-
To Bet or Not to Bet, That Is the March Madness Question
With college basketball's Big Dance around the corner, a timely bit of science for you: A recent study in Psychological Science found that given a choice whether to gamble or not, we are not so good at forecasting our emotional reaction to the outcome. In a study, done by Eduardo B. Andrad of the University of California, Berkeley and Leaf Van Boven of University of Colorado at Boulder, volunteers were given the choice of gambling or not gambling underestimated the intensity of their affective reactions to the forgone gamble’s outcome. Those who would have been winners felt more displeasure than anticipated, and those who would have been losers felt more pleasure than anticipated.
-
Asch Lives On
Think you are immune to peer pressure, but APS Fellow and Charter Member Anthony Pratkanis shows that 60 years later people still cave under social pressure. Check out this replication of the famous "Asch Paradigm." Watch the video: YouTube
-
The Benefits of Being Bilingual
Listen to NPR's Science Friday today at 2pm EST when host Ira Flatow talks to psychologist Janet Werker about bilingualism. A study of bilingual infants suggests that a bilingual upbringing outfits infants with more sensitive language perception abilities, even for languages other than the two spoken at home. Psychologist Janet Werker discusses the findings, and whether the trend may hold true through the years. Listen here: NPR
-
Seasick? Look to the Horizon for Help
If you have a weak stomach and find yourself in rough seas, this may prove immensely important: Research by Thomas A. Stoffregen of the University of Minnesota published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that looking to the horizon may in fact help stabilize your posture (and possibly your stomach). Stoffregen and his coauthors, Anthony M. Mayo and Michael G. Wade, know how much an individual on average rocks back and forth in normal situations – roughly four centimeters every 12 to 15 seconds. They have been studying body sway for decades. In order to see how life on the sea affects these tendencies, Stoffregen tagged along with a series of U.S.
-
Happiness Gets Better With Age
Older people tend to be wiser, but did you know they tend to be happier too? A recent paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science suggests this may be because older adults are better at regulating their emotions. Older individuals seem to be better at predicting how a certain situation will make them feel, so they’re good at avoiding unpleasant situations and putting themselves instead in (sounds a little awkward when reading but grammatically correct) enjoyable ones with people they like. Being happier as one gets older also has some health benefits.
-
To Feel Less Pain, Don’t Look Away
Dreading getting your flu shot? Surprisingly, if you want the shot to hurt less, don’t look away—look at the shot! A study published in Psychological Science found that people experienced less pain from hot contact on their skin when they were looking at their hand, and even less so when they were viewing an enlarged version of it. Volunteers were instructed to press a foot pedal when they began to feel pain from a heat probe on their left hand that gradually increased in temperature while they viewed, through mirror manipulations, either their own hand or a wooden object appearing where the hand would be.
