Prejudiced? It Depends on Your Perspective
Jul/28/2011 08:18 Filed in: Prejudice
The past 25 years of research into the scientific unconscious has documented just how susceptible the mind is to prejudice. Simple exposures to stereotypical beliefs rapidly alter the mind's evaluative mechanisms such that it will automatically generate a negative evaluation of any member of a different social group in question. However, a new paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that simply altering our perspective -- mentally putting ourselves in another person’s shoes -- can significantly reduce our unconscious biases. Read More...
Educating the Next Generation of Business Leaders
Jul/27/2011 09:56 Filed in: Morality | Leadership
Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria had an interesting Q&A in the New York Times recently. He noted that one of the three major changes to the curriculum at HBS involved a greater focus on the development of leadership. Read More...
The Benefits of Sacrifice
Past research has shown that we tend to have an aversion to inequality, especially when we are getting the short end of the stick. But it is also true that we often sacrifice our own self-interest to enhance the welfare of others. These seem to be contradictory effects. How can we on the one hand care about someone else’s well-being while on the other also want to be better off than they are? Read More...
On the Economics of Happiness
Jul/21/2011 16:24 Filed in: Happiness
Our good friend Dan Gilbert moderated a fantastic conversation between Bob Frank (another good friend and collaborator) and Justin Wolfers at this years Aspen Ideas Festival a few weeks back. It's one of the best discussions on the current state of economic-based happiness research out there, and the dialogue between Bob and Justin offers not only new insights into what cutting edge data are suggesting about some of the seeming paradoxes in the literature (e.g., money doesn't appear to buy happiness) but also integrates some of the oppositional positions that economists have put forward. Definitely worth a view.
East vs West in Judging Character
Jul/19/2011 10:53 Filed in: Judging Character
The minds of most Americans are ready and willing to engage in a phenomenon psychologists term spontaneous trait inference -- the readiness to bind a single personality descriptor or action to a target in memory. Put differently, if we see someone cheat once, that label is automatically bound to our memories of that person. When we imagine his face, it's as if the label "cheater" spontaneously appears across it. New research, however, is suggesting that this phenomenon might not be as universal as first thought. Read More...
The Stress of Being Top Banana
Everyone knows that navigating the ladder of status is often difficult. Being at the bottom is undoubtedly stressful, but new research suggests that being at the top is no picnic either. Read More...
Good Groups Can Lead to Bad Apples
Jul/13/2011 13:31 Filed in: Morality
Does belonging to a morally-upstanding group increase the odd that a person will behave virtuously? You might think so, as the norm for the group would be one that favors moral actions. Yet, new research by Maryam Kouchaki suggests that belonging to such groups might, at times, have the opposite effect. Read More...
Liberals vs Conservatives: Maybe Not So Different at Heart
This morning brings us news that the "grand bargain" in Washington appears to have collapsed. It's yet another example of the seeming disconnect between progressives and conservatives. Few psychologists have done more than my friend Jon Haidt to illuminate the psychological differences that characterize the liberal and conservative minds, respectively. But new research by Jennifer Cole Wright and Galen Baril suggests that while Jon may have the overall picture correct, one important detail may need revision: maybe we're all liberals at heart. Read More...
Subliminal Trust
Jul/07/2011 17:08 Filed in: Trust
Trust is the foundation of stable and flourishing social relationships. As such, you might think that it is something that forms over time and is based on accurate cues of a person's reliability and character. Although it can work that way, new research is showing that it doesn't always. Read More...
Malodorousness Strikes Again
Our colleague David Pizarro at Cornell had a wonderful NYT Op-Ed awhile back explaining the science behind Carl Paladino's (former candidate for NY Governor) political mailing about the corruption in Albany that was scented to smell like garbage. David has done some of the most interesting work on disgust out there, and he (along with colleagues Yoel Inbar and Paul Bloom) has struck again -- this time showing how subtle feelings of disgust stemming from a foul smell can enhance bias against gay men. Read More...
Politics and the Paradox of Compromise
When interests conflict, the mature compromise. In Washington, though, compromise remains a “dirty word” to many -- so much so, that as David Brooks points out today, the Republicans may be passing up the deal of a lifetime. Read More...
