Top 10 Cool Psychological Research Findings

Jovialis

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In the world of behavioral science, where I live, psychological researchers implement studies in an effort to better understand the nature of behavior. As a result of well-designed psychological research over the years, many novel findings with all kinds of implications have been documented by psychological researchers. Here is a list of 10 cool psychological research findings—findings that you might find surprising—findings that can help you better understand the people in your world. Note that this is in David Letterman Top-Ten-List format, to make it more fun!

10. Human emotional expression shows extraordinary constancy across human populations (i.e., a smile is a smile wherever you go). In groundbreaking research on the nature of human emotional expression, Ekman and Friesen (1986) found that the facial expressions that correspond to such basic emotions as happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, and fear are remarkably similar across the world. From remote nomadic folks in the South Pacific to the fancy people sipping high-end tea on Park Avenue in Manhattan, the basics of how we express emotions are the same.

9. You have more in common with a typical pigeon than you might realize. In some of the most important research ever done on the nature of behavior—across a storied career, B. F. Skinner (1953) made the case that the processes that underlie learning, such as operant and classical conditioning, are remarkably similar across species of animals—from dogs to goldfish to pigeons to rats to humans.

8. The more you pay someone for doing a menial task, the less he or she will like it. In a classic set of studies on the concept of cognitive dissonance, Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) found that people who (a) engaged in menial tasks for no good apparent reason, (b) told another student that they liked the tasks, and were then (c) paid $1 for doing so reported liking the tasks much more than did participants who were in the same study but who were paid $20 for their work. When people are poorly compensated for unpleasant work, they are more likely to convince themselves that they actually enjoyed the work so as to reduce their own levels of cognitive dissonance.

7. Regular people (like you and I) are quite capable of obeying a stranger to the point of killing another human being. In a series of studies on the psychology of obedience to authority, Stanley Milgram documented, without question, that, under certain conditions, a large majority of normal adults are capable of killing someone else—especially if they are being directed to do so by some credible-seeming authority figure and if the context as framed as “for the good of science” (Milgram, 1963).

6. Emotional intelligence often matters more than does cognitive intelligence when it comes to success in life. We place a premium on the importance of intelligence and on markers of academic aptitude. In fact, in several behavioral and life domains, based on a large body of research, success is better predicted by emotional intelligence than by cognitive intelligence (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).

5. About ⅓ of homicides in North America today have something to do with infidelity. While we may think that humans are all civilized and have somehow emerged to be above our base evolutionary origins, it’s just not true! In an analysis of thousands of North American homicides, Daly and Wilson (1982) found that approximately ⅓ of homicides in recent North American history are best conceptualized as reactions to infidelity.

4. People are more giving to others when the room smells nice. In a study on volunteerism, Liljenquist et al. (2010) had participants either (a) sit in a room that had not been cleaned recently or (b) sit in a room that was recently cleaned and sprayed with a nice-smelling spray cleaner. They were offered the opportunity to take literature for Habitat for Humanity. The participants in the nice-smelling room were more likely to take the literature and to report that they would volunteer for the organization.

3. People’s reports of why they do what they do are often completely incorrect. In a description of a series of study, Nisbett and Wilson (1977) found that while people have no problem providing justifications for their actions, they are, quite often, actually totally unaware of the real causes of their behavior. For instance, participants who watched a movie that was accompanied by a constant loud noise from the hallway liked the movie much less than did participants who watched the same movie without the loud noise. When asked why they didn’t like the movie, not a single person in the loud-noise condition mentioned the loud noise.

2. Personality barely shapes what we do. Research on the power of personality in predicting behavior has found that, on average, our personality traits tend to account for only about 9% of our behavior—at most (Mischel, 1968).

1. We are not as helpful as we think we are! A large majority of seminar students connected with an Ivy League university who are slated to give a lecture on the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible will step right over a person in need if they are running late to deliver the lecture (Darley & Batson, 1973). Think about that!

Bottom Line

If you know an armchair psychologist who thinks that he or she knows all the answers when it comes to people and that the work done by researchers in this field is a waste of time, you might want to forward this list to that person. As demonstrated by this Top Ten List, psychological research is, well, really cool and it regularly leads to new and often-unexpected insights into what it means to be human.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blo...ological-research-findings?collection=1110037

I don't agree with all of these, but some of them are pretty interesting.

10. That makes sense, smiling, frowning, scowling, and crying are universal in all populations.

9. I guess I can believe that.

8. Doubt it, if I can get paid $250,000 a year to pump gas, I'd love that job.

7. By stranger, meaning a commanding officer, in the context of the military; I guess you will do it out of duty. Maybe that's what they mean?

6. Doubt this one, cognitive ability surely has a lot to do with success imo. This is contradictory to all those studies that say narcissistic people with low-empathy can become leaders and CEOs. I guess it depends on the field you are working in.

5. I can believe that, lots of complex emotions involved.

4. That's pretty interesting actually!

3. Also interesting, probably a lot of external factors of certain experiences influence how well we enjoy things subconsciously.

2. Maybe, I guess external factors drive a lot of what we do, and what we must do to out of necessity.

1. I don't know, some people can be more helpful than others.
 
7. By stranger, meaning a commanding officer, in the context of the military; I guess you will do it out of duty. Maybe that's what they mean?

Even in Military context ordering to “eliminate” the Enemy is not that simple. Only when they are under attack as a sense of self-preservation, and camaraderie they’ll do it, without reservation.
Before a Mission, when been lethal is required, convincing speeches dehumanizing the target is a must, especially for the less experienced.
Even during execution by firing squad, one of the rifle assigned to the squad is usually loaded with blanks, and non of them knows which rifle is the blank one. (Avoid Guilt).
Of course a systematic Brain Wash, to desensitize the Troops is sadly a reality.
 
Even in Military context ordering to “eliminate” the Enemy is not that simple. Only when they are under attack as a sense of self-preservation, and camaraderie they’ll do it, without reservation.
Before a Mission, when been lethal is required, convincing speeches dehumanizing the target is a must, especially for the less experienced.
Even during execution by firing squad, one of the rifle assigned to the squad is usually loaded with blanks, and non of them knows which rifle is the blank one. (Avoid Guilt).
Of course a systematic Brain Wash, to desensitize the Troops is sadly a reality.

I was trying to wrap my head around what the author meant. One of the few contexts where a stranger could convince someone to kill another person would probably be in the line of duty for the military. I guess that's what they mean by "obedience to authority". It definitely would take some brainwashing, unless it was purely in self-defense.
 
I would imagine a lowered emotional intelligence being responsible for a lower cognitive intelligence. This is anecdotal I'll warn, but lowered emotional intelligence can lead to a bad depression and when that hits, everything is intellectually challenging; from grade school arithmetic to remembering events of the previous day, down to remembering what day it is in general. At times after I ask myself what day it is, I would stop and think for a few seconds until I can process an answer. When I snap out, I'm back to being human.
 
I would imagine a lowered emotional intelligence being responsible for a lower cognitive intelligence. This is anecdotal I'll warn, but lowered emotional intelligence can lead to a bad depression and when that hits, everything is intellectually challenging; from grade school arithmetic to remembering events of the previous day, down to remembering what day it is in general. At times after I ask myself what day it is, I would stop and think for a few seconds until I can process an answer. When I snap out, I'm back to being human.

We shall share our sympathy [emoji846]
 

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