by Craig Marker | Jan 11, 2008 | Uncategorized
This week’s New Hampshire’s Presidential Primary has led to many discussions of whether Obama suffered from the “Bradley effect”, in which some white voters say that they will support a black candidate when responding to poll questions but end...
by Craig Marker | Jan 10, 2008 | Uncategorized
Here is an interesting excerpt on how people make decisions based on how others around them decide:The behavioural economists Dan Ariely and Jonathan Levav speculated that we all tend, like you, to alter our choices to fit in with those around us – and they decided to...
by Craig Marker | Jan 4, 2008 | Uncategorized
The Association for Psychological Science’s Observer has an interesting article by Gerd Gigerenzer, on helping physician’s make decisions. Here is an excerpt of his discussion of the relative risk statistic versus the absolute risk statistic:Another...
by Craig Marker | Jan 2, 2008 | Uncategorized
Many studies have found that being reminded of gender stereotypes can affect how one performs on an exam. For example, if girls are told that females are not as capable as males on math, they do more poorly on a math test than do girls who do not get that...
by Craig Marker | Jan 1, 2008 | Uncategorized
Here is an excerpt from the Research Digest Blog of the British Psychological Society:There are two rival theories – one states that anxiety is so distracting it stops performers from being able concentrate on what they’re doing. The other argues that...
by Craig Marker | Dec 27, 2007 | Uncategorized
Below is an excellent excerpt of a blog written by Ian Ayers, author of Supercrunchers:A recent article in the Times trumpeted the results of a report that had just been released by the Educational Testing Service (E.T.S.). The E.T.S. researchers used four variables...
by Craig Marker | Nov 28, 2007 | Uncategorized
The Nov. 22 issue of the journal Nature has an article that discusses how babies can recognize helping behaviors. Here is an excerpt about this article from Livescience.com: To test if babies could tell a helper from a hinderer, Hamlin had groups of 6-month-olds and...
by Craig Marker | Nov 26, 2007 | Uncategorized
Sigmund Freud’s ideas are seen almost everywhere in popular culture. However, a recent article in The American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that most university psychology departments view his theories as obsolete. Their survey of 150 top colleges and...
by Craig Marker | Nov 21, 2007 | Uncategorized
The detection of malingering (faking bad symptoms for the benefit of personal gain) has always been difficult. A recent article in The Clinical Neuropsychologist investigated faking mental retardation. Here is a description of the article:… researchers have...
by Craig Marker | Nov 20, 2007 | Uncategorized
Here is an excerpt from the authors of Freakonomics in the column in the NY Times:Deborah Kattler Kupetz is a Los Angeles businesswoman and mother of three who tries to watch her weight. That’s why she recently bought two lifelike plastic models of human body fat from...
