Intergroup Contact Theory: Past, Present, and Future
keywords:
discrimination / intergroup contact hypothesis / prejudice
Intergroup Contact Theory: Past, Present, and Future
In the midst of racial segregation in the U.S.A and the ‘Jim Crow Laws’, Gordon Allport (1954) proposed one of the most important social psychological events of the 20th century, suggesting that contact between members of different groups (under certain conditions) can work to reduce prejudice and intergroup conflict. Indeed, the idea that contact between members of different groups can help to reduce prejudice... / more
Are we all jerks? Why nobody helps when surrounded by others
keywords:
bystander effect / diffusion of responsibility / interventions
Are we all jerks? Why nobody helps when surrounded by others
People are not likely to help when faced with an emergency. Are they all heartless or is something else going on? Science reveals that we can explain this lack of helping behavior by the Bystander effect and that there are ways to decrease this effect. It was a busy Monday night in Café Moto in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Cars were passing by and more guests entered the restaurant. The restaurant seats 35... / more
House, M.D. and the science of psychogenic illness
keywords:
psychogenic illness / science
House, M.D. and the science of psychogenic illness
In an episode of House, M.D. (“Airborne”) an illness spreads among passengers on a commercial airplane via ostensibly non-biological means, creating a mini-epidemic with purely psychological origins. Could something like this happen in real life? Does the mere conviction that one is becoming physically sick increase one’s chances of contracting genuine symptoms of illness? This article explores this issue and in the process evaluates the realism of the plot from “Airborne.” / more
Your mother, metaphors, and other monkey business: How experiences of physical warmth shape how we think about relationships
keywords:
embodiment / social cognition / conceptual metaphors / loneliness
Your mother, metaphors, and other monkey business: How experiences of physical warmth shape how we think about relationships
Peter was a student in his early twenties, and apart from several inconsequential trysts, had spent most of his life alone and indifferent to the world of love and romance. He had, in fact, become so accustomed to this lifestyle that he assumed this would be his fate, and had made peace with the prospects of a cold and lonely existence. This assumption was proven wrong when Peter met Gwen, a girl Peter had chanced to meet in one of... / more