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The Science Behind #Phelpsface
Outside: Prior to Monday's 200-meter butterfly semifinals, NBC’s cameras caught Michael Phelps sitting alone in a corner, headphones on, with the meanest of mugs. As soon as Phelps finished the event—securing a spot in the finals, which he’d go on to win a day later—the Internet was awash with the hashtag #PhelpsFace. Wired called #Phelpsface “Rio’s first perfect meme,” and the New York Times proclaimed “Michael Phelps puts his game face on, and what a face it is.” While Phelps later admitted during an interview that his expression was unintentional, could #Phelpsface have influenced Phelps’s gold medal-winning performance? ...
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What Teens Need Most From Their Parents
The Wall Street Journal: The teenage years can be mystifying for parents. Sensible children turn scatter-brained or start having wild mood swings. Formerly level-headed adolescents ride in cars with dangerous drivers or take other foolish risks. A flood of new research offers explanations for some of these mysteries. Brain imaging adds another kind of data that can help test hypotheses and corroborate teens’ own accounts of their behavior and emotions. Dozens of recent multiyear studies have traced adolescent development through time, rather than comparing sets of adolescents at a single point. ... The ability to make and keep good friends is especially useful at this stage.
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Toronto’s Poop-Themed Restaurant Defies Human Psychology
New York Magazine: There are plenty of things in this world that I think are cute, but that doesn’t mean I want to eat them. Kittens — snuggly, sure. Tasty? I really don’t want to find out. Ditto for baby elephants. And, for that matter, baby humans. I even think that big-eyed poop emoji is kind of adorable, in a weird way; I also do not feel, nor have I ever felt, the urge to go make myself a crap sandwich. ... There are many reasons why the whole concept feels like a terrible idea, and one of them is this: When it comes to disgust, humans are not rational beings.
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How Friends and Personalities Mix
Researchers examine links between participants’ Big Five personality traits, their personality state when interacting with friends, and the quality and quantity of their interactions with friends.
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What To Do When the Boss is a Bully?
Leaders who view themselves as less competent are much more likely to act out aggressively towards their subordinates.
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Why bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists, and other things the Olympics teaches us about human emotions
The Washington Post: The Olympics is a laboratory for testing the limits of human strength and endurance. But it serves as a laboratory for other types of experiments, too. One such experiment has been helping researchers to unlock the mystery of facial expressions. Psychologists have long debated whether the smiles, frowns and other expressions that people make are a universal reaction that humans are born with, or whether we learn them from those around us. If we are born with certain facial expressions, researchers argue, these expressions should be the same around the world. If these behaviors are learned, though, they might differ from place to place.
