The Truth About Lie-Detection – What Works And What Doesn't: - Barking up the wrong tree

The Truth About Lie-Detection – What Works And What Doesn't: - Barking up the wrong tree

German scholars have pioneered Criteria Based Content Analysis (CBCA). Armed with a 19-point list of identifiers, analysts ask if the story was incoherent or disorganized. They count the number of details, how frequently the storyteller self-corrected wrong facts, or admitted not knowing something about his own story.

According to CBCA proponents, liars tell stories in chronological order to keep the facts straight. They rarely correct a misstatement, and they're less willing to say, “I don’t know.” Some scholars using CBCA can accurately predict lying as high as 78 percent of the time. But that's nowhere near perfect, and it’s not a method easily used in real-time conversation.

Another intriguing lie-detection test is Reality Monitoring. The idea behind Reality Monitoring is that a truth-teller will, without prompting, relay spatial and sensory details. They won't just say where the man stood in the room: they'll include if the man was near or far from the window, how the room smelled, the sudden bang of door slamming. Liars are creating a story intended to make sense, so they rely on logic to supply the details. For example, a truth-teller might say, “I remember he had an umbrella, because it was dripping on the floor,” while the liar would say, “Well, he must have had an umbrella with him because it rained earlier.” The liar’s story is based in a rational inference, compared to the truth-teller’s sensation. Reality Monitoring, like CBCA, has shown some surprising success.

How Vacations Affect Your Happiness - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

How Vacations Affect Your Happiness - Well Blog - NYTimes.com: "The study, published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, showed that the largest boost in happiness comes from the simple act of planning a vacation. In the study, the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks."

If it’s easy to read, it’s easy to do, pretty, good, and true - Vol. 23, Part 2 ( February 2010)

The Psycholoist: If it’s easy to read, it’s easy to do, pretty, good, and true - Vol. 23, Part 2 ( February 2010)

We perceive things to be more appealing, easier to handle and more efficient based on how simple they are to understand - even when this is based on irrelevant or superficial properties - like its name or the font it is described in.

The Facebook effect on first impressions | PressDemocrat.com

The Facebook effect on first impressions | PressDemocrat.com: "New research by a Sonoma State University professor and a colleague with the University of Texas shows that those conclusions can be surprisingly accurate in a photograph, depending on how one poses."

Political Science: What Being Neat or Messy Says about Political Leanings: Scientific American

Political Science: What Being Neat or Messy Says about Political Leanings: Scientific American: "Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles found that 72 percent of the variation in voter turnout is genetic, according to a study in July's American Political Science Review (APSR)"

Massive bonuses might actually cause poor performance - The New York Times

Massive bonuses might actually cause poor performance - The New York Times

The group offered the highest bonus did worse than the other two groups - in every single task. On top of that, the people offered medium bonuses performed no better or worse than those offered low bonuses.

Drilling Down - Vowel Sounds Influence Consumers’ Perception of Prices - NYTimes.com

Drilling Down - Vowel Sounds Influence Consumers’ Perception of Prices - NYTimes.com

Researchers have known for 80 years about a symbolic connection between speech and size: back-of-the-mouth vowels like the “o” in “two” make people think of large sizes, whereas people associate front-of-the-mouth vowels like “ee” with diminutiveness. Marketers can use this effect to make consumers think a discount is bigger or smaller than it truly is, according to a study soon to be published in The Journal of Consumer Research by Keith Coulter of Clark University and Robin Coulter of the University of Connecticut.

Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought - Listverse

Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought - Listverse

Sex and shopping – it's a guy thing - life - 01 January 2010 - New Scientist

Sex and shopping – it's a guy thing - life - 01 January 2010 - New Scientist

much of human economic behaviour is engendered by motives of costly signalling to display our personal qualities to potential mates and other social partners. These motives are finely tuned and very specific. They show systematic sex differences, and are influenced by apparent mating opportunities. They reveal a human display psychology with intricate design features shaped over millennia of evolution, to attract mates and friends through certain kinds of costly, risky behaviours that reliably signal certain desirable traits.

Brain Power - Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them - Series - NYTimes.com

Brain Power - Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them - Series - NYTimes.com

Over the past four years, the couple has tested Building Blocks in more than 400 classrooms in Buffalo, Boston and Nashville, comparing the progress of children in the program with that of peers in classes offering another math curriculum or none at all. On tests of addition, subtraction and number recognition after one school year, children who had the program scored in the 76th percentile on average, and those who did not scored in the 50th percentile.

By the end of kindergarten, a year after the program has ended, those who had had it sustained their gains, scoring in the 71st percentile, on average.