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Numbers Are Persuasive—If Used in Moderation
The facts of climate change are widely reported. NASA notes, for example, that with a two-degree-Celsius increase in global temperatures, as compared with a 1.5-degree-C increase, about 61 million more people living in urban areas around the world will be exposed to severe drought. In addition, the U.S. alone could lose 2.3 percent of its gross domestic product for each degree-C increase in global warming. The problem with communicating these numbers, however, is that many people balk when confronting them.
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Monday — Friday: Making the Most of the Workweek
Week in, week out, we work. But what can we do to not lose ourselves in the 9-to-5 grind? This hour, we question how long we work, why we valorize work, and what good leadership looks like. Guests include executive coach Anne Morriss, economist Juliet Schor, social psychologist Azim Shariff and political scientist Margaret Levi.
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The Science Behind Why People Think They’re Right When They’re Actually Wrong
There may be a psychological reason why some people aren’t just wrong in an argument — they’re confidently wrong. ... Todd Rogers, a behavioral scientist at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, likened the findings to the “invisible gorilla” study, which illustrated the psychological phenomenon of “inattentional blindness,” when a person does not realize something obvious because they are focused on something else. “This study captures that with information,” Rogers said.
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Why Disasters Like Hurricanes Milton and Helene Unleash So Much Misinformation
While Florida recovers from Hurricane Milton, the second dangerous storm to hit the U.S. Southeast in just a couple of weeks, a flood of misinformation threatens to compound the disasters. A major target of false claims is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the government body coordinating recovery efforts from Hurricanes Milton and Helene—the latter of which has killed at least 230 people since the storm made landfall in late September. FEMA has set up a debunking page because it faces so many harmful and inaccurate rumors. ... “You always see misinformation after disasters,” says Lisa Fazio, an associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University.
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Posts Encouraging Eating Disorders Were Recommended to X Users
Communities that promote eating disorders have been thriving on X, with some users saying the platform has recommended content to them that glorifies or encourages starving, self-harm and being underweight. ... “For someone who is at risk of an eating disorder, maybe engaging in low-level behaviors, this kind of content really validates that ‘Hey, there are other people doing this,’” said Gemma Sharp, a clinical psychologist, associate professor and the head of body image and eating disorders research at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. “Eating disorders are very competitive disorders.
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How Do You Spot a Liar? Scientists Say It’s Trickier Than You Might Think
For over a century, people have been inventing technology to catch a liar in the act. The polygraph was wildly popular in the mid-20th century, until science and federal law cracked down. Then, there was an era of Micro Expression Training. Now, there's talk of using AI to analyze the human voice. But does any of this even work? What are the inherent risks to relying on a single cue for detecting a lie, and how does that allow bias to creep into judgements of guilt and innocence?
