Social Benefits of Laughter – Going Beyond Humour

Laughter is an everyday reminder that we humans are animals. In fact, when recorded laughter is slowed down, listeners can’t tell whether the sound is from a person or an animal. We throw our heads back and bare our teeth in a monkeylike grin. Sometimes we double over and lose our ability to speak for…

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Honest Behaviour Encompasses Relational and Intellectual Elements

Credit: Tony Alter CC-BY

Most people value honesty while also admitting that it is sometimes advantageous to be dishonest. Because of this tension, people engage in behaviours that push the boundaries of honesty, such as strategically avoiding information, dodging questions, and making misleading statements. A new paper proposes a framework emphasizing how honest behaviour entails far more than the…

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Feeling Obligated Can Impact Relationships During Social Distancing

In a time where many are practicing “social distancing” from the outside world, people are relying on their immediate social circles more than usual. Does a sense of obligation — from checking on parents to running an errand for an elderly neighbor — benefit or harm a relationship? A Michigan State University study found the…

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How Positions Of Power Inflate Narcissism

Endowing people with social power inflates the socially-toxic components of narcissism called exploitation and entitlement, according to new research. Until now, the assumption was that narcissists tended to clinch powerful positions for themselves. However, recent research suggests that power itself may create narcissists. “Narcissists can feel a sense of entitlement — they expect and demand…

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Why Getting Revenge Is A Mixed Bag Of Feelings

Despite the cliche that “revenge is sweet,” years of experimental research have suggested otherwise. Now, new research adds another twist, showing that our love-hate relationship with this dark desire is indeed a mixed bag, making us feel both good and bad, for reasons we might not expect. Fade Eadeh, a doctoral student in psychological and…

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Sense of Agency Changes Under Coercion

In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram famously conducted experiments in a Yale University basement showing that people will apparently inflict pain on another person simply because someone in a position of authority told them to. Now, researchers have taken those classic experiments one step further, providing new evidence that might help to explain why people…

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Does Peer Excellence Recognition Undermine Student Performance?

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From academic honors to “employee of the month” awards, we are regularly exposed to and made aware of the exemplary performance of others. Many believe such recognition not only acknowledges the individual but also motivates others to strive toward greater achievement. But new research suggests that exposure to exceptional performance can sometimes have the opposite…

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