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Money can’t buy generosity, study finds
Calgary Herald: Turns out the rich really are different. But not necessarily in the ways we assume. Though economically privileged, people from upper-class backgrounds consistently display deficits in empathy, social engagement, generosity and sensitivity as compared to those from the lower classes. The differences in behaviour are so marked, in fact, that naive observers are able to detect a person's socioeconomic background based on 60 seconds of interaction. The findings, published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, have researchers concluding that wealth comes at considerable personal cost - and that being poor isn't without its wages.
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Spoilers ‘do not ruin stories’, study says
BBC: Knowing how a book ends does not ruin its story and can actually enhance enjoyment, a study suggests. Researchers at the University of California San Diego gave participants 12 short stories where two versions were spoiled and a third unspoiled. In all but one story, readers said they preferred versions which had spoiling paragraphs written into it. Although the study could not explain why, it suggested the brain may find it easier to process a spoiled story. "You get this significant reverse-spoiler effect," study author and professor of social psychology Nicholas Christenfeld said.
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The Culture of Coffee Drinkers
Scientific American: The idea of the morning person aside, morning commuters seem to fall into one of two categories: the Caffeinated and the Un-caffeinated—the latter category being those who intend to consume coffee, but haven’t quite gotten their morning java yet. And they’re easily recognizable as such. The Caffeinated are bright-eyed and engaged with the day’s events already—they’re reading their morning papers, or checking email, or reading for pleasure. They’re sometimes armed with travel mugs or Ventis from their coffee shop of choice. They rattle the ice in the clear plastic beverage cups from mobile vendors on summer days.
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Men and women perceive risks differently
Yahoo India: The results of a new study have challenged the assumption that women take fewer risks than men, and that adolescents do not consider consequences when making decisions. The new findings depict that the reality of who takes risks and when goes beyond stereotypes. It reveals how adolescents can be as cool-headed as adults, and in some realms, women take more risks than men. The study, conducted by Bernd Figner, research scientist at the Centre for Decision Sciences at Columbia Business School, and Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the University of Amsterdam; and Professor Elke Weber, Co-Director, Centre for Decision Sciences and the Jerome A.
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Spoiler Alert! Knowing the End of a Story Makes It Better, Study Finds
TIME: We might have to change the name of "spoilers" to "giveaways." They may not be that bad after all. A recent study shows that people enjoy movies, books and other stories when they know the ending ahead of time. Nicholas Christenfeld, a University of California, San Diego professor of social psychology, along with Jonathan Leavitt, a PhD candidate at UC San Diego studying psychology, organized an experiment where volunteers were given three stories of different genres, written by well-known authors such as John Updike and Anton Chekhov.
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UK riots: What turns people into looters?
BBC News: There have been some extraordinary scenes in London and other cities this week, from burning buildings and running street battles, to people unashamedly walking into a shop and leaving with a flat-screen television under their arms. Many of the looters have not bothered to cover their faces as they raided electrical stores, sports shops and off-licences. Some have even posed for a picture afterwards, proudly showing off their haul and posting the images on social-networking sites.
