You know August is really over when the new Personality And Social Psychology Bulletin lands in the feed reader. It's the only scholarly journal I see where I regularly want to read everything, no matter how dense the writing is. (And it's dense.) Samples from the October issue, with my abstracts of the authors' abstracts:
- I'm Hot, So I'd Say You're Not: The Influence of Objective Physical Attractiveness on Mate Selection, R. Matthew Montoya of the University of North Carolina: The more attractive you are, the less attractive you think other people are and the more you expect you'll get a date if you ask. We already know that beauty makes a difference in the courtroom; think about this study as you're deciding whether to strike that great-looking juror.
- Bringing Automatic Stereotyping Under Control: Implementation Intentions as Efficient Means of Thought Control, Brandon D. Stewart of the University of Queensland B. Keith Payne of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: Subjects who "made an intention to think specific counterstereotypical thoughts whenever they encountered a black individual" in fact did reduce not only conscious stereotyping but "automatic" stereotyping as well. Add it to a growing list of studies suggesting it might be possible to challenge jurors to find their own openness and compassion.
- Insurance, Risk, and Magical Thinking, Orit E. Tykocinski of the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya: Deep down, we believe that buying insurance policies protects us from harm. That causation issue in your next trial may not be as simple as you think it is.
- Paying for Someone Else's Mistake: The Effect of Bystander Negligence on Perpetrator Blame, Clayton R. Critcher and David A. Pizarro of Cornell University: When a bystander's negligence helps make a crime possible, we actually think that makes the criminal more culpable, not less. Criminal defense lawyers, nobody said it would be easy.
- Narcissism and Social Networking Web Sites, by Laura E. Buffardi and W. Keith Campbell of the University of Georgia: Heavy users of social networking sites like Facebook are more narcissistic and more self-promoting than the rest of the world. You're asking jurors whether they're on line, aren't you?
Those are only the first five of the ten articles, so check out the issue.
