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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science and Clinical Psychological Science. Perceived Causality Can Alter the Perceived Trajectory of Apparent Motion Sung-Ho Kim, Jacob Feldman, and Manish Singh In this study, the authors used apparent motion to examine how perceptions of causality influence people's interpretation of motion. Participants were shown a display of alternately flashing red boxes appearing at each end of a semicircular occluder. The red boxes appeared to collide with and move green boxes (also located at either end of the occluder).
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For Obesity, the Future Is Now
Obesity is largely a failure of self-control. I know it’s possible to quibble about calories and carbs and dietary fat, but fundamentally, obesity comes down to valuing fattening foods today, in this moment, more than we value a healthy future. We know, rationally, that we should forego the French fries and brownies for some greater payoff down the line, but the moment’s temptations make it hard to keep our eyes on that future reward. We do have the cognitive ability to project days or weeks or even years into the future, but we don’t do it when we’re making food choices in the here and now. What if we could trick ourselves into keeping our heads in the future?
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What a Conspiracy Theorist Believes
The New Yorker: On a four-point scale, from one (strongly disagree) to four (strongly agree), please rate the following statements: “The Apollo moon landings never happened and were staged in a Hollywood film studio”; ”Princess Diana’s death was not an accident but rather an organized assassination by members of the British Royal Family who disliked her”; “The Coca-Cola Company intentionally changed to an inferior formula with the intent of driving up demand for their classic product, later reintroducing it for their financial gain”; and “Carbon dioxide emissions resulting from human activities cause climate change.” Questions like those formed the core of one of the most intriguing studies…
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Is the Music of the 1960s Really the Best Ever?
The Huffington Post: I had the good fortune to come of age during the richest musical epoch -- well, ever. The Grateful Dead, the Beatles, Dylan, Janis Joplin, Zappa. I could go on and on. The '60s witnessed an unparalleled burst of musical creativity, ranging from Cream to CCR to Hendrix and to Neil Young and Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell. There is simply no match -- not before nor since -- for this outpouring of enduring song. And what's more, nobody really disputes this. ... For analysis, Krumhansl grouped these song samples into five-year periods, so that each of 11 periods contained excerpts from ten songs.
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Successful ‘Don Draper’ type salesmen don’t achieve best figures
The Telegraph: When people think of a stereotypical salesperson they're likely to conjure up someone who's extrovert, gregarious, and assertive - just like the dapper executive played by Jon Hamm. However, new research reveals that "ambiverts" - people who are neither introverted nor extroverted, but who fall somewhere in between - tend to be the most effective salespeople. Doctor Adam Grant, of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, was driven to explore the relationship between sales and personality traits after realising there was a significant gap in research on the topic.
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Move Over Extroverts, Here Come the Ambiverts
Forbes: One of the prevailing personality stereotypes we rarely question is that extremely extroverted people do best in sales. On the flip side, extremely introverted people may as well not even try to sell anything because it’s a foregone conclusion that they simply can’t. A new study published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that not only are these stereotypes wrong, but there’s an entirely different personality type that stands well above the others in sales prowess. The study was conducted by researcher Adam Grant of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, also author of the book Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success.
