-
How WebMD convinces us we’re dying
The Washington Post: We’ve all, at some point, likely done it: Felt under the weather, Googled the symptoms and, moments later, become convinced that it could be a life-threatening illness. Sixty percent of Americans, after all, get health care information online. New research in this month’s Psychological Science sheds some light on why, exactly, reading a description of brain cancer might quickly convince us we have it. In the study, psychologists created a fictional thyroid cancer and had subjects read descriptions of its symptoms. Some had the very general symptoms, things like fatigue and weight fluctuation, grouped together at the start.
-
Should We Stop Referring to People as ‘Consumers’?
TIME: The term “consumers” is routinely used in place of “people” and “citizens.” While most people (consumers?) don’t notice or care much about the terms being used interchangeably, there are those who resent being labeled as “consumers,” as if their sole purpose and reason for existence on this planet is to consume—to eat, drink, use, watch, and buy stuff, and keep the economy humming along. Now, a new psychological study indicates that it may be in everyone’s interest if we stop referring to (insulting?) folks as mere consumers.
-
Two languages walk into a bar
Macleans: Samir Khullar, the smarmy, potty-mouthed comedian who goes by Sugar Sammy, has a joke about the NDP in his new show. “Their slogan was ‘Working Together,’ ” he says, referring to the party’s unexpected breakthrough in Quebec in the last federal election, “but once they won it became ‘Holy S–t What Do We Do Now?’ ” The delivery, however, is hardly straightforward. He says the first part in English, the slogan and the bit about winning in French, then goes back to English for the punchline.
-
How to Be a Better Test-Taker
The New York Times: THE REALITY Many capable, hard-working students perform poorly on exams because they’ve overtaxed their “working memory” — the mental scratchpad on which we combine information from our long-term memory with the specifics of the problem in front of us, in the service of finding a solution. THE PROBLEM “When students are anxious about how they’ll do on an exam,” says Sian Beilock, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, “their worries use up some of their working memory capacity, leaving less of this cognitive horsepower to apply to the task at hand.” HOW TO Dr.
-
Sind Sie risikointelligent?
20 Minuten Online: Kritisch und gleichzeitig kreativ mit Risiken umzugehen - das wird von vielen, insbesondere von Menschen in höheren Positionen im Arbeitsalltag verlangt. Vielfach wähnen sich die Betroffenen während des Entscheidungsprozesses am Roulette-Tisch: Rot oder doch lieber schwarz, alles auf eine Karte oder auf Beständigkeit und Sicherheit setzen? Wie gut wir darin sind, Entscheidungen unter Risikoeinfluss zu treffen, liess sich bislang nur schwerlich bemessen. Herkömmliche Tests sind lediglich in der Lage, Hinweise über die Aufmerksamkeitskontrolle oder die Intelligenz eines Menschen zu liefern.
-
Going the Distance: Stereotypes and Hard Work
The Huffington Post: I plead guilty to trading in stereotypes once in a while. For example, I've somehow gotten the idea that East Africans are especially good distance runners, and I think I've even said as much on a few occasions. But I don't know this to be true. I've never done the work to verify that East Africans are statistically superior at distance running. It just seems that every time I flip on ESPN and happen on a long-distance event, an East African is winning. This kind of stereotyping seems harmless enough, but is it? I intend it with admiration rather than disrespect, but new research suggests that whether stereotypes are positive or negative may be irrelevant.
