225 posts · 108,419 views
Thinking, Learning, Psychology, and Policy.
Eric Horowitz
225 posts
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- May 16, 2013
- 02:12 AM
- 34 views
We’re All Just Looking For a Patsy
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
If often seems as though policy-making has devolved into nothing more than a contest where the goal is to blame as many people as possible (but not yourself) for the country’s problems. Fossil fuel companies blame environmental regulations for economic stagnation and high energy prices. Neocons blame civil libertarians for national security weaknesses. And of [...]... Read more »
Rothschild, Z., Landau, M., Molina, L., Branscombe, N., & Sullivan, D. (2013) Displacing Blame over the Ingroup’s Harming of a Disadvantaged Group can Fuel Moral Outrage at a Third-Party Scapegoat. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2013.05.005
- May 14, 2013
- 01:49 AM
- 37 views
Teacher Expectations Have a Stronger Impact On Low-Income Students
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
In their 1968 book Pygmalion in the Classroom, Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson presented their groundbreaking research that showed teacher expectations are self-fulfilling prophecies. If two students start the school year at the same achievement level, the student the teacher is told is a high achiever will make more gains than the student the teacher believes is [...]... Read more »
Sorhagen, N. (2013) Early teacher expectations disproportionately affect poor children's high school performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(2), 465-477. DOI: 10.1037/a0031754
- May 5, 2013
- 01:42 PM
- 64 views
How Does Political Ideology Influence Views On Accountability?
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Accountability is all the rage these days, whether it’s with regard to schools, hospitals, government agencies, or the local Geico car insurance branch. But not all accountability is the same, and a thought-provoking new study led by Penn’s Philip Tetlock examines how political ideology and trust can influence support for various accountability systems. The study [...]... Read more »
Tetlock, P., Vieider, F., Patil, S., & Grant, A. (2013) Accountability and ideology: When left looks right and right looks left. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 122(1), 22-35. DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.03.007
- April 29, 2013
- 01:51 AM
- 55 views
School Choice Is Associated With More Student Engagement
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
One thing I harp on a fair amount is that it’s a shame the concept of school choice has been bound to divisive rhetoric about competition and free markets. Every student is different, and therefore the presence of more choices always makes it more likely that a student will find a school that meshes with [...]... Read more »
Vaughn, M., & Witko, C. (2013) Does the amount of school choice matter for student engagement?. The Social Science Journal, 50(1), 23-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.soscij.2012.07.004
- April 25, 2013
- 12:11 AM
- 120 views
How Knowledge Can Make You Stupid
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
The human ability to infer what other people are thinking is a big reason we’re able to understand and cooperate with others. Along with the ability to take pictures of our food, it’s what separates us from lesser primates. But we’re not born with this ability. Experiments involving what’s called the “change-of-location” or “false-belief” task show [...]... Read more »
Sommerville, J., Bernstein, D., & Meltzoff, A. (2013) Measuring Beliefs in Centimeters: Private Knowledge Biases Preschoolers' and Adults' Representation of Others' Beliefs. Child Development. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12110
- April 21, 2013
- 11:19 AM
- 86 views
Heroism Is Our Default Setting
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
One of the oft-cited takeaways from the past week is that people are basically awesome. In the midst of unpredictable danger and tragedy, residents (and guests) of the Boston area didn’t hesitate to help their fellow citizens. But what’s troubling about these realizations of human goodness is that they suggest an a priori doubt about [...]... Read more »
Fischer, P., Krueger, J., Greitemeyer, T., Vogrincic, C., Kastenmüller, A., Frey, D., Heene, M., Wicher, M., & Kainbacher, M. (2011) The bystander-effect: A meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies. Psychological Bulletin, 137(4), 517-537. DOI: 10.1037/a0023304
Greitemeyer, T., & Mügge, D. (2013) Rational bystanders. British Journal of Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12036
- April 19, 2013
- 12:23 AM
- 82 views
Was the Push For an Assault Weapons Ban a Bad Idea? Digging into the “Door In the Face” Technique
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
The Senate’s sad failure to pass any kind of gun control legislation has led to the rehashing of what can now be deemed failed political tactics. Much of the focus has been on the decision of gun control advocates to initially pursue an assault weapons ban: Congressional consideration was also delayed by gun control proponents’ [...]... Read more »
Cialdini, R., & et al, . (1975) Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: The door-in-the-face technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(2), 206-215. DOI: 10.1037/h0076284
