May 21, 2012 0
May 21, 2012
Does Organic Eating Make People Act Like Jerks?
A new study shows organic foodies’ humane regard for the well-being of animals makes some rather snobbish. The report, published last week in the Journal of Social Psychological & Personality Science, notes that exposure to organic foods can “harshen moral judgments.” (Nick Carbone, TIME)
Emotional Intelligence and Detecting Deceit
People who rate themselves as having high emotional intelligence tend to overestimate their ability to detect deception in others. They were overconfident in assessing the sincerity of others. Although emotional intelligence, in general, was not associated with being better or worse at discriminating between truths and lies, people with a higher ability to perceive and express emotion (a component of emotional intelligence) were not so good at spotting when people were telling lies. (LiveScience)
The Science Behind the Seven Deadly Sins
Researchers gathered at the MIT Museum last month to describe work they’ve conducted relevant to the deadly seven, as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. (Karen Weintraub, The Boston Globe)
BOOKS
The Storytelling Animal
There’s no escaping stories, or the pressures to tell them. And so the pathetic story-pitcher turns to pop science—to Jonathan Gottschall’s new book, The Storytelling Animal, for instance—for some scientific, or at least speculative, ideas about what makes stories work and why we like them. (Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker)
VIDEO
Is Magical Thinking Good for You?
Matthew Hutson’s book The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking is about the ways most people, even atheists, are prone to illusions—ranging from out-and-out superstitions to subtler departures from rationalism. Are these illusions, on balance, a good thing? (Robert Wright, The Wright Show, Slate)





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