Implementing New Year’s Resolutions
keywords:
anxiety / Goals / motivation / New Year resolutions
Implementing New Year’s Resolutions
Each New Year has something magical about it. At the first of January a brand new year lies ahead of us, it is always a bit like “starting all over”. Almost everybody has made their New Year resolutions, planning to do everything this new year better than in the previous years. This time, we promised ourselves to quit smoking or nail biting, to lose weight, to finally start the renovation of our bathroom, to visit our family more often, etc. Funny enough, the plans we make are quite similar to the plans we made the years before. This is because at New Year’s Eve we realize that we did not manage to reach all the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. / more
Same Same? Moral Development across Continents
keywords:
Buddhsim / development / morality / norms / Singapore
Same Same? Moral Development across Continents
My first extended stay in Southeast Asia in Singapore nearly five years ago served as a true eye opener. Yes, I was fully aware that I was about to enter a country that was different from what I had known so far. I was eager and curious to learn and broaden my horizons to whatever might come. However, the first days were rather disappointing: nothing much different from what I knew. Sometimes it was hard to comprehend 'Singlish' (as Singaporean... / more
Evolution of Religion
keywords:
religion / deities / mythical explanations / causal agents
Evolution of Religion
Religion. "Praise be to God." "Awakening the Buddha within." "Allāhu akbar." Just phrases at first sight.. But what comes to mind? Depending on your background or your personal situation, each of these might prime you with anxiety, or with comfort. Equally so, wars have been (and are) fought over whose way is ‘The Way’. / more
Are Blonds Really Dumb?
keywords:
stereotypes / group / attitude / implicit
Are Blonds Really Dumb?
Blonds are dumb, foreigners lazy, women can't do math. We continuously encounter such statements in our every-day lives – even if most people obviously wouldn’t take them seriously. Nevertheless, we often act towards others as if they were members of a particular group and nothing more. The bases for such behaviors are stereotypes and prejudices. Stereotypes are subjective views about the characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors of the members of a particular group.... / more
Five Social Psychology Essentials
keywords:
empirical assumptions / psychology / multiple interacting causes
Five Social Psychology Essentials
Social psychology teaches critical thinking about social behavior, or at least that's what we teachers like to think. It's comforting to believe that the field we've spent years studying will help our students see the world anew. We're glad when students show signs of internalizing a social psychological perspective. More often than we like to admit, though, students have trouble seeing the point. Sometimes they tell us the subject matter is obvious. Sometimes they think it's... / more
Why We Are Still Social
keywords:
evolution / social / human / group living
Why We Are Still Social
Some years ago, when I first began writing about the evolution of human sociality, a colleague put to me the question: Why are humans still social? That “still” was weighty with meaning—the idea of a primal solitary state, to which humans might return, perhaps finally freed from group living by technological progress. I was dumbfounded. Humans have no choice but to live in groups. They are unable to reproduce and survive to reproductive age without a group,... / more
Fairness Judgments: Genuine Morality or Disguised Egocentrism?
keywords:
distributive justice / egocentrism / fairness / morality
Fairness Judgments: Genuine Morality or Disguised Egocentrism?
When people think about fairness, they often think about social norms and values, or about general moral principles such as equality between humans and impartiality when solving conflicts. Fairness is thus often associated with a genuine concern for other people's well-being. In a variety of scientific disciplines, fairness is even equated with altruism and contrasted with egoism (e.g., De Waal, 1996; Sober & Wilson, 1998). / more
Do Multicultural Experiences Make People More Creative? If So, How?
keywords:
creativity / culture / McDonald / multiculturalism / Starbucks
Do Multicultural Experiences Make People More Creative? If So, How?
MacDonalds' Rice-burger in Asia; Starbucks’ Coffee Mooncake in Singapore; Disneyland Yin-Yang Mickey Mouse Cookies in Hong Kong; Lay's Peking Duck Flavored Potato Clip … The list can go on. What is common in all these examples is that they are all novel product ideas created by integrating seemingly non-overlapping cultural or product ideas from Eastern and Western cultures. / more
From Heavens to Hells to Heroes
keywords:
heavens to hells / Lucifer / Lucifer effect / Stanford / Zimbardo
From Heavens to Hells to Heroes
The poet John Milton gave highest praise to the human mind when he wrote in 'Paradise Lost', "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." I have been celebrating that mental agility for most of my life, as a research psychologist for the past fifty years, but even before that as a child of only five years. Before I describe how I helped to... / more
Exposing an Armed Criminal: What Can We Learn from Psychology and the Police?
keywords:
armed criminals / body language / emotions / facial micro-expressions / observation techniques
Exposing an Armed Criminal: What Can We Learn from Psychology and the Police?
How vulnerable are armed criminals? Can one predict their intentions and actions just by watching them walking or standing somewhere? Psychologists and the police believe this is possible. They think this can be done by reading subtle clues in the appearance of a person. These clues can be meaningless for a novice, but are significant for a trained person. / more