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Why you can’t stop checking your phone
The Boston Globe: Drive for long enough in America, and you’re bound to see someone texting behind the wheel. Maybe it’ll be the guy ahead of you, his head bobbing up and down as he tries to balance his attention between his screen and his windshield. Or maybe it’ll be the woman weaving into your lane, thumbing at her phone while she holds it above the dashboard. Maybe it’ll be you. A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that drivers who are texting are twice as likely to crash, or almost crash, as those who are focused on the road.
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Opferzahl bei Katastrophen bestimmt Spendenhöhe (Number of victims of disasters determine donations)
Die Welt: Die Zahl der Toten nach einer Naturkatastrophe hat mehr Einfluss auf die Spendenbereitschaft als die Zahl der Überlebenden. Das geht aus einer Studie der Rotterdam School of Management hervor, die im Fachjournal "Psychological Science" veröffentlicht wurde. "Unsere Forschung zeigt, dass Spender gemeinhin dazu neigen, nicht zu prüfen, wer eigentlich die Hilfe empfängt", erklärte der leitende Forscher Ioannis Evangelidis. Die Forscher untersuchten zunächst die humanitäre Hilfe, die für Naturkatastrophen zwischen 2000 und 2010 geleistet wurde und befragten Probanden zu ihrer Spendenbereitschaft. Read the whole story: Die Welt
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A Tiny Pronoun Says a Lot About You
The Wall Street Journal: You probably don't think about how often you say the word "I." You should. Researchers say that your usage of the pronoun says more about you than you may realize. Surprising new research from the University of Texas suggests that people who often say "I" are less powerful and less sure of themselves than those who limit their use of the word. Frequent "I" users subconsciously believe they are subordinate to the person to whom they are talking. Pronouns, in general, tell us a lot about what people are paying attention to, says James W. Pennebaker, chair of the psychology department at the University of Texas at Austin and an author on the study.
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Study links gene variation to a darker view of life
The Washington Post: Some people just see the world more darkly than others. A group of scientists says that what people observe in everyday life may depend on their genetic blueprint. A particular gene, known to play a part in emotional memories, could also influence where people tend to focus their eyes and attention. “People think there’s a world, and our brain just tells us about it,” said study author and Cornell University psychologist Adam Anderson.
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The Key To Learning: Knowing How Learning Works
TIME: What’s the key to effective learning? One intriguing body of research suggests a rather riddle-like answer: It’s not just what you know. It’s what you know about what you know. To put it in more straightforward terms, anytime a student learns, he or she has to bring in two kinds of prior knowledge: knowledge about the subject at hand (say, mathematics or history) and knowledge about how learning works. Parents and educators are pretty good at imparting the first kind of knowledge. We’re comfortable talking about concrete information: names, dates, numbers, facts.
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Unhealthy food marketed to youth through athlete endorsements
Yale News: Professional athletes are often paid large amounts of money to endorse commercial products. But the majority of the food and beverage brands endorsed by professional athletes are for unhealthy products like sports beverages, soft drinks, and fast food, according to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale. The study appears in the November issue of Pediatrics. Analyzing data collected in 2010 from Nielson and AdScope, an advertisement database, the study reveals that adolescents aged 12 to 17 viewed the most television ads for food endorsed by athletes.
