Michaela Huber, Leaf  Van Boven, Peter McGraw, and Laura Johnson-Graham recently posted their intriguing article “Whom to Help? Immediacy Bias in Judgments and Decisions About Humanitarian Aid” (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process…
- 17 hours ago, 19 May 12, 4:01am -

From Harvard Business Review (part of an op-ed written by Lauren Stiller Rikleen): The new millennium has not brought much progress for women seeking top leadership roles in the workplace. Although female graduates continue to pour out of colleges an…
- 2 days ago, 18 May 12, 4:01am -

24th APS Annual Convention Summary The Association for Psychological Science is committed to providing scientists with opportunities essential to achieving excellence in research. That’s why APS holds the premiere international meeting exclusively…
- 3 days ago, 17 May 12, 4:01am -

From InMind (an outstanding article by Dr. Theresa DiDonato from a few years ago): If your citizenship comes with the responsibility – and privilege – of voting, then every few years you face an interesting challenge. Who will you vote for? Wheth…
- 4 days ago, 16 May 12, 4:01am -

From Beyond Belief Conference in 2006 (includes discussion of the role of litigation in altering people’s memories): Related Situationist posts: The Situation of False Confessions Elizabeth Loftus and the Situation of False Memories Emotional Con…
- 4 days ago, 15 May 12, 12:44pm -

From WKU Public Radio: WKU Psychology professor Sam McFarland has long been fascinated by individuals who put their lives–and the lives of loved ones–at risk in order to save people of a different race, ethnicity, or religious group. Dr. McFarlan…
- 7 days ago, 13 May 12, 4:03am -

From BusinessWire: New York University Stern School of Business today announced that Jonathan Haidt will join its faculty in the fall of 2012 as the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership. Haidt has served as the Henry Kaufman Visiting Profess…
- 8 days ago, 12 May 12, 4:01am -

Social Psychologist Dave Nussbaum recently launched his blog, Random Assignments. The blog already contains several posts worth reading, including a series on the important topic of replication in social science.  The first two parts are “Replicat…
- 9 days ago, 11 May 12, 4:01am -

Hyun Young Park and Tom Meyvis, recently posted their paper, “Feeling Immoral About Money: How Moral Emotions Influence Spending Decisions” on SSRN.  Here’s the abstract: Prior literature suggests that consumers who feel negative moral emotion…
- 10 days ago, 10 May 12, 4:01am -

From University of Washington Newswire: After the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, many proclaimed that the country had entered a post-racial era in which race was no longer an issue. However, a new large-scale study shows that racial attitud…
- 12 days ago, 8 May 12, 4:01am -

By: Megan E. Birney 2011 marks 10 years since the mixed-race category was added to the U.K.’s annual censes.  To commemorate this event, BBC Two has been running a series of programmes documenting the mixed-race experience both in Britain and ……
- 17 Oct 11, 9:23pm -

- 6 Oct 11, 10:26pm -

Social and Personality Psychology Compass © Blackwell Publishing Ltd Volume 5, Issue 10 Pages 694 – 823, October 2011 The latest issue of Social and Personality Psychology Compass is available on Wiley Online Library   Emotion Motivation Affiliat…
- 5 Oct 11, 7:52am -

By Kevin R. Betts Netflix witnessed a storm of customer outrage and tumbling stock prices this month as they dramatically increased their price for subscription to the service. Early this morning, CEO Reed Hastings reacted with an email to customers.…
- 19 Sep 11, 5:47pm -

Navy videographer at Ground Zero In the 10 years since the events of September 2001 a vast amount of scholarly research has been written on the impact of 9/11. Wiley-Blackwell is pleased to share with you this collection of free book and … Contin…
- 2 Sep 11, 10:21am -

- 7 Aug 11, 1:13pm -

By Kevin R. Betts I started reading a book this weekend titled, “The Perfect Swarm: The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life.” Author Len Fisher’s central idea is that understanding swarm intelligence can help us make better decisions. Swarm…
- 1 Aug 11, 2:00am -

By Erica Zaiser I came across this cartoon recently from Funnymos.com: Obviously it is meant to be humorous but it also made me wonder:  Does having a trait like glasses change people’s initial impressions of you? And has there been … Continue r…
- 26 Jul 11, 1:43pm -

By: Megan Birney We all want to be happy.  It’s something we’ve learned to strive for and likely the primary motivator for trying to land that perfect job, find your soul mate, start a family, get that promotion or buy … Continue reading →
- 24 Jul 11, 10:03pm -

By, Adam K. Fetterman Making appeals to religion is nothing new for American politics. Nearly every candidate makes statements such as “God bless America” or claims that their candidacy is a calling from God. However, on the other end of … Cont…
- 12 Jul 11, 5:50pm -

