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Are You Vain Enough to Get Ahead?
The Wall Street Journal: You don’t have to be a total narcissist to be a successful executive – but a solid dash of ego can help. Self-aggrandizing individuals with a need for impact and power are slightly more likely to become leaders than the general population, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and personality testing firm Hogan Assessment Systems. But while a dose of self-confidence is necessary to raise your hand for the top job and steer a big corporation, too much can cause a leader and company to falter. ...
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Feeling mad? New devices can sense your mood and tell — or even text — others.
The Washington Post: Cognitive psychologist Mary Czerwinski and her boyfriend were having a vigorous argument as they drove to Vancouver, B.C., from Seattle, where she works at Microsoft Research. She can’t remember the subject, but she does recall that suddenly, his phone went off, and he read out the text message: “Your friend Mary isn’t feeling well. You might want to give her a call.” At the time, Czerwinski was wearing on her wrist a wireless device intended to monitor her emotional ups and downs. Similar to the technology used in lie detector tests, it interprets signals such as heart rate and electrical changes in the skin.
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Memory Wizards
CBS: You may -- or may not -- recall that a few years back, we brought you a story about a handful of people with memories that are almost unimaginable: name virtually any date in their lives, and they can tell you what they were doing that day, the day of the week, sometimes even the weather -- all within seconds. It’s a kind of memory that is brand new to science -- literally unheard of just a decade ago. After our story aired, the scientists studying this phenomenon were flooded with calls and emails. We were so intrigued, we decided to follow the research to see what further study might reveal about these remarkable memories and what it may mean for the rest of us.
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Remembrance of News Past
The New York Times: WITHIN just over a year we’ve seen the Newtown shootings, the bombing at the Boston Marathon and the rescue of the kidnapped women in Cleveland. But which details of these events will you remember in a year? In five years? Will you remember the names of the perpetrators or the victims, the places where they happened, or the month and the year? It won’t surprise you to learn that the very recent news events are the ones we remember best. The Japanese psychologist Terumasa Kogure found sharp drops in recollection at four years and eight years after an event, but sometimes we’ll remember the details of far older news stories.
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Bringing Hidden Biases Into the Light
The Wall Street Journal: Everyone has hidden biases. For Denise Russell Fleming, a vice president at BAE Systems Inc., they include overlooking quieter colleagues during meetings. "I may have not made the best decisions" because of inadequate input from introverts, she says, adding that she tends to favor more talkative personalities. As they struggle to diversify their workforces, big businesses are teaching staffers to recognize that "unconscious bias"—or an implicit preference for certain groups—often influences important workplace decisions. ...
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Die Gier nach mehr ist im Menschen angelegt (The greed for more is invested in people)
Die Welt: Wenn man sich freiwillig als Versuchskaninchen für psychologische Studien hergibt, weiß man ja nie, was einen erwartet. Es kann sein, dass man sich 30 Minuten lang sinnlosen Buchstabensalat auf einem Rechner ansehen und dabei ab und zu eine Taste drücken muss. Es kann passieren, dass man virtuell mit einem Gegner spielen soll, den es gar nicht gibt, oder einem zu Täuschungszwecken über die wahren Absichten der Versuchsleiter andere Lügengeschichten vorgelegt werden. Es kann sogar sein, dass man Rechenaufgaben lösen muss und dabei leichte Stromschläge verabreicht bekommt.
