Then Removed?
The New Yorker: At the turn of the twentieth century, Ivan Pavlov conducted the experiments that turned his last name into an adjective. By playing a sound just before he presented dogs with a snack, he taught them to salivate upon hearing the tone alone, even when no food was offered. That type of learning is now called classical—or Pavlovian—conditioning. Less well known is an experiment that Pavlov was conducting at around the same time: when some unfortunate canines heard the same sound, they were given acid.
-
Can we wire children’s brains to not crave junk food?
PBS: A study published in Psychological Science says it is possible to train children’s brains to resist craving junk food. The cognitive strategy was developed by researchers at Columbia University, who took MRI brain scans of 105 children, adolescents and young adults while they looked at images of “unhealthy but appetizing” food. The participants rated each picture by how much it made them want to eat it. When asked to visualize the food far away, as well as focus on the shape and color (versus imagining the food up close, in addition to its taste and smell), researchers saw a 16 percent drop in response, i.e., cravings.
-
Stanford’s Jennifer Eberhardt wins MacArthur ‘genius’ grant
Los Angeles Times: Jennifer Eberhardt is fascinated with objects. It may seem an incongruous fixation for a social psychologist, but it helped the Stanford University associate professor land a spot among the creative and academic elite Wednesday, when the MacArthur Foundation awarded her its "genius" fellowship. Eberhardt, 49, was cited for her efforts to examine how subtle, ingrained racial biases influence not just how we view people, but the objects of our daily world — and how those perceptions skew institutions such as the criminal justice system.
-
Smartphone App Takes Morality Science out of the Lab and into the Real World
Scientific American: Just when it seems there’s a mobile app for just about everything, psychologists have shown there’s room for one more: they are using smartphones to help them better understand the dynamics of moral and immoral behavior out in the community. A team of U.S., German and Dutch researchers has used Apple iOS, Google Android and other mobile devices to assess real-life situations. Their goal is to better understand how our moral sense develops and moral judgments are made as well as the differences in moral experiences among various individuals, groups and cultures. The researchers selected more than 1,200 smartphone users—ages 18 to 68—in the U.S.
-
Do Animals Have Morals?
NPR: Dr. Frans de Waal is a biologist and primatologist known for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. His first book, Chimpanzee Politics, compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimps to that of human politicians. He is a professor of psychology at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Center. Read the whole story: NPR
