Description: Our law courts are places where rational processes test facts and arguments and where justice is consequently applied in a fair and “just” manner. Does that sound right to you? In the face of that description what role, if any, do emotions play in the judicial process? Before you say “none” think about the… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Social Cognition
Young Male Development and Extreme Behavior: Understanding → Prevention
Description: Mass shootings are terrifying both in their consequences and in the challenges they pose when trying to figure out why they happened, if they could have been prevented and what steps may be taken to reduce the likelihood of anything like them happening again. I am not talking here about acts of terrorism planned… Read more »
Moral Flexibility and Other Effects: The Case of International Travel
Description: International travel to exotic places and cultures is a broadening experience right? Certainly my own research on identity development suggests that travel, whether part of gap year before or during post-secondary study or after your university experience or at any point in life can broaden your horizons, help you to see wider possibilities and… Read more »
The Perfect Gift? or Iffy Science
Description: What makes for a perfect present? Cost? Uniqueness? Thoughtfulness? Surprise value? Wouldn’t it be helpful if there was some psychosocial research done on this seasonally vital question? Wait no longer! Before reading the article linked below think a bit about what made some of the best presents you have given or received so great…. Read more »
Agnotology? Why You Should Want to Know What This Is.
Description: Have you heard of agnotology? According to a number of social scientists you should really work on wanting to know what this term is and what its implications are for how we are forming our beliefs and opinions and developing our “expertise”. In the 1960s a tobacco company developed a number of strategies and… Read more »
The Development/Learning of Prejudice: The Trump Effect (and what to do about it)
Description: From our Canadian perspective American presidential elections are often a source of interest, fascination, and sometimes concern. The current election race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has raised a surprisingly large number of psychologically relevant points, issues and concerns. An article I posted earlier this year (http://wileypsychologyupdates.ca/general-psychology/abnormal-psychology/diagnosing-at-a-distance-what-about-donald/) talked about how psychologists are ethically… Read more »
Racism versus Implicit Bias
Description: Have you heard of implicit bias? While we define racism as an active belief involving negatively prejudging individuals on the basis of race, the concept of implicit bias is more complicated. Our mind is primed to make automatic associations between some concepts very quickly. Doing so in many situations provides an adaptive advantage. So… Read more »
How Good a “Reader” of Others Emotions Are You?
Description: Are you a good reader of other people’s emotions. That is, when you watch someone’s facial expression and particularly when you look at their eyes are you very good at telling how they’re feeling? If you are, or if you’re not, what life experiences do you think have contributed to your level of ability… Read more »
Who is Happier, A silver or a bronze medalist?
Description: If you watched any of the Olympics this past summer, think about it and then answer the following question. Who is happier, the winner of a silver medal, or the winner of a bronze medal? If you didn’t base your response simply on how you think you would feel in either of those situations… Read more »
Cultural Differences in Number of Life Choices: Enough or Too Many?
Description: How much choice do we have in our day-to-day lives? What turns out the answer that question may vary dramatically by culture. Think about what you would expect in the way results in the following experiment. 100 North American in 100 Japanese high school students are asked to take a piece of paper and… Read more »
Books for Success!
