Research suggests implanting false beliefs (“event happened to me”) is most successful if the event is plausible *and* said to have occurred just once (52%); false memories (“I remember event happened to me”) are harder to implant (10%): buff.ly/PwEtEht

It’s ok to shout “Fallacy!” In a crowded theatre, but when does calling something a fallacy *actually* undermine an argument — and when does it simply end the conversation prematurely? Matt Grawitch dissects the fuzziest of argumentation concepts: buff.ly/KRrqgrF

“Authenticity” for Helen of Troy, but not for Shylock? We sometimes tend to dress our idiosyncratic judgments in a cloak of bogus objectivity, perhaps wishfully thinking that people won’t see right through it. We have another (wishful) think coming! buff.ly/osWnjLL

Ons oordeel is vaak niet meer dan een uiting van persoonlijke voorkeuren. Daar proberen we dan wel een principiële legitimiteit voor te claimen. Hoezo? De controverse rond een rol in een nieuwe film illustreert. Mijn @apache.be stukje—Rolverdeeldheid: buff.ly/6IdtVK5

Monty Hall, but for fish (!) Research by Agrillo & Pecunioso finds glass fish exhibit the same (suboptimal) resistance to switching options once a rewardless option is revealed that humans do in a Monty Hall problem: buff.ly/gavhd2F

Emotions are a muddy signal with muddy data, but we can still derive a lot of important information from it during Org Change, explains Chris Collins—where the rubs lie, how different people experience loss, and how best to generate positive momentum: buff.ly/I8oM2Ai

Avoid controversy avoidance, advises Dave Trott—anyone can be negative about what you do. Don’t fear blacklisting. If need be, blacklist yourself: buff.ly/L64mlVy

Earlier US research suggested people with lower SES are more likely to follow majority preferences in their product choices. Replication by Unkelbach et al fails to find evidence for this social class-based conformism, either in the US or Germany: buff.ly/uBLv5h4

The Big Few, or the Small Many? Two approaches to understanding personality: buff.ly/ZfwGqlT

Robots as domestic assistants have long populated science fiction and fantasy, and now the wait seems over. Yet certain chores still seem to be beyond them—like folding laundry: buff.ly/gQk5lyA

Spelt, millet, quinoa etc—are these ancient grains better for you than standard cereals? Mmm…maybe. The research is not robust, and with many confounds. But the good news is, they’re not bad for you: buff.ly/0tE9zmW

“Flirting is an art, but many men seem to struggle with the brush strokes—what feels like a clear signal to one can be mere background noise to another.” buff.ly/WIYQ2DH

Machiavelli puts his own spin on the veil of ignorance, and Rawls doesn’t like it one bit: buff.ly/KwMdyXp

“Choice inevitably involves loss: a path not taken, a parallel life unlived.” We are condemned to make choices, Sartre wrote, and to feel regret for what we didn’t choose. But why do some regrets fade, and others grow more intense? asks @tashakleeman: buff.ly/VfzF7DJ

Third party punishment of norm violations is not always reputation-enhancing. Comprehensive research by Dhaliwal et al suggests chronically monitoring others for wrongdoing to punish them signals self-serving motives and harms reputation: buff.ly/PJtA3ac HT @jayvanbavel.bsky.social

Judgments are often idiosyncratic—expressing a personal preference. But are the criteria by which we make them based on pertinent, rather than pretend, criteria? The controversy over a casting decision in a forthcoming blockbuster illustrates: buff.ly/SqxKr5E

Fake news about brands (eg ingredients or working conditions) is annoying for the companies owning them—but doesn’t setting the record straight risk backfiring? No, research summarized suggests—the correction outweighs the repetition: buff.ly/nyPcD5u via @psypost.bsky.social

People others see as attractive are significantly happier than those perceived as less attractive. This is stronger for men than for women, and in part indirectly due to the higher self-esteem and stronger mental stability of being judged as attractive: buff.ly/Z2KrNcw

Survey finds a majority of US citizens are pretty laid back about AI-pocalypse, disagreeing with p(doom) statements like “I worry that AI is very bad” or “I worry that AI will take over the world”: buff.ly/rmhCJao

Meet the species that is multiple species, and that’s the truth. Modern genetic techniques have etablished that the long-nosed Pinocchio chameleon is in fact several distinct species: buff.ly/K7EBmJJ

Numerous pop and rock composers have written music inspired by classical compositions. Steve Reich did the opposite—his 2012 composition Radio Rewrite is inspired by two Radiohead songs, here performed by the Australian Ensemble Offspring: youtu.be/IKOTq5iTDHw Enjoy!

“A mature pluralism does not require cultural erasure. But neither can it dispense with the norms that make common life possible.” Glenn Loury’s perspective on assimilation—a slippery concept if ever there was one—of minorities in a society: buff.ly/6aFt9Ne

When we face tough decisions, seeking advice—even from someone without expertise in the matter—can be beneficial. Yet, while they think *others* do, most people overwhelmingly prefer to rely on themselves instead, recent multi-country research suggests: buff.ly/Xd5pUoE

Hate is the expression of an evolved adaptation functioning to neutralize individuals whose future existence is seen to impose costs on the hater, Sell et al argue, through guiding specific cognitive and behavioural responses: buff.ly/8cIwtkd HT @robsica.bsky.social

In the film The Merchant of Venice, Jewish money lender Shylock is played by Al Pacino—a gentile. Should the actor have been a Jew? My post on problematic judgment, reacting to the controversy over Helen of Troy in Sir Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssee: buff.ly/osWnjLL

