Archive for the ‘Group Behavior’ category

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Both men and women change the pitch of their voices when they are trying to convey romantic interest, but the nature of those voice changes might surprise you. Psychologist Susan Hughes at Albright College recently asked a group of college students to leave voice mail messages via Skype to a fictitious person. The psychologist found [...]

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When the person you are talking to blinks a lot, it probably means he or she has tuned you out, according to new research that links increased blinking with reduced attention.
So, if you are talking with a manager/colleague/spouse, the unconscious signal that best tells you that the person has tuned you out?
A) He/she blinks a [...]

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The recent British elections highlight why the rules — not candidates, parties, issues or ideologies — are the real kingmakers in democracies. The graphic shows the percentage of votes and percentage of seats won by the three major British parties. Look at the disparities! If the Tories and Labour had stuffed ballot boxes so they [...]

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Aggressive individuals raise the metabolism of groups, but do they increase or reduce the effectiveness of teams? New research suggests aggressive individuals reduce the effectiveness of teams, and also hinder the ability of teams to learn new things.
Imagine you are the coach of a sports team. A young player wants to join your team. He [...]

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Restaurant patrons are subtly influenced by the size of their servers to order different kinds of food and different quantities of food, according to new research into the hidden brain’s effects on our food habits.
So which of these statements do you think is true? (More than one answer is correct.)
A) Dieters consume more calories when [...]

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When people have too many romantic choices, either on the internet or during “speed dating,” they tend to choose partners based on superficial physical characteristics. You might think that having a large number of potential mates to choose from could help you make better choices. But new research suggests the opposite happens — as [...]

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Some of the skyrocketing increase in autism diagnoses in the United States has to do with sociological forces — people talking to one another about the disorder, sharing information about doctors and providing friends and colleagues with information about educational resources. The research does not imply that autism is “made-up,”  but rather that as information [...]

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Puzzle: Four people have a free hour on weekends. One is a lawyer who bills clients at the rate of $295/hour. The second is an accountant who bills clients at $100/hour. The third is a schoolteacher who gets paid $45,000/year. The fourth is a parking attendant who gets paid $10/hour. Knowing nothing else about these [...]

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Americans turn out to have the highest self-esteem at age 60, according to new research.
There are important variables and nuances, but the basic message might be surprising to many who believe that very young people have better self-esteem than older people.
Ulrich Orth and Richard Robins surveyed 3,617 adults in the United States between 1986 and [...]

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Gays & lesbians in 16 U.S. states suffered steep increases in depression, anxiety & addictions between 2001-05. The states were Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Utah.
What happened in those states in that time period that may have caused such distress? Those states all [...]