Psychology

When threatened, many animals release chemicals as a warning signal to members of their own species, who in turn react to the signals and take action. Research by Rice University psychologist Denise Chen suggests a similar phenomenon occurs in humans. Given that more than one sense is typically involved when humans perceive information, Chen studied whether the smell of fear facilitates humans' other stronger senses. Chen and graduate student Wen Zhou collected "fearful sweat" samples from male volunteers. The volunteers kept gauze pads in their armpits while they were shown films that dealt…

It’s been a while since Popeye taught us to eat our spinach; vegetables are due for a makeover.  “Whatever sparks their imagination seems to spark their appetite,” says Cornell researcher Colin Payne of a new study led by Brian Wansink of Cornell’s Food and Branding lab.  This research shows that children eat significantly more vegetables when their food has been excitingly renamed. Wansink's work confirms what the restaurant industry has known all along—if food is described tantalizingly, we are more likely to consume and enjoy it.  Previous research from Wansink supports the…

Young men who have served in the British Armed Forces are up to three times more likely to take their own lives than their civilian counterparts, research published tomorrow (March 3) has found. Researchers at The University of Manchester's Centre for Suicide Prevention linked UK military discharge data between 1996 and 2005 with details of suicides collected by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicides and Homicides. The study in PLoS Medicine, revealed that ex-servicemen under 24 years old were at greatest risk of suicide, with those in lower ranks and shorter military careers proving…

Want your kids to eat more carrots?   Call them 'X-ray carrots', says a new Cornell University study which shows that giving vegetables catchy new names – like X-Ray Vision Carrots and Tomato Bursts – left preschoolers asking for more. When 186 four-year olds were given carrots called "X-ray Vision Carrots" ate nearly twice as much as they did on the lunch days when they were simply labeled as "carrots." The Robert Wood Johnson-funded study also showed the influence of these names might persist. Children continued to eat about 50% more carrots even on the days when they were no longer…

This feeling is known to everyone, it does not discriminate.   Most people do however learn to adapt to the overwhelming emotions ( perhaps exclusively negative ) that are inherent in this syndrome. I am referring to the feeling of perpetual repetition in our daily lives, where no matter what you do, you cannot shake the sensation of being stuck on a muddy never-ending plateau. To get a first hand observation of this syndrome look at people ( pedestrians ) motoring around the city, paying close attention to their expressions and aura. Or you could of course just observe yourself. Its a…

Internet phenomena has long been used by advertisers to gather data, form hypotheses, and test them in the form of ad serving—science is starting to get smart to the data-gathering possibilities spawned by voluntary internet activity.  The most recent headline to this effect is Everquest 2 research at U of Minnesota. Jaideep Srivastava, et al are using Everquest chat logs for social network analysis, similar to the way community interactions among flesh-and-blood people.  Though networking sites like Myspace represent a different breed of social network, they have also been at the…

You may know of people who ridicule lottery players because the odds are so great and, it would seem, they can't do simple math.    But most people don't ridicule stock market investors even though the same circumstances - a lack of real knowledge and a field of competitors doing the same thing - make it less likely they will be successful unless fortune makes their decisions align with people who know what they are doing. The riskier investors tend to act, the more socioeconomic characteristics they share with people who play state lotteries and,  just like the lottery,…

White people are having a tough 2009.   And it's going to get worse if new research in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology is accurate.    A series of six studies conducted by University of Washington and Michigan State University psychologists says that whites react more negatively to racial minority individuals who strongly identify with their racial group than to racial minority individuals who weakly identify with their group. The research, they say, may provide evidence for the claim from some blacks that they personally experience more prejudice than they see…

If you're in the prejudice business the worst thing that can happen is to have a woman and an African-American fighting it out to be President.   A white guy has a tough time out there these days and that's a good thing for society because it means that America continues to be the least racist country in the world. But if you're in the prejudice business the death of institutional racism and the demise of cultural racism means you'll need to look deeper;  namely to find people being prejudiced against themselves.    Then you can say it's the legacy of old prejudice and…

Hurry! Don't let [random eBay item here] get away! Increase your max bid before someone else steals away your item. There are a few ways in which the creation of eBay was absolute genius; it played upon the needs and wants of society as a whole, combining them and providing easy access to previously unavailable or difficult to find items. The Internet as a medium is not inherently addictive, but its ease, speed and availability allow addiction to seed, spread and flourish in already susceptible people.  Before, interactions, shopping, discussions, and other internet activities were very…