Feeley, T., Anker, A., & Aloe, A. (2012) The Door-in-the-Face Persuasive Message Strategy: A Meta-Analysis of the First 35 Years. Communication Monographs, 79(3), 316-343. DOI: 10.1080/03637751.2012.697631
- April 17, 2013
- 12:45 AM
- 85 views
Why You Should Always Confront Prejudice
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
What goes through your mind when somebody makes a racist or sexist remark? Perhaps you feel a strong desire to expose their morally bankrupt worldview through an artful recitation of contemporary philosophy and social science research. Perhaps the potential awkwardness of scolding an acquaintance leads you to avoid confrontation. Whatever you’ve done in the past, [...]... Read more »
Rasinski, H., Geers, A., & Czopp, A. (2013) "I Guess What He Said Wasn't That Bad": Dissonance in Nonconfronting Targets of Prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. DOI: 10.1177/0146167213484769
- April 14, 2013
- 03:11 PM
- 80 views
How Pharmaceutical Ads Distort Healthcare Markets
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
It probably doesn’t strike you as strange to see advertisements for prescription drugs. By now, everybody know that you should “talk to your doctor about Levitra” while “doing more with Lipitor” and getting “Claritin clear.” But if you think about it, it’s strange for an actor being paid by a pharmaceutical company to tell you [...]... Read more »
Lewin, B. (2013) Patient satisfaction with physician responses during interactions prompted by pharmaceutical advertisements. The Social Science Journal. DOI: 10.1016/j.soscij.2013.03.002
- April 11, 2013
- 09:20 AM
- 103 views
Bad Grades Lead to College Dropout Even When They Don’t Have To
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
An important new working paper (NBER, pdf) from Todd and Ralph Stinebrickner helps pinpoint an overlooked cause of college dropout. They were interested in the non-financial reasons for dropout, particularly the role played by grades. The longitudinal survey data they collected was uniquely suited to this question because it came from Barea College, a small [...]... Read more »
Stinebrickner, T., & Stinebrickner, P. (2013) Academic Performance and College Dropout: Using Longitudinal Expectations Data to Estimate a Learning Model. NBER Working Papers. DOI: 10.3386/w18945
- April 8, 2013
- 01:44 AM
- 112 views
Insurance Is a Criminal’s Best Friend
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Most residents of developed Western nations assume their justice systems are relatively infallible. Going through life without constantly worrying about whether people are capable of upholding a certain standard of objectivity and fairness is easier than the alternative. But with human decisions come human biases, even in situations that demand objectivity. For example, crimes involving [...]... Read more »
van de Calseyde, P.P., Keren, G., & Zeelenberg, M. (2013) The insured victim effect: When and why compensating harm decreases punishment recommendations. Judgment and Decision Making. info:/
- April 1, 2013
- 12:51 AM
- 134 views
Loss Frames Are Sticky, And Other Keys to Fox News Success
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Words matter, particularly when it comes to the difference between framing something as a loss or as a gain. Tversky & Kahneman demonstrated the importance of this distinction with their famous experiment (pdf) in which participants are told a disease is likely to kill 600 people. Given a choice between a treatment that saves 200 people (gain frame) and [...]... Read more »
Ledgerwood, A., & Boydstun, A. (2013) Sticky Prospects: Loss Frames Are Cognitively Stickier Than Gain Frames. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. DOI: 10.1037/a0032310
- March 25, 2013
- 12:53 PM
- 134 views
Are Savings More Important Than Income For Poor College Students?
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Noah Smith has a good piece in the Atlantic about ways low-income families can save more money. Because the article focuses on solutions, Smith mostly pays lip service to the benefits of increased savings, but if you have any doubts, a new paper by Vernon Loke illustrates the crucial role that savings can play in a [...]... Read more »
Loke, V. (2013) Parental asset accumulation trajectories and children's college outcomes. Economics of Education Review, 124-133. DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2012.12.002
- March 19, 2013
- 12:52 AM
- 141 views
The Closet Is Real, and It’s Bad
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Not that we need science to convince people that concealing key aspects of your identity can be unhealthy, but some important new research led by Harvard’s Alexandra Sedlovskaya helps clarify the psychological consequences of constantly concealing part of who you are. In the study’s initial set of experiments participants who concealed stigmatized identities (usually gay men) were [...]... Read more »
Sedlovskaya, A., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Eibach, R., LaFrance, M., Romero-Canyas, R., & Camp, N. (2013) Internalizing the Closet: Concealment Heightens the Cognitive Distinction Between Public and Private Selves. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/a0031179
- March 16, 2013
- 11:45 AM
- 146 views
Are Imaginary Social Norms Increasing School Violence?
