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Fact Checker: Is the U.S. a land of Haves and Have-Nots?
Reno Gazette-Journal: What do you think is a fair amount of wealth inequality? Before getting to that, an explanation of "why this question now" is needed. People on the left and right have been noting the disparity in wealth with increasing alarm. The Occupy Wall Street movement has faced mass arrests, pepper spraying and increasing attention. It has spread to Boston, Chicago, LA, Japan -- and Las Vegas and Reno. One of its refrains pits the wealthy 1 percent of the nation against the 99 percent of the "rest of us," saying the Haves are dominating government and corporations to the detriment of the Have-Nots.
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Practice Doesn’t Always Make Perfect, Study Suggests
Yahoo: Practice is an essential part of gaining excellence in a specific skill, but to become truly great other qualities must come into play, such as IQ or working memory, according to researchers who studied how practice affects the success of chess players. For the study, published in the October issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, the researchers also considered earlier research and noted that practicing harder or longer doesn't compensate for the lack of other important traits relevant to a certain activity. The study authors pointed out that there is a theory that people will do better in areas such as sports, music and chess if they practice more.
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Peace in our time?
The Daily Mail: Hear the good news! ‘We are living in the most peaceable era of our species’ existence!’ Well, you could have fooled me. Who says so? And why? The herald of reassurance is professor Steven Pinker, the Harvard psychologist with impressive books to his credit on how our minds work. He draws his conclusion - that human violence has declined amazingly, is still declining and may be on the way out - from a 700-page survey of the subject, packed with statistics, table after table and graph after graph. The professor writes as though he knows that I am not going to believe him.
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Explained: Why Men Have a Harder Time Making Friends
The Huffington post: In my college course on the science of well-being, I devote at least three classes to what psychologists have learned about nourishing healthy relationships. Ask school children who their friends are and many list last names close to them in the alphabet. Why? Because most friendships are determined by seating charts. Schools shove future friends in your face. During the innocence of youth, proximity alone is grounds for liking someone. But things change dramatically as we get older, especially for men. Open-mindedness takes a hit. What other people think of us and where we stand in the social hierarchy is of epic importance.
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What’s the power of a good luck charm?
CNN: As Texas Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson took to the mound Monday night, he wore a rope-like necklace that may be nothing more than a fashion choice, but if he believes in the maker's claims, that may give him an "edge" against his opponents at bat. It's not just Wilson; a surprising number of professional athletes have begun wearing the titanium-laced necklaces, including Rangers Derrick Holland, Mitch Moreland and Elvis Andrus. The "edge" the necklaces' manufacturer, Phiten, claims to give is not proved, but especially for athletes, there is psychological value to an item worn consistently, rituals and superstitions, one sports psychologist says.
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Studying Flags, Pins, Hope From 2008 Election
Miller-McCune: The Stars and Stripes are subliminal, class cleavages are overrated, and other academic analysis we should consider from the last election. I Pledge Allegiance to the GOP Flag The flags of the United States of America and the Civil War-era Confederate Army have somewhat different symbolic associations. But recent research suggests exposure to the Stars and Stripes and the Confederate flag may have had the same effect on voters during the 2008 presidential election: A decreased likelihood of voting for Barack Obama.