Looking at the map, the solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem seems straightforward—dig a canal through the UAE/Oman Musandam peninsula. What were they waiting for? It is, of course, not quite that simple. This, and the alternatives, explained: youtu.be/EVtq8M_15CM

Aannames zijn de onzichtbare, meestal best wel accurate, draagbalken van onze beslissingen en van hoe we de wereld zien. Meestal. ICYMI, mijn @Apache_be stukje over dit fenomeen dat, zelfs als het de bal misslaat, ons toch van dienst kan zijn: buff.ly/4gJAvhx

US research by Kealy et al suggests a majority considers narcissism as a prevalent and undesirable characteristic (actual NPD estimate: 1-6%): buff.ly/UXKWNBR

Astronauts gazing back at Earth experience a peculiar sense of awe, dubbed the “overview effect”, often with a lasting impact. Is it a psychological phenomenon, or does it affect our physiology? @maxlouwerse.bsky.social discusses the VR-facilitated research: buff.ly/o4ZBdhV

Anti-gravity propulsion—big, Very Big, if true. How close is it? @andercot.bsky.social traces the hypotheses, speculation and indeed research so far: buff.ly/U7yAs6z

“how can we touch when we can’t?” Films are subject to strict rules in Iran—like a strict prohibition on the skin of male and female characters touching. This short video showcases how filmmakers use bags as a workaround in a surreal choreography: buff.ly/x5eRE65

Critical thinking development occurs during specific windows in childhood and adolescence, writes @drsamgoldstein.bsky.social. Missing these windows may limit not how much you can learn but how effectively you can apply what you learn: buff.ly/E6A7lI0

Many things that have to be done are easy to put off. But few are so important to do, and so easy to put off, as maintenance. We can defer now, but we *will* regret later. @stewartbrand.bsky.social literally wrote the book, and here’s an excerpt: buff.ly/gB8NkAo

Ethan @startswithabang.bsky.social Siegel explains what makes the Artemis II mission truly special: buff.ly/rtJn5vc

Research by Leckelt et al suggests personality predicts wealth—individuals with net wealth >€1M score higher in Risk tolerance, Openness, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, and lower in Neuroticism (more so for self-made v inheritor millionaires): buff.ly/UzToAx0

The casting for the role of Helen of Troy in the new production of The Odyssey was not to everyone’s taste. But is judging the casting of a part on the basis of the actor’s skin colour—whether condemning or applauding—sound? buff.ly/SqxKr5E

Toddlers effortlessly recognize unfairness when they see it—yet agreeing with others what is, and isn’t, fair eludes even learned scholars. @lionelpage.bsky.social wisely avoids trying to definitively define fairness, but digs into how we seek agreement about it: buff.ly/W2SRDsR

We hebben zelden volledige informatie bij het nemen van beslissingen, en dan vullen we aan met aannames. Die zijn vaak (voldoende) juist, maar soms compleet verkeerd—heilzame momenten die ons wereldbeeld hertekenen: Mijn @apache.be stukje: buff.ly/4gJAvhx

New research offers evidence that 1.5-2 yo toddlers experience greater reward from giving resources (including their own) to others than from receiving resources, observing others give, or giving to themselves: buff.ly/AHKvs2D via @psypost.bsky.social

Enter the weird and wonderful world of the manifold—literally multiplicitous—the space that gains an extra dimension when you zoom out on any of its points, like circles, spheres and donuts. buff.ly/gOJdxIY

The decisions we make range from the trivial and insignificant to the dreaded and momentous. Swiss researchers asked more than 4000 people for the decisions they dreaded most, and found the answers to be remarkably stable across participants: buff.ly/GoK5Dsa

We all ‘gamble’ with the weather—when to plan a day trip, insurance taken out (or not) for storm damage etc. But some people go further and bet directly in ‘catastrophe markets’ for profit—with some peculiar implications, writes @jpietruska.bsky.social: buff.ly/AJAfrlP

Research by Jacquemet et al suggests that an oath significantly reduces perjury, while maintaining a truth teller’s performance, confirming the essential role the oath performs in the legal system—a non-monetary commitment to tell the truth over and above intrinsic motivation.

“From a behavioural science perspective, TikTok and Instagram aren’t entertainment apps; they’re high-frequency Intermittent Variable Reward machines.” buff.ly/fQp1Eqr via @oliverpayne.bsky.social

Blogged: Casting judgment A particular choice of actor in Sir Christopher Nolan's forthcoming *The Odyssey* causes controversy. But is the judgment on either side of the dissent robust? (Spoiler: no, it isn't) buff.ly/IkgWcdY

We often single out one of several causes as *the* cause of a certain outcome. But research by Konuk et al suggests we sometimes treat plural causes as causal entities in their own right, impacting the outcome in a holistic way: buff.ly/Bl1tLC1 HT @xphilosopher

The Bouba-Kiki effect, but for first names. A 2015 linguistics study investigated which names sound most pleasing to the ear: buff.ly/Ta6BJcK

Our distant ancestors self-sufficiently produced their own proteins. Then the started getting them by eating other organisms. For plant-eaters, meeting their needs is a challenge, but evolution pulled some neat tricks, writes @katarinazimmer.bsky.social : buff.ly/cHd8rPl

Without assumptions we couldn’t make decisions. They also help us sort people into ingroup and outgroup members. So be careful with advice not to make assumptions. ICYMI, last call for my post on our invisible load bearers: buff.ly/obhJk4E

An exasperated Jason Collins bangs the drum he’s been beating for 10 years over a pure zombie study. The original research suggesting a little disfluency in communication stimulates more analytical reasoning is a spectacular replication failure: buff.ly/VxIUvYr