Social Science posts
- January 28, 2013
- 05:37 PM
- 220 views
Everybody is talking about this. What's your opinion?
by Eugenio Maria Battaglia in Science to Grok
Science is at a turning point. Decisions has been normally emerged from traditional scientific praxis and a general consent, without a real discussion on it. This worked so far, but nowadays we are facing huge paradigm shifts.
Scientific Blogs and social networking are well spread in the Internet community, and this fact is having a huge impact on the trends of scientific research.
Big Data, ITs and "omic-like" projects are some of the aspects that are speeding our world faster tha........ Read more »
Kobro-Flatmoen, A., Langdon, G., Wright, C., Block, J., Gilarranz, L., Lever, J., Rohr, R., Fortuna, M., Kamfonik, D., Grahl, J.... (2012) NextGenVoices -- Results. Science, 335(6064), 36-38. DOI: 10.1126/science.335.6064.36
Van Noorden, R. (2013) Mathematicians aim to take publishers out of publishing. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature.2013.12243
- January 28, 2013
- 04:51 PM
- 198 views
Gain Cognitive Flexibility By Seeking Experiences that Test Your Morals
by Louise Rasmussen in Head Smart
A family eats their dog after it has been run over by a car. Is this behavior right or wrong? Our lives are filled with moral questions.... Read more »
Endicott, L., Bock, T., & Narvaez, D. (2003) Moral reasoning, intercultural development, and multicultural experiences: relations and cognitive underpinnings. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27(4), 403-419. DOI: 10.1016/S0147-1767(03)00030-0
- January 28, 2013
- 08:36 AM
- 159 views
Can monkeys spontaneously synchronize to audio?
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
Today a new study appeared in Nature Scientific Reports claiming to show rhythmic entrainment (or spontaneous synchronization as the authors refer to it) in the Japanese macaque (Macaca Fuscata). Intriguing! However, reading the paper it becomes clear quickly that the results might not be what they seemed at first sight. ... Read more »
Nagasaka, Y., Chao, Z., Hasegawa, N., Notoya, T., & Fujii, N. (2013) Spontaneous synchronization of arm motion between Japanese macaques. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/srep01151
Honing, H., Merchant, H., Háden, G., Prado, L., & Bartolo, R. (2012) Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta) Detect Rhythmic Groups in Music, but Not the Beat. PLoS ONE, 7(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051369
- January 27, 2013
- 06:25 PM
- 104 views
When coping is not enough
by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?
Hi Julie,Snapshot from Project: Play with your Dog's 'Wall of Contributors'I’m so pleased to hear that Project: Play with Your Dog is going well. I’ve enjoyed watching the wall of contributors grow and it’s awesome that The Bark featured the research project – but then, why wouldn't they? It’s a fantastic project!As you mentioned, I’ve been keeping busy getting organised for my presentation at next month’s RSPCA Australia Scientific Seminar. This event is held annual........ Read more »
Yeates James. (2011) Is 'a life worth living' a concept worth having?. Animal Welfare, 20(3), 397-406. info:other/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ufaw/aw/2011/00000020/00000003/art00009
Yeates James. (2012) Quality Time: Temporal and Other Aspects of Ethical Principles Based on a “Life Worth Living”. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 25(4), 607-624. DOI: 10.1007/s10806-011-9317-3
- January 27, 2013
- 11:30 AM
- 180 views
Happier Children Earn Higher Wages When They Become Adults
by Jalees Rehman in Fragments of Truth
The researchers Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and Andrew Oswald decided to study the link between happiness and income from a very different angle. Instead of asking whether more money leads to more happiness, they reversed the question and asked whether more happiness leads to more money. In the paper “Estimating the influence of life satisfaction and positive affect on later income using sibling fixed effects” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, De Neve and Osw........ Read more »
De Neve JE, & Oswald AJ. (2012) Estimating the influence of life satisfaction and positive affect on later income using sibling fixed effects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(49), 19953-8. PMID: 23169627
- January 26, 2013
- 09:42 AM
- 292 views
Plato, Aristotle, and the Purpose of Politics
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
Reviewed by Jill Frank, University of South Carolina, Columbia
The scholarly norm treats as a mere passing reference Aristotle’s gestures to Plato’s Statesman near the beginning of the Politics. Kevin Cherry’s book, however, stages an extended conversation between Aristotle and the Statesman‘s Eleatic Stranger.... Read more »
Kevin M. Cherry, & Reviewed by Jill Frank. (2013) Plato, Aristotle, and the Purpose of Politics. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. info:/
