-
In Retirement, It’s Save Now or Pay (a Lot) Later
The Wall Street Journal: Given a choice between satisfying our immediate needs and desires or focusing on the future, the here and now typically wins out. That impulse doesn’t bode well for retirement savings. ... “Time, resources and attention are limited,” says Neil Lewis Jr., a Ph.D. candidate in social psychology at the University of Michigan and co-author of a recent study that examined ways to counteract the impulse to spend now instead of saving for retirement. “People allocate them to events that are pressing, rather than to events that may happen later.” ... Another technique comes from Mr.
-
Do You Suffer From Illusions Of Moral Superiority?
NPR: Do you think you're more honest than the average person? More principled? More fair? If so, you're not alone. Studies consistently find that people think they're morally superior to others: more honest, principled and fair. This is hardly an isolated belief — people also think they're better than average when it comes to competence, intelligence and a host of other positive characteristics. Yet we aren't like the children of Lake Wobegone, who — we know from Garrison Keillor — are all above average. If all of us think we're above average, at least some of us are wrong. Read the whole story: NPR
-
Kleine Aufmerksamkeiten
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Der Weg in ein Leben als schlechter Mensch wird in Trippelschritten gegangen. Eine kleine Verfehlung öffnet die Tür zur nächsten kleinen Schweinerei, bis irgendwann der Punkt erreicht ist, an dem sowieso alles egal ist und die inneren Dämme gebrochen sind. Psychologen um Nils Köbis von der Universität Amsterdam haben jedoch eine Ausnahme von dieser Regel identifiziert: Wenn es um Bestechung geht, dann neigen auch unbescholtene Menschen dazu, sehr plötzlich zu diesem unethischen Mittel zu greifen - ohne sich zuvor mit kleinen Verfehlungen erst einmal quasi aufzuwärmen. Read the whole story: Süddeutsche Zeitung
-
Hypocrites, be honest
The Boston Globe: ACCORDING TO YALE University researchers, condemning someone else’s immoral behavior helps your own reputation, because when you condemn others, it’s a signal that you’re clean — more so than if you directly state that you’re clean. This is why hypocrisy is judged so harshly, because it violates the implicit assumption that you wouldn’t condemn unless you were really virtuous. As such, hypocrisy is judged even more harshly than lying about your behavior. However, honest hypocrisy — condemning others but also admitting your own misbehavior — is judged less harshly than lying. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
-
Here’s How Many Calories You’ll Eat During the Super Bowl
TIME: The game lasts four hours, but what you eat will stick with you way longer than that. By some (admittedly unscientific) estimates, Americans who snack on typical Super Bowl fare, like pizza, beer, soda, chips, dips, hot wings and nachos, could take in as many as 2,400 calories and 121 grams of fat just during the game. ... Add on a few miles if you happen to root for the team that loses. A 2013 study in the journal Psychological Science found that on the Monday after a big football game, people who had cheered for the team that lost ate 16% more saturated fat than they usually did.
-
White fear of demographic change is a powerful psychological force
VOX: In August 2008, the Census Bureau released a report that predicted a seismic shift in American demographics: By 2050, minorities would make up more than 50 percent of the population and become the majority. When Yale psychologist Jennifer Richeson heard about the report on NPR, she remembers thinking, “This is probably freaking somebody out.” By “somebody,” she means white people. Richeson’s studies on interracial interactions had taught her that when people are in the majority, the sense of their race is dormant. But the prospect of being in the minority can suddenly make white identity — and all the historical privilege that comes with it — salient.
