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I Feel Like a Different Person: Study Suggests Link Between How We Feel, Our Culture, and How We Behave
Scientists have long been interested in the interplay of emotions and identity, and some have recently focused on cultural identity. One’s heritage would seem to be especially stable and impervious to change, simply because it’s
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Are Power and Compassion Mutually Exclusive?
The fact that many cultures emphasize the concept of “noblesse oblige” (the idea that with great power and prestige come responsibilities) suggests that power may diminish a tendency to help others. Psychologist Gerben A. van
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Practice Makes Perfect: Study Shows Chinese Children Excel in Math at an Early Age
In China and other East Asian countries, parents tend to emphasize the importance of mathematics more so than parents in Western countries, such as the United States. Even before students start elementary school, parents in
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A Deadly Philosophy
Humans are the only species that systematically murders its own for ideological reasons. More than 50 million people were victims of mass murder in the 20th century, making it the deadliest century on record. That
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They All Look the Same: Why we are Unable to Distinguish Faces of Other Races (and Sometimes Our Own)
There’s a troubling psychological phenomenon that just about everyone has experienced but few will admit to; having difficulty distinguishing between people of different racial groups. This isn’t merely a nod to the denigrating expression “they
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Research on National Character Dispels Personality Stereotypes
How many Americans does it take to replace a light bulb? None—they just ask a Canadian to do it. For many, this punch line elicits a few chuckles (from the Americans), or at least a