This May 18, Science has a special issue on human conflict, of evolutionary, cognitive and cultural relevance, with contributions from Scott Atran, Christopher Boehm, Samuel Bowles, Frans de Waal, and many others. From the introduction:“In this…
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 4:29pm -

The new issue (vol 12, 1-2) of the Journal of Cognition and Culture is out. For the table of content and abstracts:
- 12 days ago, 7 May 12, 6:16pm -

Joe Henrich informs us: The Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition and Culture (HECC) at the University of British Columbia will be hiring 5 post-doctoral researchers as part of a large, international, collaboration among psychologists, neuroscientist…
- 16 days ago, 3 May 12, 2:02pm -

A position of Lecturer is open in the School of History and Anthropology at Queen's University, Belfast, to "teach and supervise at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, to participate in the research activities of the Institute of Cognition and Cu…
- 25 days ago, 24 Apr 12, 10:43am -

Just out in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, "The social motivation theory of autism," an article (available here) by Coralie Chevallier, Gregor Kohls, Vanessa Troiani, Edward S Brodkin, and Robert T Schultz that challenges the dominant explan…
- 28 days ago, 21 Apr 12, 2:19pm -

Forthcoming in PNAS, a groundbreaking article by Olivier Mascaro and Gergely Csibra investigating the "Representation of stable social dominance relations by human infants" (available here).Abstract: What are the origins of humans’ capacity to re…
- 31 days ago, 19 Apr 12, 7:47am -

 An Interdisciplinary Conference on "Culture, Mind, and Brain: Emerging Concepts, Methods, Applications" will take place on October 19–20, 2012 at UCLA with the support of the International Cultural Neuroscience Consortium (ICNC)Description: Man…
- 44 days ago, 6 Apr 12, 9:08am -

If you want a well taught, well produced free online course on basic classical issues in the philosophy of human nature, here is this Open Yale course by Tamar Gendler:The course on Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature pairs central texts…
- 44 days ago, 6 Apr 12, 8:59am -

A special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B entitled "From action to language: comparative perspective on primate tool use, gesture and the evolution of human language" edited by James Steele, Pier Francesco Ferrari and…
- 44 days ago, 6 Apr 12, 8:36am -

In the Times Literary Supplement, Nick Enfield reviews James R. Hurford's new book The Origins of Grammar, Oxford UP, 2011 (a sequel to The Origins of Meaning, Oxford UP, 2007):"If you could travel back to a time around the dawn of humankind, an…
- 49 days ago, 31 Mar 12, 7:27pm -

The World Championship continues to be a snooze. Five games down, five draws. Only one game has made it past the thirtieth move. Both players seem very hesitant and completely uninclined to take any risks. Still seven games left, though, so we wil…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 7:43pm -

This has been out for a little while now, and Chris has been promoting it very heavily, and it's sort of interesting to see the reactions. It's really something of a Rorschach blot of a book, with a lot of what's been written about it telling you mor…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 2:58pm -

Economist Robin Hanson poses an odd challenge to atheists:A few days ago I asked why not become religious, if it will give you a better life, even if the evidence for religious beliefs is weak? Commenters eagerly declared their love of truth. Toda…
- 5 days ago, 14 May 12, 9:14pm -

We're two games down in the big World Chess Championship. The challenger is Boris Gelfand of Israel, squaring off against the defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India. Both games were quick draws, but things have been a little more interesting…
- 7 days ago, 12 May 12, 7:32pm -

Fish respond to fear by secreting chemicals (pheromones) designed to warn other fish of danger. To date, some of the components of this so called "Schreckstoff" (meaning fear stuff) have been identified. These include hypoxanthine-3-N-oxide (H3NO), p…
- 10 days ago, 9 May 12, 7:06pm -

Ashley S. Waggoner Gossip is ubiquitous – chances are that you have shared, heard, or been the topic of gossip today. Why do we love to talk about other people? Is gossiping part of our huma…
- 57 days ago, 23 Mar 12, 12:17pm -

Anna Sagana, Melanie Sauerland and Harald Merckelbach For most of us it is difficult to imagine that we could decide to buy a v-neck sweater and end up with round-neck collar without even noti…
- 70 days ago, 10 Mar 12, 11:31am -

Leila Selimbegović and Armand Chatard On September 9, 2009, Dr. Sapandeep Sahni hanged herself after her pregnancy test came out negative for the fourth time. She had a daughter, but she and h…
- 77 days ago, 3 Mar 12, 6:10pm -

Philippe Bernard, Christophe Leys and Olivier Klein Physical appearance is one of the primary cues for individuals living in a society guided by a vast “sexual market” (Baumeister & Vohs, 2…
- 92 days ago, 17 Feb 12, 12:31pm -

Melanie Sauerland and Alana C. Krix Would you be able to pick out the right person from a lineup? We discuss the role of various factors that can influence the decision-making process of eyewit…
- 92 days ago, 17 Feb 12, 12:05pm -

