Social Science posts
- February 3, 2012
- 04:34 PM
- 17 views
SPSP 2012: Political Polarization
by Melanie Tannenbaum in PsySociety
What’s that? This is some sort of big year for American politics? Ah, yes – it’s 2012. We’re in the middle of the Republican primaries, there’s a presidential election in 9 months, and political psychology was all over this year’s … Continue reading →... Read more »
Krosnick, J. A., Holbrook, A. L., & Visser, P. S. (2000) The impact of the Fall 1997 debate about global warming on American public opinion. Public Understanding of Science. info:/
- February 2, 2012
- 12:34 PM
- 64 views
The earliest arty neanderthals?
by sahelanthropus in EvoAnth
Modern humans are almost defined by their behaviours, making the development of modern behaviour a fundamental turning point in the origin of us. It’s when we stopped being hominins and started being humans. Actually, that’s a lie: we’re technically still hominins, that’s just a pithy – if factually vacuous – statement to convey the importance [...]... Read more »
Roebroeks, W., Sier, M., Nielsen, T., De Loecker, D., Pares, J., Arps, C., & Mucher, H. (2012) Use of red ochre by early Neandertals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1112261109
- February 2, 2012
- 11:44 AM
- 31 views
When Your Case Follows a Bellwether, Prepare Jurors to Hear only Part of the Story
by Persuasion Strategies in Persuasive Litigator
By Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm and Dr. Kevin Boully: The first bellwether case in Toyota's "Unintended Vehicle Acceleration" litigation has just been selected by a judge in California. To some, that may come as a surprise, since it might have been assumed that these cases would have deflated after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concluded a year ago that there is no electronics-based cause. Then, just last week, an exhaustive investigation by the National Academy of Sciences ag........ Read more »
Smith AC, & Greene E. (2005) Conduct and its consequences: attempts at debiasing jury judgments. Law and human behavior, 29(5), 505-26. PMID: 16254740
Wissler RL, Rector KA, & Saks MJ. (2001) The impact of jury instructions on the fusion of liability and compensatory damages. Law and human behavior, 25(2), 125-39. PMID: 11419378
- February 2, 2012
- 02:22 AM
- 51 views
Science Majors are from Mars...
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
According to a new study, students with a family history of autism tend to major in math and science, while substance abuse and depression are more common in the ancestors of humanities fans.In an online survey, over 1,000 new Princeton undergrads were asked about their intended major and whether anyone in their family had been diagnosed with one of 16 neurological and psychiatric disorders. More details here.Of the 16 maladies, 5 were so rare that there wasn't enough data to analyze. Of the rem........ Read more »
Campbell BC, & Wang SS. (2012) Familial Linkage between Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Intellectual Interests. PloS one, 7(1). PMID: 22291951
- January 31, 2012
- 05:37 PM
- 110 views
The (very little) evolution of chimps
by sahelanthropus in EvoAnth
Humans are a rather self-centred bunch. From thinking an unimaginably large universe exists to benefit the inhabitants of one speck of it to, well….starting a blog called “EvoAnth.” Within science there is a significant bias towards the investigation of how we got here compared to the origins of most other living animals. As such, we know relatively [...]... Read more »
Hvilsom, C., Qian, Y., Bataillon, T., Li, Y., Mailund, T., Salle, B., Carlsen, F., Li, R., Zheng, H., Jiang, T.... (2012) Extensive X-linked adaptive evolution in central chimpanzees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1106877109
- January 31, 2012
- 01:26 PM
- 64 views
What Your Cable Service Tells Us About the Buffett Rule
by erichorow in peer-reviewed by my neurons
There’s a good amount of research demonstrating the human preference for fairness (even 4th graders are on board), but many of these experiments seem too far removed from real world situations where real money is on the table. The question remains: What are people willing to give up in the name of fairness? A new [...]... Read more »
Wang, Y., & Krishna, A. (2012) Enticing for me but unfair to her: Can targeted pricing evoke socially conscious behavior?. Journal of Consumer Psychology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcps.2011.11.004
- January 30, 2012
- 07:02 AM
- 66 views
Earlobes askew and crooked nose. Aha, it’s a transformational leader!
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
Most people would agree that Jeff Bezos of Amazon is a transformational leader. But many of us would likely look askance at using earlobes that are unevenly aligned as a measure of leadership potential. But according to some new research, we might want to think again! As it happens, asymmetry occurs in-utero as a result of [...]
Related posts:
This is what a good leader does not look like
... Read more »
Senior, C., Martin, R., Thomas, G., Topakas, A., West, M., & M. Yeats, R. (2011) Developmental stability and leadership effectiveness. The Leadership Quarterly. DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.08.005
Senior C, Martin R, West M, & Yeats RM. (2011) How earlobes can signify leadership potential. Harvard Business Review, 89(11), 32. PMID: 22111428
- January 29, 2012
- 10:34 PM
- 44 views
There’s More to That Red Plastic Cup Than You Thought
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
Who here has not enjoyed a cold, refreshing drink from a red plastic cup? Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages alike find themselves comfortably enclosed within the confines of the bright red vessel that has become a ubiquitous American staple at barbecues, picnics, parties, in dugouts and at minor league games, in food cars and at lunch [...]