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Part of the price we pay for living in a civilized society is that our daily decisions are subject to the influence of social norms. These beliefs about social acceptability not only keep middle-aged men from dressing like Justin Beiber, they can influence behaviors that affect a person’s health, academic performance, or likelihood of voting. [...]... Read more »
Henry, D., Dymnicki, A., Schoeny, M., Meyer, A., Martin, N., & , . (2013) Middle school students overestimate normative support for aggression and underestimate normative support for nonviolent problem-solving strategies. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(2), 433-445. DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2013.01027.x
- March 15, 2013
- 09:16 AM
- 145 views
If Only We Could Harness the Ingenuity Used to Justify Bad Behavior
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
One of the mind’s niftier tricks is finding loopholes in the rules it has created to keep us from engaging in bad behavior. The most interesting of these loopholes may be moral- or self- licensing — the process by which doing something good make it acceptable for you to do something bad. Recently psychologists have [...]... Read more »
Effron, D., Monin, B., & Miller, D. (2013) The unhealthy road not taken: Licensing indulgence by exaggerating counterfactual sins. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(3), 573-578. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2012.08.012
- March 11, 2013
- 10:11 AM
- 402 views
Where Does Culture Shock Come From?
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Culture is a powerful thing. It not only affects how much time you spend at work, how you treat others around you, and how much beer you consume before the age of 20, it can also influence the emotions you experience on a day-to-day basis. The simple story of how culture influences emotions is that [...]... Read more »
Boiger, M., Mesquita, B., Uchida, Y., & Feldman Barrett, L. (2013) Condoned or Condemned: The Situational Affordance of Anger and Shame in the United States and Japan. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. DOI: 10.1177/0146167213478201
- March 4, 2013
- 08:22 AM
- 189 views
Being Competitive Can Make You a Jerk
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Parents who have multiple children often settle on an important rule for giving gifts: When it comes to non-requested gifts (i.e. souvenirs from a trip, but not a birthday present), every child gets the same thing. The goal is to avoid a situation where one child decides they want the red t-shirt rather than the blue or [...]... Read more »
Zitek, E., & Monin, B. (2013) “That's the one I wanted”: when do competitors copy their opponents' choices?. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(2), 293-305. DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2012.00999.x
- March 3, 2013
- 12:55 PM
- 188 views
Why Are People Bad at Evaluating Risks?
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Using evidence or data to communicate risk to the American public can be a fool’s errand. The most publicized “la, la, la, I can’t hear you!” moments involve people ignoring dangers that threaten ideology or political beliefs. Others may choose to ignore risks because immediate short-term pleasures are too alluring. [...]... Read more »
Bilgin, B., & Brenner, L. (2013) Context affects the interpretation of low but not high numerical probabilities: A hypothesis testing account of subjective probability. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 121(1), 118-128. DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.01.004
Simone CB 2nd, Hampshire MK, Vachani C, & Metz JM. (2012) The utilization of oncology web-based resources in Spanish-speaking Internet users. American journal of clinical oncology, 35(6), 520-6. PMID: 21654312
Teigen, K., Juanchich, M., & Riege, A. (2013) Improbable outcomes: Infrequent or extraordinary?. Cognition, 127(1), 119-139. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.12.005
- March 1, 2013
- 01:20 AM
- 157 views
Who Should Political Parties Send to the Negotiating Table?
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
Every time a Superdupercommittee is put together to hash out a grand bargain analysis erupts over what each appointee means for the prospect of compromise. Politico sends a whole team to dissect social security votes from two decades ago in an effort to determine if a Congressman is there just to sabotage the negotiations. Meanwhile, psychologists [...]... Read more »
Van Kleef, G., Steinel, W., & Homan, A. (2013) On being peripheral and paying attention: Prototypicality and information processing in intergroup conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(1), 63-79. DOI: 10.1037/a0030988
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