Monthly Archives: October 2009
Is the First Spot Always Best in a Preference Test?
Does someone interviewing for a job stand a better chance of getting the position if she’s first on the list of interviewees, last, or somewhere in-between? Does someone running for public office stand a better chance of getting elected if he’s first on … Continue reading
Filed under About Research
What Would You Do?
ABC News in the U.S. occasionally runs a TV show called “What Would You Do?” that puts people in difficult situations to see how they’ll react. The host, John Quinones, then approaches the unknowing subjects to let them know that the situation was … Continue reading
Just How ‘Blind’ Are You When Talking on a Cell Phone?
Everyday in the news we see stories decrying the use of cell phones while driving. Research reports aplenty have been released estimating the percentage of one’s attention siphoned by mobile jabber and how little is left to focus on the highway. This is … Continue reading
Filed under About Perception, About Research
Neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe Discusses How We Read Each Other’s Minds
We know that we can sense the thoughts and feelings of others, but how do we do it? From the TED 2009 Global Conference, Rebecca Saxe, professor of cognitive neuroscience at MIT, shares fascinating research that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples’ … Continue reading
Filed under About Neuroscience, Videos
When the Powerful Feel Incompetent, the Rest of Us Feel Their Wrath
You’re sitting at your desk when the phone rings. It’s your boss and he wants to see you in his office. You’re not sure why – nothing in particular comes to mind that would put you in his crosshairs. In … Continue reading
Filed under About Research
R. D. Laing on Psychophobia and the Politics of Psychology
Below is a tremendous clip from a longer video called Did You Used To Be R. D. Laing? in which the ever provocative psychologist discusses a condition he describes as “Psychophobia”– a fear of our own psyches–and reservations he had … Continue reading
Filed under Videos
Once You Start Trusting a Source, Beware the Trust Trap
If you follow a news commentator closely, reading everything he or she writes in whatever venue it appears, you may unknowingly be in a trust trap. Studies have shown that once we invest trust in a particular source of knowledge, we’re less likely … Continue reading
Filed under About Research
David DiSalvo is a science, technology and culture writer whose work appears in Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today and a variety of other places.
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