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Why Scapegoating Is A Typical Human Response To A Pandemic
First comes the disease. Then the scapegoating. Whether it’s Ebola, cholera and now COVID-19, Jesse Verschuere has witnessed “a pattern of stigma against others in every disease outbreak” he has responded to as part of
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Can Playing Together Help Us Live Together?
APS Member/Author: Elizabeth Levy Paluck The contact hypothesis in psychology predicts that prejudice can be reduced when rival groups come together under optimal circumstances of cooperation and equal status. To date, the weight of real-world
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Apparently There Are 4 Kinds of Introversion
It’s hard to believe now, but introversion was once a mostly misunderstood personality trait. Now, it’s the subject of countless books and articles and listicles (and, more recently, parodies of listicles). And as more regular
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Feel Like You’re Going Out of Your Mind? Consider Your Mind-Set
About 13 years ago I made a mistake in a column written for this newspaper. In the hierarchy of errors, it wasn’t a major one, but it was embarrassing. I said daylight saving time had begun when
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Neuroscience Could Be the Key to Getting People to Wear Masks
OPINIONS ABOUT WEARING masks and maintaining social distancing are sharply divided, largely along red and blue lines. Conservatives Republicans are the least likely to wear a mask, according to poll data from Pew Research. Some neuroscientists believe that lessons
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What We’ll Lose if the Pandemic Puts an End To the Sharing of Food
My 2-year-old has a hard time sharing. Open a bag of Goldfish crackers, and good luck getting one or two for yourself. Lucky for him, now that he spends most of his time within the confines