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NIH Funding Opportunity: Modeling Social Behavior
Deadline April 3, 2012, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. Announcing a funding opportunity from the NIH, a research project grant on Modeling Social Behavior. This grant, issued by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), solicits applications for developing and testing innovative theories and computational, mathematical, or engineering approaches to deepen our understanding of complex social behavior. This research will examine phenomena at multiple scales to address the emergence of collective behaviors that arise from individual elements or parts of a system working together.
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What Kind of Chocolate is Best? The Last You Taste, Says a New Study
Like to save the best for last? Here’s good news: If it’s the last, you’ll like it the best. That is the finding of a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the
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La romance virtuelle, ça marche !
Slate France: Une bénédiction pour les coeurs solitaires… Alors qu’il est de bon ton de penser que les rencontres en ligne ne sont que des attrape-nigauds, une étude américaine montre que ce mode de mise en relation a dépassé toutes les autres, hormis la bonne vieille rencontre par l’intermédiaire d’amis. La publication destinée à la revue Psychological Science et rendue publique le 6 février 2012 constate que “chaque année, des millions de personnes à la recherche de relations utilisent ces sites [de rencontre en ligne], souvent en payant des sommes substantielles pour cela”.
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Why willpower matters – and how to get it
The Guardian: In the smart restaurant of a very smart hotel in the West End of London, Roy F Baumeister, eminent American social psychology professor, orders a lunch of fish and chips, and then decides not to eat the chips. "I won't eat something that's not good for me unless it's absolutely perfect, and it's going to give me real pleasure," he says. "I'm afraid ... Well, it just didn't look like these were going to do either." What willpower, you might say. You'd be right; the chips looked pretty good. But Baumeister is also, coincidentally, a leading authority on that very subject, and has just published a smash-hit book on it with New York Times science writer John Tierney.
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The Science Behind the Serenity Prayer
The Huffington Post: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." These are the first lines of what's known as the Serenity Prayer, which is well-known to many recovering alcoholics. It's often recited in the rooms of AA as a reminder of the core principle of successful sobriety: Acceptance of the reality that for addicts, nothing but absolute, lifelong abstinence will lead to healthy and lasting recovery. As simple as that message is, it's very difficult for many alcoholics to embrace, at least at first.
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Why ‘experience’ shoppers are happier
Minneapolis Post: Next time you pull out your wallet to hand over some of your hard-earned money, you'd be wise to spend it on experiences rather than possessions. For as research on happiness and spending habits has demonstrated repeatedly in recent years, buying life experiences tends to makes us happier than buying things. What hasn't been as clear, however, is why some individuals are more likely to use their disposable income on, say, camping in the Boundary Waters or catching a show at the Jungle Theater than shopping at the Mall of America. In fact, psychologists know very little about habitual "experiential shoppers." A recent study, however, appears to have unlocked some clues.