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Bunimovitz, S., & Greenberg, R. (2004) Revealed in Their Cups: Syrian Drinking Customs in Intermediate Bronze Age Canaan. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 19. DOI: 10.2307/4150104
Donner, W. (1994) Alcohol, Community, and Modernity: The Social Organization of Toddy Drinking in a Polynesian Society. Ethnology, 33(3), 245. DOI: 10.2307/3774009
Magennis, H. (1985) The Cup as Symbol and Metaphor in Old English Literature. Speculum, 60(3), 517. DOI: 10.2307/2848173
McAllister, P. (2003) Culture, Practice, and the Semantics of Xhosa Beer-Drinking. Ethnology, 42(3), 187. DOI: 10.2307/3773800
- January 29, 2012
- 03:42 PM
- 83 views
Neanderthals had differently organised brains
by sahelanthropus in EvoAnth
Homo neanderthalensis is not a species to be dismissed lightly. They weren’t especially dumb, nor especially weak. Indeed, they actually had larger brains and denser muscles than we did. On top of that, their technology was so well adapted to their environment that they were able to flourish without drastically altering it for hundreds of [...]... Read more »
Pearce, E., & Dunbar, R. (2011) Latitudinal variation in light levels drives human visual system size. Biology Letters, 8(1), 90-93. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0570
- January 29, 2012
- 01:56 AM
- 74 views
Drunken Escape Fuels Much Male Suicide
by ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Many men who commit suicide could be described as impulsive and in terms of what they seemingly, actually responded to, over the top. Shniedman (1993)called it 'psychache'. Here, Coleman et al. (2011) draw from Baumeister's 'escape theory' to jam together impulsivity, alcohol misuse and lots and lots of anger to conclude that many suicidal men get stuck on a thought, that is, the thought that they must die. Supposedly, this painted into a bad corner montage was inspired ........ Read more »
Coleman, D., Kaplan, M., & Casey, J. (2011) The Social Nature of Male Suicide: A New Analytic Model. International Journal of Men's Health, 10(3), 240-252. DOI: 10.3149/jmh.1003.240
- January 27, 2012
- 01:57 PM
- 74 views
Bad at Music, Bad at Chinese
by Callum Hackett in For the Ears
Another recent study (this one conducted by laboratories in Beijing and Montreal) has shown a link between the mental processing of music and language, though this time by looking at cognitive dysfunction. Most people could not imagine living without the capacity for enjoying and creating music, but … Continue reading →... Read more »
Nan Y, Sun Y, & Peretz I. (2010) Congenital amusia in speakers of a tone language: association with lexical tone agnosia. Brain: a journal of neurology, 133(9), 2635-42. PMID: 20685803
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- January 27, 2012
- 11:36 AM
- 123 views
Disrupting & Inventing “Religion”
by Cris Campbell in Genealogy of Religion
When I teach my anthropology of religion course the first order of business is to define and disrupt “religion” as a category. I begin by having students identify everything they consider to be “religion.” Our list grows and all the usual suspects make their appearance. After the list has been compiled, we then ask what [...]... Read more »
Josephson, Joseph A. (2011) The Invention of Japanese Religions. Religion Compass, 5(10), 589-597. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00307.x
- January 27, 2012
- 10:10 AM
- 107 views
Oxford University Censor First Broadcast of Lecture That Resulted in Censuring of Prof. Nutt, Former UK Government Drugs Advisor
by Neurobonkers in Neurobonkers
Watch the full video of the lecture and uncover what was in the slides censored for "copyright reasons"... Read more »
Nutt, D., King, L., & Phillips, L. (2010) Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis. The Lancet, 376(9752), 1558-1565. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6
Nutt, D. (2009) Estimating drug harms: a risky business?. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. info:/
Halpern JH, Sherwood AR, Hudson JI, Gruber S, Kozin D, & Pope HG Jr. (2011) Residual neurocognitive features of long-term ecstasy users with minimal exposure to other drugs. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 106(4), 777-86. PMID: 21205042
Carhart-Harris, R., Erritzoe, D., Williams, T., Stone, J., Reed, L., Colasanti, A., Tyacke, R., Leech, R., Malizia, A., Murphy, K.... (2012) Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119598109
Editorial team. (2010) The EMCDDA annual report 2010: the state of the drugs problem in Europe. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, also published in Euro surveillance :European communicable disease bulletin, 15(46). PMID: 21144426
- January 27, 2012
- 09:19 AM
- 13 views
Mourning Digitally
by Krystal D'Costa in Anthropology in Practice
Ed Note: Another flashback from the archives of AiP this Friday, though a sombre one at that. It’s rainy and dreary here in New York City, and my thoughts are a bit dark today. How are social technologies changing the experience of death for those charged with remembering? Death has been referred to as the [...]
