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Racial Bias in Criminal Justice
Unconscious biases toward African Americans still produce major inequities in the criminal justice system. Using statistical analyses, Jennifer Eberhardt has documented how racially coded features, such as a defendant’s skin color and hair texture, influence jurors’ decisions and the sentences that judges hand down. For example, she’s shown that jurors are more likely to recommend the death penalty for defendants whose features are stereotypically “black.” And she’s demonstrated that police officers are more likely to mistakenly identify black faces as criminal compared to white faces. In 2014, Eberhardt’s worked earned her the prestigious “genius” fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation.
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Here’s the Secret to Creative Problem-Solving
TIME: When you’re presented with a particularly thorny challenge at work, “think outside the box” is a common piece of advice. But figuring out how to do that can be nearly as tough as figuring out the answer you’re seeking in the first place. Now, science offers a solution to help anyone tap into their creative thought process to solve problems.
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That time your boss caught you watching cat videos and said, ‘don’t work too hard’
Forbes: “Don’t work too hard!” Imagine that your boss says this phrase to you: What do they mean? Well, it all depends on the context. If you had been burning the midnight oil and pulling a series of late-nighters, it is likely said with great sincerity. Your boss may be expressing deep concern that you are wearing yourself out and need to get some rest. But consider a different context: your boss says “don’t work too hard” after you are caught watching a cat video on YouTube. In this case, the phrase is intended to be sarcastic – your boss is suggesting that you might not be working hard enough. Read the whole story: Forbes
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How Parents Give Their Kids Math Anxiety
New York Magazine: If figuring out how to split the bill fairly at a restaurant is enough to leave you feeling sweaty and nervous, maybe you are not the most qualified person to help a young kid with his or her math homework. A new study, published online this week in the journal Psychological Science, confirms this, suggesting that kids internalize their parents’ math anxiety — and that when math-anxious parents try to help their kids with their math homework, it often ends up backfiring. Read the whole story: New York Magazine
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Credit Screenings Lead to Unfair Hiring
Checking up on a job applicant’s financial history has become a common practice in hiring -- even for service industry jobs like serving frozen yogurt or driving a delivery truck. Employers might assume that a job candidate’s financial history provides a real-world measure of their trustworthiness and reliability. However, new research contends that screening candidates based on credit checks does little to ensure quality hires, and instead often leads to discrimination.
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Worrying About the Future, Ruminating on the Past—How Thoughts Affect Mental Health
The Wall Street Journal: Patrick Molloy has a great fear of offending people. At the end of each day, he replays every one of his conversations and interactions in his head, to figure out if he needs to apologize to anyone. The 44-year-old graphic designer says it’s nearly impossible to turn these swirling thoughts off. “It feels like an unwelcome guest in my mind,” says Mr. Molloy, who lives in West Sussex in the U.K. “It’s wearying and it’s discouraging.” ... Rumination has been found to predict both the onset of depression as well as the continuation of it in a number of studies.
