You know that cereal commercial where they give it to Mikey because he hates everything? There’s a powerful social message there. It turns out that we trust the opinions of people who like the things we like more than the opinion of people who dislike the things we also dislike.
Researchers theorize that this is because if we like something, we tend to like everything about it, but if someone dislikes it, we’re never sure exactly why. Maybe this is a lesson for all the Mikeys of the world - people will trust you more if you like more things.
Source: The Power Of Love
Perception is weird. You know that scene in The Matrix where they’re asking “Wow do you know what chicken tastes like? What if they didn’t know what chicken tasted like, which is why it tastes like everything.” Turns out, we’re actually like that. Our perception of taste is influenced not just by the smell or texture of a food, but by the color as well. I’m sure this is no surprise to gourmet chefs who prepare food that’s nice to look at as well as nice to eat, but it is a little odd that we wouldn’t notice existing changes because two items are the same color.
Maybe the real difference between Coke & Pepsi is that Coke tastes like it came out of a red can & Pepsi tastes like it came out of a blue can.
Given two cups of the same Tropicana orange juice, with one cup darkened with food coloring, the members of the researcher’s sample group perceived differences in taste that did not exist. However, when given two cups of orange juice that were the same color, with one cup sweetened with sugar, the same people failed to perceive taste differences.
Read: More Than Meets The Tongue
Whenever I watch game shows and they ask people inane questions and they can’t get them, I never assume they’re idiots. Plenty of people have a hard time remembering things under pressure. Now we know that people have a hard time remembering things in most social situations.
Researchers from Indiana University found that people in a group setting exposed to brand information - such as an ad for Pizza Hut — have a hard time recalling the brand’s competitors. In other words, being around friends when deciding where to order takeout might cause you to forget completely about that local pizza place you’ve been wanting to try.
Being Around Friends Can Impair Your Memory
Even though EEGs (electroencephalogram) aren’t that much use to medical science, I’ve always wanted one. They’re smaller & easier to use than fMRI machines. EEGs work by reading the electrical activity on your scalp which, believe it or not, registers some brainwave activity. EEGs are where we get the terms “alpha waves” and “delta waves” which correspond to different levels of consciousness (I mean sleep, not some foofy new-age thing). By the time you reach delta waves, most of the brain you can read from an EEG is firing in sync so you get these nice big slow waves. This contrasts with the frenetic & chaotic pattern associated with waking life.
The OpenEEG Project gives anyone the means to make a DIY home EEG machine with just a few simple household items… well, okay not just a few simple household items, but it’s still cheaper than an MRI and it should look at least half as professional as Jim Carrey with a colander on his head.
read: Welcome to the OpenEEG project
Since I’m devilishly handsome and there’s nothing I can do about that, my usual pickup line of “Wanna see my yacht” may actually backfire long-term since it turns out that women don’t think men who are both handsome and rich are good husband material. Go figure.
We asked females to rate a number of different males in terms of attractiveness as a long-term partner. Females were presented with attractive, average and unattractive male faces paired with lonely-hearts advertisements implying high, medium or low socio-economic status. Highest ratings were consistently given to attractive males of medium status rather than high status. We suggest that females see physically attractive, high status males as being more likely to pursue a mating strategy rather than parenting strategy. Under particular circumstances, high socio-economic status in males can be subtly counter-productive in terms of attractiveness as a long-term partner.
read: Too good to be ‘true’? The handicap of high socio-economic status in attractive males (via BPS Research Digest)
(Perhaps someone needs to tell this short film maker. And these Lesbians.)
It’s official, a mid-afternoon nap could be the difference between life and death. In a study of 23,681 healthy adults aged between 20 and 86 for an average period of 6.32 years, they found that the more you napped, the lower your risk for heart disease and stroke.
They found that those who napped systematically during the day, that is slept for at least 30 minutes three times a week or more, had a 37 per cent lower risk of coronary mortality than those who did not sleep during the day.
read: Day Time Napping Linked To Healthier Heart And Longer Life
This is just way too freaking awesome.
read: Japanese Human Vending Machine - Gizmodo
Suicide is a weird, taboo subject, which may be why studies on suicide are so rare. A few researchers took this opportunity to put several women who have documented attempts at suicide and compare them with healthy women & non-suicidal depressive patients.
Suicidal patients had smaller right and left orbitofrontal cortex gray matter volumes compared with healthy comparison subjects. Suicidal patients had larger right amygdala volumes than non-suicidal patients. Abnormalities in the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala in suicidal patients may impair decision-making and predispose these patients to act more impulsively and to attempt suicide
While I hesitate to interpret that for fear that my knowledge of neuroscience is too shaky and I might get it wrong, what strikes me is that there is a difference. A physiology we can point to and say “this influences behavior.”
Molecular Psychiatry - Abstract of article: Fronto-limbic brain structures in suicidal and non-suicidal female patients with major depressive disorder
If you ever needed proof that Reality TV desensitizes people, this could be it.
Advertising agency TBWA interviewed 160 graduates in a Pop Idol-style challenge where candidates had to deliver a three-minute plea for employment before learning whether they were hired or fired. T-Mobile has started to run speed-dating style recruitment events where candidates have to quickly impress bosses, and king of the search, Google, had a stand at the 40th Anniversary Star Trek Convention looking for potential candidates.
Well, okay recruiting at a Star trek Convention seems perfectly fine to me…
How tough was your last interview? | Office hours | Jobs Editorial
The NY Times has an article on Daniel Tammet, autistic savant, subject of the documentary Brainman and author of the book Born on a Blue Day.
Recently, some friends warned him that in his eagerness to make eye contact, he tended to stare too intently. “It’s like being on a tightrope,” he said. “If you try too hard, you’ll come off. But you have to try.”
