Less choice is better for us
This story has been picked up all over the place. Barry Schwartz's arguments about how too much choice makes us unhappy are just general enough that they can be applied to every area of our lives. I'm always sceptical about such general arguments, especially when they tend to lump everyone into two groups: the 'satisficer' and the 'maximiser'. Perhaps that's just the media spin though, I haven't read his book.
Here are a couple of the stories:
[From The Times]
[From Slashdot]
[From The New Yorker]
This story has been picked up all over the place. Barry Schwartz's arguments about how too much choice makes us unhappy are just general enough that they can be applied to every area of our lives. I'm always sceptical about such general arguments, especially when they tend to lump everyone into two groups: the 'satisficer' and the 'maximiser'. Perhaps that's just the media spin though, I haven't read his book.
Here are a couple of the stories:
[From The Times]
[From Slashdot]
[From The New Yorker]
Suppress it and you'll dream about it...
The usual criticism of Freud's work is that many of his theories are largely unverifiable. Certainly no evidence has been found for two of his most well-known ideas - the Oedipus and Electra complexes. But in psychology it's not wise to take sides too quickly. Here is a report of the first study to confirm Freud's theory of dreams:
[From The Harvard Crimson]
The usual criticism of Freud's work is that many of his theories are largely unverifiable. Certainly no evidence has been found for two of his most well-known ideas - the Oedipus and Electra complexes. But in psychology it's not wise to take sides too quickly. Here is a report of the first study to confirm Freud's theory of dreams:
[From The Harvard Crimson]
Read all about it! Psychologist BF Skinner kept daughter in box like rat!
Some part of us as human beings is deeply opposed to experimentation on ourselves. Even if it is only a psychology experiment that doesn't (normally) involve direct physical or mental pain. Unfortunately some of the greatest experiments in psychology involved duping the participants to get data on a particular hypothesis. No one likes to be duped, which may explain how occasionally we like to typecast psychologists as crazies. It's a way of getting our own back at a perceived injustice. And sometimes psychologists themselves are the worst offenders:
"A new book has rekindled old rumours that renowned psychologist BF Skinner used his baby daughter in his experiments. Stop this rubbish about me and my dad, says Deborah Skinner Buzan"
[From The Guardian]
Some part of us as human beings is deeply opposed to experimentation on ourselves. Even if it is only a psychology experiment that doesn't (normally) involve direct physical or mental pain. Unfortunately some of the greatest experiments in psychology involved duping the participants to get data on a particular hypothesis. No one likes to be duped, which may explain how occasionally we like to typecast psychologists as crazies. It's a way of getting our own back at a perceived injustice. And sometimes psychologists themselves are the worst offenders:
"A new book has rekindled old rumours that renowned psychologist BF Skinner used his baby daughter in his experiments. Stop this rubbish about me and my dad, says Deborah Skinner Buzan"
[From The Guardian]
Less lying on email
"Students who tracked their lies for a week reported telling lies in 15 percent of e-mail messages, compared with more than a third of phone calls, 25 percent of face-to-face conversations and about 20 percent of instant messaging chats."
[From New York Times]
"Students who tracked their lies for a week reported telling lies in 15 percent of e-mail messages, compared with more than a third of phone calls, 25 percent of face-to-face conversations and about 20 percent of instant messaging chats."
[From New York Times]
Optimism provides no help against cancer
Counter-intuitive evidence from a small study.
"A positive attitude does not improve the chances of surviving cancer and doctors who encourage patients to keep up hope may be burdening them, according to the results of research..."
[From Intelihealth]
Counter-intuitive evidence from a small study.
"A positive attitude does not improve the chances of surviving cancer and doctors who encourage patients to keep up hope may be burdening them, according to the results of research..."
[From Intelihealth]