- January 24, 2013
- 05:00 PM
- 79 views
Shamburgers
by Philip Tunstall in Wild Lab
This week’s discussion was about the exciting possibilities of lab grown meat. With current meat production creating more carbon than the transport industry, and the increasing world population harbouring a growing appetite for meat, the race is on to produce a convincing mimic. It could save the world.... Read more »
Post, M. (2012) Cultured meat from stem cells: Challenges and prospects. Meat Science, 92(3), 297-301. DOI: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2012.04.008
Tuomisto, H., & Teixeira de Mattos, M. (2011) Environmental Impacts of Cultured Meat Production. Environmental Science , 45(14), 6117-6123. DOI: 10.1021/es200130u
- January 23, 2013
- 03:16 PM
- 81 views
Motivation of Eternal Strugglers – Stories of Rubén Castro, Sitanshu Kotak and many others
by Kandarp Mehta in Creatologue - Exploring Creativity
At some point during the year 2013, Rubén Castro, a striker who plays for the Sevilla based football club Real Betis, is likely to get a call to represent Spain in an international football game. I heard this on a … Continue reading →... Read more »
Amabile, T. (1985) Motivation and creativity: Effects of motivational orientation on creative writers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(2), 393-397. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.48.2.393
- January 23, 2013
- 02:28 PM
- 186 views
The Real Catfish of Lake Tanganyika
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
Photo of Manti Te'o by Shotgun Spratling and Neon Tommy at WikimediaPoor Manti Te’o may just be the most gullible schlub on the planet. For those of you that haven’t heard the story, the Notre Dame linebacker and runner-up for the 2012 Heisman Trophy led his team to the BCS National Championship Game, despite (or perhaps inspired by) the tremendous personal losses he has suffered this season. Last September, Te’o learned first of the death of his grandmother, and then within hours learned ........ Read more »
Wright, J. (2011) CONSERVATIVE COEVOLUTION OF MÜLLERIAN MIMICRY IN A GROUP OF RIFT LAKE CATFISH. Evolution, 65(2), 395-407. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01149.x
- January 22, 2013
- 10:51 PM
- 188 views
More Self-Control shows More Efficient Brain
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Researchers have found that people with more self control have more efficient brain.
This research has been published online in the journal Nature Communications.
Although the research is not clearly showing that whether efficient brains could result in more self control but the results are showing clearly that more self-control results in more willpower, according to the research author Marc Berman, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Toronto's Rotman Research Institute a........ Read more »
Berman, M., Yourganov, G., Askren, M., Ayduk, O., Casey, B., Gotlib, I., Kross, E., McIntosh, A., Strother, S., Wilson, N.... (2013) Dimensionality of brain networks linked to life-long individual differences in self-control. Nature Communications, 1373. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2374
- January 22, 2013
- 07:41 PM
- 136 views
Cell phones track human migration
by Jes in Biogeography Bits
Here’s a question every scientist at some point asks themselves: does this data that I can easily and (relatively) inexpensively collect reasonably approximate the data that I would collect in an ideal world where I had bucket loads of money and an infinite amount of time? It may not be apparent from science news coverage, but a lot of science involves routinely checking that the methods we are... Read more »
Wesolowski, A., Buckee, C., Pindolia, D., Eagle, N., Smith, D., Garcia, A., & Tatem, A. (2013) The Use of Census Migration Data to Approximate Human Movement Patterns across Temporal Scales. PLoS ONE, 8(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052971
- January 21, 2013
- 02:07 PM
- 210 views
In Our Partners' Heights, We Get What We Want
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
If you ask most heterosexual people what height they're looking for in a partner, they'll describe basically what a children's-book illustrator would draw: the man taller than the woman but not towering over her. But those of us who aren't pen-and-paper must settle for real human partners in human shapes and sizes. Nevertheless, new research says most people end up with a reality that matches the fantasy.
Researchers led by Gert Stulp of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands wondere........ Read more »
Stulp, G., Buunk, A., Pollet, T., Nettle, D., & Verhulst, S. (2013) Are Human Mating Preferences with Respect to Height Reflected in Actual Pairings?. PLoS ONE, 8(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054186
- January 21, 2013
- 11:23 AM
- 193 views
Can the origins of music be studied at all?
