Tactile illusions: Seven ways to fool your sense of touch - New Scientist

Tactile illusions: Seven ways to fool your sense of touch - New Scientist "It's surprisingly easy for your body to fool your brain."

The Bad Apple: Group Poison

The Bad Apple: Group Poison: "Phelps found that the bad apple's behavior had a profound effect -- groups with bad apples performed 30 to 40 percent worse than other groups. On teams with the bad apple, people would argue and fight, they didn't share relevant information, they communicated less."

Success is all in the mind

Success is all in the mind There's probably no such thing as innate talent or, if there is, it's overrated. The only thing he will allow is that very occasionally certain physical gifts, such as height in a basketballer, will help. But in every other case, what's at work in such massive successes as golfer Woods is a complex cognitive process that pushes the body and mind to extraordinary heights.

Mind Hacks: Never mind the quality, look at the width

Mind Hacks: Never mind the quality, look at the width: "In the study, when the reward was described as rising from 3 cents to 300 cents cooperation increased - but when it was described as rising from 3 cents to 3 dollars, it had no effect."

Overcoming Bias: Conscious Control

Overcoming Bias: Conscious Control: "[T]he MIT group has identified a handful of common social signals that predict the outcomes of sales pitches, the success of bluffing in poker, even subjective judgements of trust. These signals include the `activity level', effectively the fraction of time the person speaks; their `engagement' or how much a person drives the conversation; and `mirroring', which occurs when one participant subconsciously copies another's prosody and gesture."

Born to Be a Trader? Fingers Point to Yes. - washingtonpost.com

Born to Be a Trader? Fingers Point to Yes. - washingtonpost.com: "A new study has found that men who were programmed in the womb to be the most responsive to testosterone tend to be the most successful financial traders, providing powerful support for the influence of the hormone over their decision-making.

'Testosterone is the hormone of irrational exuberance,' said Aldo Rustichini, a professor of economics at the University of Minnesota"

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: "The proportion of murder victims who knew their assailants to victims killed by strangers is about 3-to-1."

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: "In the U.S., the proportion of murder victims who knew their assailants to victims killed by strangers is about 3-to-1."

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: "In the U.S., the proportion of murder victims who knew their assailants to victims killed by strangers is about 3-to-1."

Preach What You Plan To Practice - washingtonpost.com

Preach What You Plan To Practice - washingtonpost.com: "The most effective way to get people to change their behavior revolves around the clever use of . . . hypocrisy. When people feel not only that they are failing themselves but also that are failing to live up to what they tell other people to do, they change their behavior -- and stick to it."