200-Year-Old Shipwreck Discovered in Northern Gulf of Mexico
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Religion Deserves More Study by Scientists, Say Researchers
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Humans Riddled with Rare Genetic Variants
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It's Nature, Not Nurture: Personality Lies in Genes, Twins Study Shows
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Dogs 'Helped Man Out-Compete with Neanderthals'
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Scientists have discovered new information about the migration patterns of the first humans to settle the Americas. The studies identify the historical relationships among various groups of Native American and First Nations peoples and present the fi…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 11:31pm -

Across history and cultures, religion increases trust within groups but also may increase conflict with other groups, according to a new analysis.
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 6:36pm -

Today's mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests an unprecedented study that examined 1,500 years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers…
- 3 days ago, 16 May 12, 4:03pm -

Prehistoric plants grown in state-of-the-art growth chambers recreating environmental conditions from more than 400 million years ago have shown scientists how soil dwelling fungi played a crucial role in the evolution of plants.
- 4 days ago, 15 May 12, 5:17pm -

Anthropologists working in southern France have determined that a 1.5 metric ton block of engraved limestone constitutes the earliest evidence of wall art. Their research shows the piece to be approximately 37,000 years old and offers rich evidence o…
- 5 days ago, 14 May 12, 7:29pm -

Evidence for a forgotten ancient language which dates back more than 2,500 years, to the time of the Assyrian Empire, has been found by archaeologists working in Turkey. Researchers working at Ziyaret Tepe, the probable site of the ancient Assyrian c…
- 9 days ago, 10 May 12, 4:40pm -

Researchers compare ancient, modern whale DNA to investigate discrepancies between genetic data and historical estimates.
- 10 days ago, 9 May 12, 10:00pm -

Researchers working in remote Cambodian mountains are shedding new light on the lost history of an unidentified people by studying their enigmatic burial rituals.
- 10 days ago, 9 May 12, 1:28pm -

New research explores the importance of the ballgame to ancient Mesoamerican societies. Dr. Blomster's findings show how the discovery of a ballplayer figurine in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca demonstrates the early participation of the region in…
- 11 days ago, 8 May 12, 7:21pm -

Archaeologists have discovered objects that for the first time shed light on how a cult was organized in Judah at the time of King David. During recent archaeological excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified city in Judah adjacent to the Valley of…
- 11 days ago, 8 May 12, 2:38pm -

Every once in a while we post something for those of us who are teaching (and learning) how to write.  This is one of those times.Get it!  Because you use “i.e.” to mean “what I mean to say is” and you use “e.g.” to mean “for exampl…
- 5 hours ago, 19 May 12, 4:17pm -

A crazy character named Andrew Hales, a student at Utah Valley University, has put up a series of You Tube videos in which he — knowingly or not — does a classic Sociology 101 experiment called “norm breaching”: break a simple social rule and…
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 4:20pm -

Americans were recently asked whether they believed that President Obama could do much to lower gas prices.  The answer was highly correlated with political party affiliation: 65% of Republicans said “yes,” while only33% of Democrats said the s…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 4:30pm -

The National Bureau of Economic Research recently released a paper by  Emin Dinlersoz and Jeremy Greenwood about unionization in the U.S.. They argue that economic shifts that changed the relative prevalence of different types of occupations partial…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 1:53pm -

Americans are familiar with seeing the phrase “In God We Trust” on our paper money.  The motto is, indeed, the official United States motto.  It wasn’t always that way, however.  While efforts to have the phrase inscribed on U.S. currency be…
- 3 days ago, 16 May 12, 4:40pm -

NPR’s Planet Money blog posted this image showing changes in major categories of federal spending over the past 50 years. Notably, though defense spending (which includes veteran benefits) is still the largest category of federal spending, it’s a…
- 3 days ago, 16 May 12, 1:22pm -

Gary Gates on the numbers, and the definitions that perplex them.
- 4 days ago, 15 May 12, 4:40pm -

The splashy introduction of the new LEGO friends line earlier this year stirred up a lot of controversy. My goal with this set of posts is to provide some historical perspective for the valid concerns raised in this heated debate. ————…
- 4 days ago, 15 May 12, 4:20pm -

This morning NPR aired a segment on media stories about the “boomerang generation,” college-education children who return to live with their parents after graduation. A widely-repeated figure is that currently 85% of recent college grads are movi…
- 4 days ago, 15 May 12, 3:17pm -

Network effect is a concept from economics that explains situations in which something becomes more valuable as more people use it. The classic example is the telephone; as more people and businesses adopted telephones, they became more useful (you…
- 5 days ago, 14 May 12, 4:49pm -

Findings suggest that the effects of exercise on memory depend on the age of the exerciser; underlying genetic mechanisms matter, too.
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 5:28pm -

