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Rising field of science boosts how we grasp thought
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Say you're getting ready to take the SAT. You spend hours brushing up on vocabulary; you do hundreds of practice problems; you learn tips on test-taking from a tutor. Those are good techniques, but you might consider adding a new trick: wearing a lab coat. People who wore white lab coats made half as many mistakes on attention-related tasks as those wearing their regular clothes, according to a study published this year by Hajo Adam, a visiting assistant professor at Northwestern University, along with colleague Adam Galinsky. It is unclear whether the effects wear off over time, or if knowing the trick removes its effectiveness.
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Talk Yourself Into Top Performance
Forbes: In the privacy of our minds, we all talk to ourselves — an inner monologue that might seem rather pointless. As one scientific paper on self-talk asks: “What can we tell ourselves that we don’t already know?” But as that study and others go on to show, the act of giving ourselves mental messages can help us learn and perform at our best. Researchers have identified the most effective forms of self-talk, collected here — so that the next time you talk to yourself, you know exactly what you should say. Self-talk isn’t just motivational messages like “You can do it!” or “Almost there,” although this internal cheering section can give us confidence.
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Why your brain sees men as people and women as body parts
Chicago Tribune: The sexual objectification of women isn’t just in your head—it’s in everyone’s. A new study finds that our brains see men as people and women as body parts. The research, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, suggests that we process images of men and women differently in the brain. “Global” cognitive processing, which is the brain’s method of interpreting an image in its entirety, is more often employed when viewing men. However, “local” cognitive processing, or seeing the parts that make up the whole, is the brain’s apparent default method for women.
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Alcohol Is a Social Lubricant, Study Confirms
Health Magazine You’ve seen those commercials with fun-loving people sharing a laugh over a cold brew. Now, a new study lends scientific support to the notion of alcohol as a social icebreaker. Researchers found that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol in a group setting boosts people’s emotions and enhances social bonding. The study also found that moderate consumption of alcohol can minimize negative emotions — or at least reduce displays such as being silent in a group or making faces with wrinkled noses or pursed lips.
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The Lipstick Effect: In Recessions, Women Still Buy Beauty Products
The Wall Street Journal: Tough times demand sensuous lips? It’s long been conventional wisdom among retailers that one thing women don’t cut back on, in an economic downturn, is beauty products — indeed, they may increase such spending. A new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology claims to be the first to demonstrate the existence of the so-called lipstick effect: Using both historical spending data and rigorous experiments, we examine how and why economic recessions influence women’s consumer behavior. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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7 Quick Ways to Relieve Stress
Washingtonian: There’s some truth to this common phrase. People who smile while performing a stressful task are more likely to have lower heart rates afterward, according to a recent study published in Psychological Science. That goes for fake smiles, too; those who were forced to smile (using chopsticks, of all things) also reported a positive effect afterward. Read the whole story: Washingtonian
