Psychologists uncover list of characteristics shared across cultures in N....
Benjamin Franklin, Socrates, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa: All well-recognized names. In a recent study from Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers studying Americans and...
View ArticleA winning face depends on the culture of the voter
In this busy election season, what role does culture play in voter's minds as they view the candidates running for office? In a recent study of elections comparing candidate faces in the U.S. and...
View ArticleExpectations can minimize unethical behavior in the powerful
While there are many examples of unethical leaders, from FIFA to the recent political discoveries from the Panama Papers leak, there are countless other examples, though not as headline grabbing, in...
View ArticleWhen it comes to knowing your true self, believe in free will
Diminishing a person's belief in free will leads to them feeling less like their true selves, according to recent research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. In a pair of...
View ArticleThe use of non-fit messaging may improve patient choices
When it comes to helping patients make the best choices for themselves, sometimes you have to challenge their usual way of dealing with the world, according to new research published by the Society for...
View ArticleAgreeable personalities are more likely to help strangers
Prosocial behaviors, such as willingness to help others, may be linked to specific personalities. Based on new research published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, agreeableness is...
View ArticleCognitive ability varies, but prejudice is universal
When it comes to prejudice, it does not matter if you are smart or not, or conservative or liberal, each group has their own specific biases. In a recent study, psychologists show that low cognitive...
View ArticleThe healthiest eaters are the most culturally 'fit'
How to be a healthy eater depends on culture. A recent study shows that in the U.S. and Japan, people who fit better with their culture have healthier eating habits. The results appear in Personality...
View ArticleWhen you don't feel valued in a relationship, sleep suffers
We spend up to one-third of our life asleep, but not everyone sleeps well. For couples, it turns out how well you think your partner understands and cares for you is linked to how well you sleep. The...
View ArticleHealth determined by social relationships at work
Whether you're an engineer, a nurse, or a call center worker, you are likely to spend an average of one third of your day on the job. In a new meta-analysis covering 58 studies and more than 19,000...
View ArticleMetaphors bias perceptions of scientific discovery
Whether ideas are "like a light bulb" or come forth as "nurtured seeds," how we describe discovery shapes people's perceptions of both inventions and inventors. Notably, Kristen Elmore (Bronfenbrenner...
View ArticleReal men don't say 'cute': Psychologists tap big data and Twitter to analyze...
What's in a tweet? From gender to education, the words used on social media carry impressions to others. Using publicly available tweets, social psychologists and computer scientists from the...
View ArticleThinking of changing your behavior in 2017? Try moving first
41% of Americans make New Year's resolutions but only 9% feel they were successful in keeping their resolutions. The problem may be in the timing. According to research being presented at the Society...
View ArticleFor health and happiness, share good news
Service members, including both active and recently separated, have been called upon to fight overseas and to assist during natural disasters at home. They can face unique challenges when they return...
View ArticleFacts, beliefs, and identity: The seeds of science skepticism
Psychological researchers are working to understand the cognitive processes, ideologies, cultural demands, and conspiracy beliefs that cause smart people to resist scientific messages. Using surveys,...
View ArticleLimited window to change commuting habits
Over 128 million daily commuters in the U.S. and 75% report they drive alone. From improving traffic flow to air quality, convincing people to choose a possibly "greener" mode of transportation...
View ArticleFor decision-makers who want the best, focus on the strategy
People make decisions every day, some trivial, like what to eat for lunch, while others are more significant—career, marriage, buying a home. A series of studies conducted by Jeff Hughes and Abigail...
View ArticleConducting the milgram experiment in Poland, psychologists show people still...
A replication of one of the most widely known obedience studies, the Stanley Milgram experiment, shows that even today, people are still willing to harm others in pursuit of obeying authority. The...
View ArticleIndividuals of victimized groups require group sincerity before giving...
Public and political apologies have steeply increased in recent times. Yet the sincerity of those apologies and how they are received by victims varies widely. Based on new social psychological...
View ArticleA suspicious mind leads to a suspicious face
In a series of studies, social psychology researchers show that Black participants who hold suspicious views of Whites visualize White faces, even smiling ones, as less trustworthy, less authentic and...
View ArticleAtheism might be more common than assumed...but it's complicated
It's tough to figure out just how religious or nonreligious different populations of people are. Widely-cited telephone polls (e.g., Gallup, Pew) suggest U.S. atheist prevalence ranging from 3% to 11%....
View ArticleLow self-esteem partners create their own regret in relationship sacrifices
Low self-esteem partners can feel vulnerable in their relationship, including feeling insecure about their partner's support and love. In a series of studies, social psychologists in the Netherlands...
View ArticleWhy do Americans own handguns? Fear of crime and a broader sense of danger
The motivation to own a handgun for self-protection is not just about fear of crime, according to the model proposed by Wolfgang Stroebe and Pontus Leander (University of Groningen, The Netherlands),...
View ArticlePeople looking for prestige prefer 'big ponds' over small ones
When looking at new opportunity, do you choose an average place where you are among the top performers or do you choose a prestigious place where you might be average and not particularly remarkable?...
View ArticleTo attract more students to STEM, highlight communal aspects of STEM careers
The idea of scientists working long hours in lab by themselves is a common concept for Americans, but this idea of a "lone scientist" is not universal. Examining students in the United States, India,...
View ArticleCommunity bias predicts police use of lethal force
The racial biases of Whites in a community predict how many African-Americans are killed by police in a given area, according to results of a paper published in the journal Social Psychological and...
View ArticleReligious affiliation impacts language use on Facebook
Are you more likely to use words like "happy" and "family" in your social media posts? Or do you use emotional and cognitive words like "angry" and "thinking?" The words you use may be a clue to your...
View ArticleThe best hedge fund managers are not psychopaths or narcissists, according to...
When it comes to financial investments, hedge fund managers higher in "dark triad" personality traits - psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism - perform more poorly than their peers, according...
View ArticleIn the blink of an eye: People perceive sex ratio, threat of group in less...
In almost as quickly as it takes to blink an eye, we make assumptions about a group of people. New research from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) shows people perceive the sex ratio of a...
View ArticleEntitled people don't follow instructions because they see them as 'unfair'
From job applications to being in line at the DMV, instructions, and the expectations that we follow them, are everywhere. Recent research found people with a greater sense of entitlement are less...
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