Whether you're an iPerson who can't live without a Mac, a Facebook addict, or a gamer, you know that social media and technology say things about your personality and thought processes. And psychological scientists know it too -- they've started rese…
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 5:25pm -

People who rate themselves as having high emotional intelligence (EI) tend to overestimate their ability to detect deception in others.
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 12:13pm -

According to new research, one "bad" fat -- saturated fat -- was found to be associated with worse overall cognitive function and memory in women over time. By contrast, a "good" fat -- mono-unsaturated fat was associated with better overall cognitiv…
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 12:13pm -

Analysis of best-selling teen novels shows that readers come across seven instances of profanity per hour spent reading, and the characters who cuss are usually rich, beautiful and popular.
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 12:11pm -

An experimental drug targeting a common mutation in melanoma successfully shrank tumors that spread to the brain in nine out of 10 patients in part of an international phase I clinical trial report.
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 11:31pm -

Across history and cultures, religion increases trust within groups but also may increase conflict with other groups, according to a new analysis.
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 6:36pm -

Scientists have found that suspicion resides in two distinct regions of the brain: the amygdala, which plays a central role in processing fear and emotional memories, and the parahippocampal gyrus, which is associated with declarative memory and the…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 5:21pm -

Mental distractions make pain easier to take, and those pain-relieving effects aren't just in your head, according to a new report.
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 5:20pm -

Training the brain to reduce pain could be a promising approach for treating phantom limb pain and complex regional pain syndrome, according to s neuroscience researcher.
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 5:17pm -

During the Spring semester I teach a class in Cultural Evolution for about 150 students. We use a ‘clicker’ technology that allows me to poll all students in the class electronically. Every year I ask them, in what state was the most complex, lar…
- 13 hours ago, 19 May 12, 8:44am -

Cultural evolution is what created the – in many ways – wonderful societies that we live in. It created the potential to free our lives from hunger and early death, and made possible the pursuit of science and art. But cultural evolution also has…
- 3 days ago, 17 May 12, 6:42am -

I was another participant at the Rules as Genotype workshop held at Indiana University recently.  Unlike Peter Turchin, however, I came away with a very different perspective on the usefulness of the metaphor.  I am undoubtedly somewhat biased sinc…
- 5 days ago, 14 May 12, 10:41pm -

In his engaging Social Evolution Forum contribution, Networking Past and Present, R.I.M. Dunbar argues that in traditional societies, most people share the same network of friends and relatives because they belong to the same community. In contempora…
- 8 days ago, 12 May 12, 7:01am -

In his excellent target article, “Networking Past and Present”, Dunbar argues that though contemporary personal networks are often geographically dispersed and not densely interconnected, the number of personal relationships individuals can maint…
- 8 days ago, 11 May 12, 9:18pm -

Over the last month, this site has had 6,612 visitors.10.98% are returning visitors.Average visit duration is 4:26 minutesThe top five countries visitors came from this month are…United StatesUnited KingdomCanadaAustraliaGermanyThe top f…
- 2 days ago, 17 May 12, 10:01pm -

In the prior post, I made two propositions about hypnosis, although a third one may seem implied I assure you it is not. I presume that many readers readily make an analogous connection between hypnosis and altered state and thus assume from the head…
- 7 days ago, 12 May 12, 10:19pm -

I’m currently conducting research for my thesis, which is an interactional study of hypnosis. This meaning that I watch a lot of videos of hypnosis being performed, from both hypnotherapy sessions and entertainment venues, and take very detailed no…
- 15 days ago, 4 May 12, 8:25pm -

Last week this site underwent a significant face-lift. The front page no longer shows my most recent blog posts but rather aggregates headlines and links back to some of the most authoritative blogs and news sites pertaining to social psychology, psy…
- 39 days ago, 10 Apr 12, 8:46pm -

In the last post, I argued that fundamentalism is innate to the human condition because it provides solid footing in an uncertain world. I am sure some progressive types see themselves as diametrically opposed to fundamentalism and therefore ardently…
- 44 days ago, 5 Apr 12, 6:59pm -

SpaceX misses its 1-second-long launch window - but there will be another opportunity to launch the rocket on Tuesday
- 12 hours ago, 19 May 12, 9:43am -

Young male orang-utans can put off sexual maturity for up to 10 years, building up their strength until they're ready to challenge dominant males
- 12 hours ago, 19 May 12, 9:00am -

Patents are technology's first draft - and they don't stop coming even when Facebook's initial public offering is hogging the headlines
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 8:06pm -

The SpaceX Dragon capsule is prepared for a mission to the International Space Station, and officials are managing expectations
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 7:55pm -

All today's stories on newscientist.com, including: GPS loss kicked off fatal drone crash and monitoring tides could predict major quakes
- 1 day ago, 18 May 12, 5:00pm -