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The Problem With Studying “Deviant” Video Games
Slate: The debate over the connection between playing video games and real-world behavior has subsided a bit since the days of its Columbine-era peak cacophony. But it’s very much an ongoing controversy, and one with important ramifications given the sheer popularity of video games. A new study purporting to show a long-term link between risk-glorifying game play and various deviant behaviors highlights just how tricky a subject this is—and psychologists' ongoing internecine battle over this issue.
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Why Just Reading About Bedbugs Is Making You All Itchy
New York Magazine: I have been itchy all damn day after reading this post by our Daily Intelligencer pals on the return of bedbugs, and I suspect I’m not the only one. As one commenter put it: "Welp thanks for this now I've got psychosomatic itchy spots all over because i take the N Train all the time ... i fought the scourge back in '12 and still feel em on me. STILL FEEL EM CRAWLING ON ME." I hear you.
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Study: Not Getting Enough Sleep Can Lead to False Memories
Mashable: A lack of sleep may cause you to develop memories of events that never actually happened, according to a new study from researchers at Michigan State University and the University of California, Irvine. Stephen Frenda, who helped lead the study, explains he wanted to look specifically at how sleep loss affects people's recollections of detailed events. The experiment involved 104 people who were asked to look at pictures of a crime scene. One group was allowed to go to sleep; the other group had to stay awake all night in the lab. Read the whole story: Mashable
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Have and Have Not: The Widening Gap
The Huffington Post: The late Peter Drucker is widely viewed as the inventor of modern corporate management, although before his death he was discouraged by the short-sightedness of many business leaders. He was especially concerned about the widening pay gap between CEOs and the average worker -- a trend he had observed with alarm for decades. As far back as 1984, Drucker had warned that the pay gap should not exceed 20-to-1. Anything beyond that, he believed, would foster mistrust and resentment and erode the kind of teamwork needed for long-term growth. The actual pay gap today is 354-to-1. So why aren't workers marching and picketing and otherwise complaining about this inequity?
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The Science of Fatherhood
MPR News: Parenting is hard work - we've always known that. There are major biological and life changes that occur when you welcome a baby into your home. Social scientists, however, have been taking a new look at the experience of parenthood. In an article Dr Eli J Finkel in The New York Times, he said the biological changes that a man faces when he becomes a father have long been overlooked: Although many parents happily take to their new role, millions every year respond with despair.
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Here’s One Weird Trick For Identifying Narcissists
Newsweek: How do you identify a narcissist? It might be as simple as asking "Are you a narcissist?" according to a study published today in PLOS ONE. Researchers at Ohio State University, Indiana University-Purdue University and Gettysburg College conducted 11 different experiments, with more than 2,200 subjects, to determine whether it's possible to identify a narcissist by asking a person: “To what extent do you agree with this statement: ‘I am a narcissist.’ (Note: The word ‘narcissist’ means egotistical, self-focused, and vain.)” Participants then rated their narcissism on a scale of 1 (“not very true of me”) to 7 (“very true of me”). Read the whole story: Newsweek
