Enlarge / Wired for science! Boglárka Morvai reader comments 103 Needle, a cheerful miniature schnauzer I had as a kid, turned into a ball of unspeakable noise and fury each time she saw a dog called Puma. She hated Puma so much she would go ballistic, barking and growling. Merely whispering the name “Puma” set ..
Tag : Behavioral science
Enlarge / A greater honeyguide reader comments 28 With all the technological advances humans have made, it may seem like we’ve lost touch with nature—but not all of us have. People in some parts of Africa use a guide more effective than any GPS system when it comes to finding beeswax and honey. This is ..
Enlarge / The invitation might be nice, but you can feel free to say no. reader comments 74 The holidays can be a time of parties, events, dinners, outings, get-togethers, impromptu meetups—and stress. Is it really an obligation to say yes to every single invite? Is not showing up to Aunt Tillie’s annual ugly sweater ..
reader comments 233 with The takeaway of Robert Sapolsky’s Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will is basically the same as that espoused by those Snickers commercials: You’re not you when you’re hungry. Except according to Sapolsky, there is no “you”—the hunger is what dictates your behavior, along with your stress level, whether or ..
Enlarge / This beer isn’t helping. reader comments 45 with For a phenomenon that is so deeply engrained in the public consciousness, the scientific evidence regarding what has been called “beer goggles” is surprisingly inconsistent. The term refers to finding people more attractive after drinking alcohol, and there is a wealth of scientific evidence both ..
reader comments 20 with Anyone who has played a real-time strategy game probably ponders this question when preparing for a fight: Is it better to have a huge number of relatively weak units or a smaller number of extremely powerful ones? But the question predates computer games and virtual war machines. Theoreticians started tackling the ..
reader comments 101 with Political polarization in the US has become a major issue, as Republicans and Democrats increasingly inhabit separate realities on topics as diverse as election results and infectious diseases. An actual separation seems to underly some of these differences, as members of the two parties tend to live in relatively homogeneous communities, ..
reader comments 19 with Social insects, which don’t have very large nervous systems, are capable of remarkably sophisticated behavior, such as the direction-giving dance by bees or the lifesaving rafts formed by fire ants. In these cases, the benefits of this behavior—more food or survival, respectively—are pretty obvious. But there are also cases where the ..
reader comments 58 with There is a reason countless songs about loneliness exist. Many are relatable, since feeling alone is often part of being human. But a particular song or experience that resonates with one lonely person may mean nothing to someone else who feels isolated and misunderstood. Human beings are social creatures. Those who ..
reader comments 98 with Many Americans have been shocked by the frequency with which people who claim to love our democracy have supported blatantly undemocratic efforts to limit people’s ability to vote or to selectively discard votes already cast. Unfortunately, this sort of democratic backsliding is far from a US-specific problem. Despite widespread support for ..