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When Talking About Bias Backfires
The New York Times: A FATHER and his son are in a car accident. The father is killed and the son is seriously injured. The son is taken to the hospital where the surgeon says, “I cannot operate, because this boy is my son.” This popular brain teaser dates back many years, but it remains relevant today; 40 to 75 percent of people still can’t figure it out. Those who do solve it usually take a few minutes to fathom that the boy’s mother could be a surgeon. Even when we have the best of intentions, when we hear “surgeon” or “boss,” the image that pops into our minds is often male.
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Are Teenagers Getting Less Lonely?
The New York Times: At a time when many say loneliness is increasing in America, a new study offers what seems like hopeful news: Teenagers, at least, may be less lonely than they used to be. But some think the findings may reflect a change in how teenagers see their social worlds — one that may not be particularly positive. For research published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, D. Matthew T. Clark, Natalie J. Loxton and Stephanie J. Tobin looked at a survey given to high school students from 1991 to 2012.
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Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy
The New Yorker: My sister has a rare talent for mishearing lyrics. When we were younger, song meanings would often morph into something quite different from their original intent. In one Wallflowers hit, for instance, she somehow turned “me and Cinderella” into “the incinerator.” My favorite, though, remains that classic of the swing age, “Drunk driving, then you wake up”—a garbling of the Louis Prima hit that saw a brief resurgence in the nineties, “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail.” My sister’s creation of a night of drunk driving from jumping and jiving is actually a common phenomenon, with the curious name mondegreen.
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How the Powerful Change Their Speech
The Wall Street Journal: Accents often signal social status, but it turns out that your voice indicates status pretty well all by itself. Researchers from San Diego State and Columbia Universities have found that the voices of people put into more powerful roles changed in consistent—and somewhat surprising—ways by becoming higher and more monotonous, while varying more in loudness. To investigate the role of voice in hierarchy, the scientists designed two experiments. In the first, they recorded 161 college students reading a brief text routinely used to assess speaking skills.
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5 Reasons Giving Thanks Can Improve Your Life
New York Magazine: If you’re older than 9, it’s hard to resist the urge to roll your eyes when someone at the Thanksgiving table suggests, "Let’s all go around the room and share what we’re thankful for!" It’s a pretty corny holiday ritual you mostly do to keep your mom or your most momlike friends happy, but a robust body of psychological research actually links these sorts of gratitude exercises with increased happiness, health, and overall well-being. In other words, there are some very practical reasons to get into the spirit of things tomorrow by taking a minute to remember the reasons you’re #blessed. These are lessons that can be applied year-round.
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How to talk like you’re in charge
The Boston Globe: WHAT IS THE SOUND of power? Well, it’s high-pitched and monotonous, and alternately loud and soft. In a study, men and women were told they would be involved in a negotiation exercise, were put in a low- or high-power frame of mind, and then read a negotiation statement out loud. Those who were put in a high-power frame of mind spoke differently (higher pitch, more variable loudness, more monotone) than those who were put in a low-power frame of mind. Moreover, other people who later listened to recordings of these speakers—without knowing which speakers had been assigned to which frame of mind—were able to accurately guess which speakers were in a powerful role.
