Description: As the Covid vaccines roll out we general conversation is shifting from when vaccines will be generally available to when will we have enough people vaccinated that we close in on what seems like the almost mythical herd immunity. One of the topics of this more recent line of discussion within the media concerns… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Persuasion
What Are We to Make of Spite?
Description: When social psychologists and other psychologists set up laboratory-based study to try and capture some aspects of a real-world situation or experience they are aiming to try and capture its essence or to set up a situation in the lab that contains the phenomenon of interest (they hope) but within a simplified context so… Read more »
No Bystander Intervention? Think Again!
Description: Do people who witness acts of aggression or violence against other in their town or cities typically intervene to stop or diffuse the situation? When attacks against Indigenous, Asian, or other identifiable member of minority groups occur as they have recently, how likely is it that you, when hearing of the incidents, wondered why… Read more »
Psychology of Covid-19: How to Wait in Lines
Description: How good are you at waiting in line? Would your answer be different if you were thinking of waiting in line to pay for your groceries as compared to waiting in what, these days, passes for an ill-defined virtual line that will determine when you get your vaccination for Covid-19? Culturally, the British are… Read more »
Psychology of Covid: The Vaccine Dilemma Game
Description: Social psychology often involves examining the social give and take between individuals and at some of the ways that individuals may bias their perceptions or out and out act in their own interest at the expense of other’s outcomes. This work includes things like the Just World Hypothesis (e.g., maybe people who flaunt social… Read more »
Psychological Entitlement and Covid-19 Restriction Compliance
Description: What sorts of people resist Covid-19 related health guidelines such as mask wearing, the use of hand sanitizer when entering public spaces and limits of social gatherings? Ok, Ok, I suspect you may have a few choice words to use in your response to that question but hang on a moment. Understanding more about… Read more »
Psychology of Covid: Reasoning with Unreasonable People About Vaccination
Description: How do you deal with someone who you believe is completely unreasonable? Well, one possible answer that makes a lot of sense is simply to not deal with them at all. Who needs the stress and the headaches associated with trying to take on an unreasonable person and try to get them to BE… Read more »
The Psychology of Covid: Being A Guinea Pig
Description: If I asked you to ponder what it is like to be a Guinea Pig, I suspect you would not actually start to reflect on what it might be like to be small and furry. Rather, you would be more likely to contemplate what is would be like to be a participant in a… Read more »
The Psychology of Incitement to Violence: It is Not New
Description: Discussion and debate about the factors that lead up to the violent actions taken by supporters of Donald Trump in Washington on January 6, 2021 are often wrapped in political stances and loyalties. As the Senate trial of Donald Trump on the single article of impeachment of encouraging insurrection approaches it is useful to… Read more »
Investigator Lies and False Confessions: A Deeper Look
Description: Sometimes an individual who has confessed to a crime recants or withdraws their confession. What comes to mind when you read that sentence? Knowing nothing else about an individual case, what would you estimate is the likelihood that the person recanting a confession is actually guilty of what they origin ally confessed to? Now… Read more »
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