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Gross ads disgust consumers into action
USA Today: If you don't like stories that are totally gross, stop reading right now. Did you stop reading? Of course not. And it works the same way for advertisements, marketers are discovering. That, at least, according to a five-year study to be released Tuesday by Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business. Again and again, the study found, advertisements that try to simply "scare" consumers into actions — such as buying protective sunscreens or avoiding dangerous drugs — are far less effective than ads that also "disgust" consumers into taking the action. The best way to elicit disgust: Display totally gross images. Read the whole story: USA Today
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Broken hearts really can be painful
Zee News: New Delhi: "Broken-hearted" is not just a metaphor as researchers have now revealed that social pain and physical pain actually have a lot in common. In the study, Naomi Eisenberger of the University of Califiornia-Los Angeles surveyed recent research on the overlap between physical and social pain. Read the whole story: Zee News
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Caminata ayuda a desbloquear la creatividad: estudio
Yahoo: Cuando existe un bloqueo en la creatividad, la mejor solución es salir de la oficina o del sitio donde se encuentra y dar un paseo, aseguró un estudio de la Ross School of Business, de la Universidad de Michigan. La investigación, a cargo de los profesores Jeffrey Sánchez-Burks y Suntae Kim, cuyos resultados aparecen en un artículo de la revista mensual universitaria Michigan Today, indica que la participación en ciertos actos físicos mejora la solución creativa de problemas. Read the whole story: Yahoo
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The bright side of strife? Stress makes you see the upside of difficult situations – but that isn’t always a good thing
The Daily Mail: Stress actually makes us focus on the positive side of difficult situations, a new study has revealed - but that isn't always healthy. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that stressed-out people tend to focus on the 'upside' of choices - but in so doing, they ignore dangerous downsides. In a job interview, for instance, applicants might focus on the increased salary, and ignore downsides such as a long commute. Read the whole story: The Daily Mail
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Easily Pronounced Names May Make People More Likable
Wired: Though it might seem impossible, and certainly inadvisable, to judge a person by their name, a new study suggests our brains try anyway. The more pronounceable a person’s name is, the more likely people are to favor them. “When we can process a piece of information more easily, when it’s easier to comprehend, we come to like it more,” said psychologist Adam Alter of New York University and co-author of a Journal of Experimental Social Psychology study published in December. Fluency, the idea that the brain favors information that’s easy to use, dates back to the 1960s, when researchers found that people most liked images of Chinese characters if they’d seen them many times before.
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Optogenetics: Stranger Than Fiction
It sounds like a science fiction movie: Scientists integrate the photoreceptive properties of light-sensitive algae into rat neurons. The result? A rat whose brain can be controlled by light. As crazy as it seems, this isn’t science fiction: The field of optogenetics is scientific reality. In a May 2011 talk at the TED Conference, Edward Boyden explained that optogenetics allows scientists to target specific neurons quickly; conventional methods like drugs take longer to kick in. Boyden is also featured in a March Observer article on optogenetics, and he will be speaking in a webinar called Optogenetics in Neurons and Beyond on March 15, 2012.
