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Poker pros’ arms betray their hands
ScienceNews: No bluff: In high-stakes matches, a poker face may not be good enough. Players may have to develop “poker arms” as well. When shown two-second video clips of the arms and hands of top players making bets in the World Series of Poker, college students did well at judging who was playing a strong hand and who wasn’t, say psychology graduate student Michael Slepian of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and his colleagues. But when viewing videos of only poker pros’ upper bodies or faces during bets, students couldn’t correctly predict whether players held good or bad cards, the researchers report Sept. 12 in Psychological Science. Read the whole story: ScienceNews
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Qui sont les sadiques ordinaires? (Who are the everyday sadists?)
Le Figaro: Oui, les sadiques sont bien parmi nous! Une étude menée par les Dr Delroy Paulhus et Erin Buckels, professeurs et chercheurs en psychologie à l'université de Colombie britannique (Canada), a permis d'établir que certainsindividus apparemment adaptés en société étaient animés de pulsions sadiques. Sans être des serial killers ou des déviants sexuels, ces individus se délectent davantage que d'autres lorsqu'ils font souffrir quelqu'un. On peut alors parler là d'un «sadisme ordinaire» du type de celui qui, par pur plaisir, pousse certains ados à harceler une victime sur Internet ou des employés de bureau à se moquer quotidiennement d'un collègue timide.
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Gratitude Is About the Future, Not the Past
The Huffington Post: When life's got you down, gratitude can seem like a chore. Sure, you'll go through the motions and say the right things -- you'll thank people for help they've provided or try to muster a sense of thanks that things aren't worse. But you might not truly feel grateful in your heart. It can be like saying "I'm happy for you" to someone who just got the job you wanted. The words and the feelings often don't match. This disconnect is unfortunate, though. It comes from a somewhat misguided view that gratitude is all about looking backward -- back to what has already been. But in reality, that's not how gratitude truly works.
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Fear memories can be overcome during sleep, researchers say
The Washington Post: It can take only an instant for fear to take hold in the brain: a fear of snakes after being bitten by one, or anxiety around bodies of water after witnessing a drowning. Overcoming that fear can take a long time, but now researchers are saying it can be done in your sleep. Scientists at Northwestern University say they have lowered levels of fear in people by using certain odors to trigger and rechannel frightening memories into harmless ones during a deep slumber. “Sleep sort of stamps memories in more strongly,” said neurologist Jay Gottfried, senior author of the study, which was scheduled to be published online Sunday by the journal Nature Neuroscience.
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The Friendship Bank: How and Why Even the Most Giving Friend Expects Payback
The Wall Street Journal: For 20 years, Christina Steinorth was happy to help one of her close friends with whatever she needed—last-minute baby sitting, a drive to work when her car was in the shop, countless hours of free marriage advice (Ms. Steinorth is a licensed marriage and family therapist). She didn't expect anything in return. When Ms. Steinorth and her husband decided to adopt a baby a few years ago, she asked her pal to write a letter of recommendation. The friend agreed enthusiastically, Ms. Steinorth says, but months went by and no letter arrived. She asked again and the friend apologized profusely, but still no letter. After several more months, Ms.
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The Problem with Death Tolls
Slate: Pakistani authorities say at least 45 people were killed by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the country’s southwestern Baluchistan province today. As my colleague Josh Voorhees writes, that number is likely to rise, and reporting by Gul Yusufzai of Reuters suggests the damage caused by the quake, which was so powerful it created a new island off the country’s southern coast and was felt as far away as New Delhi, is likely to be extensive: Officials said scores of mud houses were destroyed by aftershocks in the thinly populated mountainous area near the quake epicenter in Baluchistan, a huge barren province of deserts and rugged mountains. ...
