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Self-Objectification May Inhibit Women’s Social Activism
Women who live in a culture in which they are objectified by others may in turn begin to objectify themselves. This kind of self-objectification may reduce women’s involvement in social activism, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Psychological scientist Rachel Calogero of the University of Kent, Canterbury hypothesized that women who self-objectify -- valuing their appearance over their competence -- would show less motivation to challenge the gender status quo, ultimately reducing their participation in social action.
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We Are What We Smell
Scientific American: Pheromones: they’re those chemical signals often associated with attraction. But there are many chemical signals we give off—including ones that might signal alarm, aggression or other emotions. For example, take fear. If sweat contains compounds associated with fear, could someone smelling the sweat of a frightened person themselves wind up experiencing fear? The inference is that the chemical compounds impelled the female subjects to remotely experience the same emotions felt by the sweaty males. The study is in the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Rationalizing Madly on Valentine’s Day
The Wall Street Journal: Call it the Valentine’s Day bias—the belief that, whether you’re attached or single, your own status is a kind of universal ideal. The funny thing is that people often do this to cope with whatever dissatisfaction they may have with their own status—and the unlikelihood that their status will change. Those are the findings of a trio of social scientists in a paper, forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science, called “ ‘The Way I Am is the Way You Ought to Be’: Perceiving One’s Relational Status as Unchangeable Motivates Normative Idealization of That Status.” Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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Science Shows Dating Websites Aren’t Better At Finding You Love
TechCrunch: I was really hoping this article would have ended differently. But after spending countless hours scanning tiny pixelated squares of people who were supposed to represent my mathematically determined soul mate, I found that online dating websites are modern-day versions of snake oil. I ended up back at bachelorhood after a long and expensive trek through computer-aided love services; I decided to look for love on the Internet mainly to test the hypothesis behind a blistering 50-page critique of hyped up promise of dating websites.
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Study Shows Limits on Brain’s Ability to Perceive Multifeatured Objects
New research sheds light on how the brain encodes objects with multiple features, a fundamental task for the perceptual system. The study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that we have limited ability to perceive mixed color-shape associations among objects that exist in several locations. Research suggests that neurons that encode a certain feature -- shape or color, for example -- fire in synchrony with neurons that encode other features of the same object.
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Is Religion Just an Assortment of Gut Feelings?
The Huffington Post: The vast majority of the planet's seven billion people ascribe to some kind of religious belief -- that is, a faith in things that cannot be proven. This makes no sense from a scientific and psychological point of view, because supernatural beliefs -- in contrast to our evolved thinking in general -- serve no apparent purpose. They don't help us comprehend and navigate the world. Why would the human mind create them, and allow them to persist? ... These are just a few examples of common religious beliefs and practices, drawn from an article to be published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. There are many more.