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
What was the role of music in the evolutionary history of human beings? And is it possible at all, you might wonder, to empirically study this, given the fact that neither music nor musicality fossilises? So, better forget about it? ... Read more »
Bolhuis, J., & Wynne, C. (2009) Can evolution explain how minds work?. Nature, 458(7240), 832-833. DOI: 10.1038/458832a
Honing, H., & Ploeger, A. (2012) Cognition and the Evolution of Music: Pitfalls and Prospects. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4(4), 513-524. DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01210.x
de Waal, F., & Ferrari, P. (2010) Towards a bottom-up perspective on animal and human cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(5), 201-207. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.03.003
- January 18, 2013
- 09:47 AM
- 151 views
On "Join Papester Collective 1.0: How to reply to #icanhazpdf in 3 seconds"
by Eugenio Maria Battaglia in Science to Grok
I'm totally supporting this potential system theorized some days ago by Micah Allen and his friend Hauke on Allen's Neuroconscience blog . They discuss a quick and reliable strategy to share papers behind a paywall.
The proposed system is really easy and accessible by everyone, since it uses particular twitter's #hashtags for query and response.
I strongly believe that what started after Aaron Swartz's dead with #pdftribute, and continued with #sharecredentials (unfortunate........ Read more »
Cook, J., & Attari, S. (2012) Paying for What Was Free: Lessons from the Paywall . Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(12), 682-687. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2012.0251
- January 17, 2013
- 05:31 PM
- 177 views
A golden age of multiculturalism
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
Last week I had the privilege of attending, virtually, a seminar devoted to “Mobilities, Language Practices and Identities” organized by the CIEN Group at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The seminar brought together a small number of international scholars working … Continue reading →... Read more »
Nercissians, E. (2001) Bilingualism and diglossia: patterns of language use by ethnic minorities in Tehran. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2001(148). DOI: 10.1515/ijsl.2001.014
- January 17, 2013
- 01:23 PM
- 87 views
Just because it’s “moral” doesn’t mean it’s “right.”
by Melanie Tannenbaum in PsySociety
“I don’t always think about morality…but when I do, I think Dick Cheney.” Thus opened Peter Ditto’s talk at the SPSP Political Psychology pre-conference, greeted with a laugh from a largely-left-leaning audience. Yet as Ditto continued speaking, it became clear … Continue reading →... Read more »
Liu, B., & Ditto, P. (2012) What Dilemma? Moral Evaluation Shapes Factual Belief. SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2071478
- January 17, 2013
- 10:39 AM
- 230 views
Engineering students are less empathetic than Caring-profession students
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Researchers have found that engineering students are usually less empathetic than students in some caring professions.
This research has been published online in European Journal of Engineering Education.
Empathy refers to the ability of understanding the other person’s feelings or difficulties. According to Chato Rasoal, a researcher in psychology, empathy can have cognitive – ability to see things from others’ viewpoint – as well as emotional aspects – carin........ Read more »
Rasoal, C., Danielsson, H., & Jungert, T. (2012) Empathy among students in engineering programmes. European Journal of Engineering Education, 37(5), 427-435. DOI: 10.1080/03043797.2012.708720
- January 16, 2013
- 11:03 AM
- 154 views
Eric and the traveling plants
by Jes in Biogeography Bits
A little over 1000 years ago Eric the Red sailed around the southern tip of Greenland to set up the first successful European settlement in Greenland. But it wasn’t just people and farm animals that joined Eric in his exile- seeds of several weedy plants likely stowed away on sheep fur and hay to become their species’ first representatives on the western coast of Greenland.... Read more »
J. Edward Schofield, Kevin J. Edwards, Egill Erlendsson, & Paul M. Ledger. (2012) Palynology supports 'Old Norse' introductions to the flora of Greenland. Journal of Biogeography. info:/10.1111/jbi.12067
- January 15, 2013
- 04:21 AM
- 159 views
Alternative Music Taste in Teens Predicts Criminal Behavior
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
Did you listen to alternative music when you were twelve years old? And did you get rebellious during puberty? There’s a good chance you have the same answer to both questions. Early music taste predicts later criminal behavior, Dutch researchers discovered.... Read more »
Tom F.M. ter Bogt, Loes Keijsers and Wim H.J. Meeus. (2013) Early Adolescent Music Preferences and Minor Delinquency. PEDIATRICS . info:/
- January 14, 2013
- 11:58 PM
- 189 views
One-child policy in China developed a less competitive and less trusting generation
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Researchers have found that One Child Policy (OCP) in China has developed a generation that is less trusting, less competitive and perhaps less likely to become entrepreneurs.
This research has been published online in the journal Science.
Population control policy, OCP, was introduced in 1979 and has been strictly followed especially in urban centers.
Researchers in this study worked on 421 individuals and compared the Chinese individuals born before the policy with those after the........ Read more »
Cameron, L., Erkal, N., Gangadharan, L., & Meng, X. (2013) Little Emperors: Behavioral Impacts of China's One-Child Policy. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1230221
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