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Aggarwal, R. (2001) At the Margins of Death: Ritual Space and the Politics of Location in an Indo-Himalayan Border Village. American Ethnologist, 28(3), 549-573. DOI: 10.1525/ae.2001.28.3.549
Dernbach, Katherine Boris. (2005) Spirits of the Hereafter: Death, Funerary Possession, and the Afterlife in Chuuk, Micronesia. Ethnology, 44(2), 99-123. info:/
- January 27, 2012
- 09:06 AM
- 87 views
Have you been blogging lately?
I have to admit I'm obsessed with social networking. I have a love-hate relationship with the whole thing. Until last year I would've sworn I'd never jump the "networking" fence. My thoughts: "There's enough background noise already on the Internet." And: "I've got nothing interesting today."Whether my posts are background noise or not, I'll leave it to you guys to decide, but I'm myself appalled by the fact that I've been blogging since last July and recently surpassed the threshold of 100 post........ Read more »
Cha, M., Pérez, J., & Haddadi, H. (2011) The spread of media content through blogs. Social Network Analysis and Mining. DOI: 10.1007/s13278-011-0040-x
- January 27, 2012
- 07:02 AM
- 85 views
Pretrial publicity & bias: Take a look at the age of your jurors!
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Despite the Supreme Court ruling [Skilling v US] that pretrial publicity [PTP] does not bias the public perception and limit the right to a fair trial, most of us who have experienced the impact of pretrial publicity disagree. It is an accepted truism that older people are more conservative than younger people. So it’s interesting to [...]
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Ruva, C., & Hudak, E. (2011) Pretrial publicity and juror age affect mock-juror decision making. Psychology, Crime , 1-24. DOI: 10.1080/1068316X.2011.616509
- January 26, 2012
- 08:09 PM
- 65 views
Narcissism Drains Men's Credibility
by ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
If you look at narcissism as being driven by men with fragile egos who act ever so defensively to hide the shame within you, in common with Reinhard et al. (2012), would have no trouble in claiming that the resultant defensiveness would lead to a rise in cortisol levels. However, cortisol is a chemical associated with many human emotions, from fear to rage, and narcissism is a troubled personality trait to which even the decidedly catholic DSM-V wants to bar entry...... Read more »
Reinhard, D., Konrath, S., Lopez, W. . (2012) Expansive Egos: Narcissistic Males Have Higher Cortisol. PLOS One, 7(1). info:/
- January 26, 2012
- 03:30 PM
- 97 views
Man's Best Friend, the Turkana Tribe & a Gruesome Parasite
by rbca in BODY HORRORS
Echinococcus granulosus is the causative agent of hydatid disease, a real nasty piece of work that usually plagues dogs and the ruminants they herd or hunt. The Turkana district in Kenya has the highest incidence and prevalence of hydatid disease in the world, due to the incredibly unique role that dogs play in the day-to-day life of their human owners.... Read more »
Romig, T., Omer, R., Zeyhle, E., Hüttner, M., Dinkel, A., Siefert, L., Elmahdi, I., Magambo, J., Ocaido, M., Menezes, C.... (2011) Echinococcosis in sub-Saharan Africa: Emerging complexity. Veterinary Parasitology, 181(1), 43-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.04.022
- January 26, 2012
- 03:29 PM
- 95 views
Why New York City keeps getting bigger
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Q: Why is New York City the most populous city in the United States? A. Because it was America’s most populous city in 1900. Q. Why was New York City America’s most populous city in 1900? A. Because it was America’s most populous city in 1800. History seems to be protecting New York City’s status [...]... Read more »
Ayuda, M., Collantes, F., & Pinilla, V. (2009) From locational fundamentals to increasing returns: the spatial concentration of population in Spain, 1787–2000. Journal of Geographical Systems, 12(1), 25-50. DOI: 10.1007/s10109-009-0092-x
Beeson, P. (2001) Population growth in U.S. counties, 1840–1990. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 31(6), 669-699. DOI: 10.1016/S0166-0462(01)00065-5
Krugman, P. (1991) Increasing Returns and Economic Geography. Journal of Political Economy, 99(3), 483. DOI: 10.1086/261763
- January 26, 2012
- 02:38 PM
- 95 views
Link between political views and physiology
by Bjørn Østman in Pleiotropy
It is becoming more and more clear that political views are in fact not completely decided by rational considerations, as common sense would have us believe. Rather, previous studies have shown a link between emotional (i.e., largely uncontrollable) responses and position on the left/right spectrum: "those on the right are ‘distrustful of differences … fear change, dread disorder, are intolerant of nonconformity, and derogate reason’."*... Read more »
Dodd MD, Balzer A, Jacobs CM, Gruszczynski MW, Smith KB, & Hibbing JR. (2012) The political left rolls with the good and the political right confronts the bad: connecting physiology and cognition to preferences. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 367(1589), 640-9. PMID: 22271780
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