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(Inherently) Scared of Red
What do you think of when you see the color red? Danger, blood, passion, and…dominance, new research suggests. A study to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science found that that there is evolutionary basis to the human tendency to avoid the color red or act submissively in its presence. In this study, experimenters looked at male rhesus macaques, a species of monkeys that is sensitive to the colors red, green, and blue, in their natural environment. The female and male experimenters would approach the monkeys at the same time, in the same manner, place a slice of apple in front of them, and then take two simultaneous steps back.
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Nodding Off First May Leave Your Partner Wanting
MSNBC: WASHINGTON — Falling asleep first after having sex may leave your partner longing for attention and more bonding time, new research finds. "The time the couple spends together after sex is prime time for bonding and the commitment conversation," said Daniel Kruger of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. " Your oxytocin and the hormones related to affective relationships are raging, so it's prime time for bonding." This after-sex bonding period could be evolutionarily derived, since in the case of a pregnancy, the female would desire a commitment from her sexual partner. Spending this time bonding could be an important way to secure that commitment.
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Reason Seen More as Weapon Than Path to Truth
The New York Times: For centuries thinkers have assumed that the uniquely human capacity for reasoning has existed to let people reach beyond mere perception and reflex in the search for truth. Rationality allowed a solitary thinker to blaze a path to philosophical, moral and scientific enlightenment. Now some researchers are suggesting that reason evolved for a completely different purpose: to win arguments. Rationality, by this yardstick (and irrationality too, but we’ll get to that) is nothing more or less than a servant of the hard-wired compulsion to triumph in the debating arena.
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Ambition + Desire = Trouble
The New York Times: “I DON’T know what I was thinking.” So said Anthony D. Weiner in a news conference moments after finally admitting that he had sent naughty photos of himself to women he had met on the Internet. The married former congressman, who resigned on Thursday, 10 days after that confessional press conference, might not know what he had been thinking — but scientists have an idea or two. Read more: The New York Times
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Income Inequality Costing Americans Their Happiness
LiveScience: Americans are happier in times when the gap between rich and poor is smaller, a new study finds. The reason, according to research to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science, is that when the income gap is large, lower- and middle-income people feel less trusting of others and expect people to treat them less fairly. The study also provides a potential explanation for why American happiness hasn't risen along with national wealth in the last 50 years. Read more: LiveScience
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When Power Levels Are Equal Women Are Just As Unfaithful As Men, Says New Study
The Huffington Post: Women cheat just as much as men -- at least if they are playing on the same power level. A new study in that will appear in Psychological Science found that infidelity is associated with power, rather than with gender. Researchers in the Netherlands surveyed 1,561 men and women from a range of different professions and compared the sexual infidelities of those who identified themselves as having similar jobs and similar amounts of power.
