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White as Snow, Black as Sin: The Colors of Moral Purity and Pollution
What do wedding dresses and doves have to do with toothpaste and soap? Psychologists Gary Sherman and Gerald Clore from the University of Virginia found that the perceptual symbols of purity, such as snow and
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I Totally Empathize With You…Sometimes: Effects of Empathy on Ethnic Group Interactions
Thinking about other ethnic groups in the abstract may lead to different feelings than those we actually experience during interactions with members of those groups.
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The Liberating Effects of Losing Control
Self-control is one of our most cherished values. We applaud those with the discipline to regulate their appetites and actions, and we try hard to instill this virtue in our children. We celebrate the power
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Xenophobia, For Men Only
Very few people fear dandelions. Or even dangerous things—like Hummers. We may object to outsized automobiles on principle, but the mere sight of them doesn’t make us tremble and sweat and run away. On the
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All Brains Are the Same Color
After five columns on the urban legends in our science that may inadvertently undermine some of our efforts to build an integrative and cumulative psychological science, the next few columns will be cheerier. They illustrate
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Racial Tension in a “Split-Second”
Interracial and interethnic interactions can often be awkward and stressful for members of both majority and minority groups. People bring certain expectations to their interactions with members of different groups—they often expect that these interactions
