Chinwag Psych Reading Round Up: Nudge Unit Failure, Live Brain Surgery and Young Materialism

Chinwag Psych was a huge success yesterday. We have our picks of recent revelatory reading just to keep the mind tintilated...
Handwritten revelations of the mind?
The controversial practice of graphology - deducing personality from handwriting - is still making headlines. Bad news for those of us from the 'chicken scratch' school of penmanship.
Many people, it appears, value the 'information' they can glean from a handwritten job application. Judgements can be made about the character of a person from the way that they write, let alone what they are writing. Would you pass the test? 
Find out more in Discovery News
Is advertising pushing youth materialism?
Over on Red Orbit, an intriguing article looks at a study by San Diego State University asking if teenagers are more materialistic and less likely to want to work to earn money, or if that is just the perception of an older generation.
Advertising could be driving teenagers to want more and work less. Understanding generational trends can mean the difference between a well placed campaign or a failed attempt - and so taking a look at what’s on the mind of a teenager might be less gross and more useful than you might initially think.
Read more here
Vorsprung durch technik? 
If you’re following business trends then you can’t help but notice how important machine learning is to big online companies. 
Amazon is naturally all over this, and is planning the development of a centre for cloud technologies in Dresden and Berlin. 
According to GigaOm, around 70 engineers will be hired to work on tech for management systems and operating systems as well as machine learning to be used across its businesses. 
Read more here
It’s only brain surgery...
Fancy watching a little live brain surgery? Hey, who doesn’t, right? There is an opportunity for those with a strong stomach to watch a live webcast of a minimally invasive brain aneurysm repair on May 23.
For the insatiably curious, it’s a chance to literally see what is going on inside a person’s head. 
Read more here
A healthy dose of neuro skepticism
It’s easy to be blinded by science, but critical thinking is also important when what you read may not have been interpreted correctly. 
Check out this interview in Forbes with neurologist and writer Robert Burton who has brought out a book that questions what neuroscience can and cannot do. Worthwhile reading for all of us and a good idea to help us take a closer look at the information that is presented to use because it’s ‘scientific’. 
Read more here
The nudge that failed
If you’re interested in behavioural psychology and economics then you will understand the term ‘nudge’ -  that is, using positive reinforcement and subtle suggestions to get a person to do something. 
But what if the information that nudge is based on is not quite right? 
The Guardian reports that the ‘nudge unit’ in the UK created by David Cameron has been accused by the VIA Institute in the US of bad practice after using the institute’s personality tests to pilot experiments despite being refused permission.
The problem is that the questionnaires used in the experiments were not validated scientifically and the results are pretty disturbing. 
Read more here

Chinwag Psych was a huge success last week. We have our picks of recent revelatory reading just to keep the mind tintilated...

Handwritten revelations of the mind?

The controversial practice of graphology - deducing personality from handwriting - is still making headlines. Bad news for those of us from the 'chicken scratch' school of penmanship. 

Many people, it appears, value the 'information' they can glean from a handwritten job application. Judgements can be made about the character of a person from the way that they write, let alone what they are writing. Would you pass the test?

Find out more in Discovery News

Is advertising pushing youth materialism?

Over on Red Orbit, an intriguing article looks at a study by San Diego State University asking if teenagers are more materialistic and less likely to want to work to earn money, or if that is just the perception of an older generation.

Advertising could be driving teenagers to want more and work less. Understanding generational trends can mean the difference between a well placed campaign or a failed attempt - and so taking a look at what’s on the mind of a teenager might be less gross and more useful than you might initially think.

Read more here

Vorsprung durch technik?

If you’re following business trends then you can’t help but notice how important machine learning is to big online companies.

Amazon is naturally all over this, and is planning the development of a centre for cloud technologies in Dresden and Berlin.

According to GigaOm, around 70 engineers will be hired to work on tech for management systems and operating systems as well as machine learning to be used across its businesses.

Read more here

It’s only brain surgery...

Fancy watching a little live brain surgery? Hey, who doesn’t, right? There is an opportunity for those with a strong stomach to watch a live webcast of a minimally invasive brain aneurysm repair on May 23.

For the insatiably curious, it’s a chance to literally see what is going on inside a person’s head.

Read more here

A healthy dose of neuro skepticism

It’s easy to be blinded by science, but critical thinking is also important when what you read may not have been interpreted correctly.

Check out this interview in Forbes with neurologist and writer Robert Burton who has brought out a book that questions what neuroscience can and cannot do. Worthwhile reading for all of us and a good idea to help us take a closer look at the information that is presented to use because it’s ‘scientific’.

Read more here

The nudge that failed

If you’re interested in behavioural psychology and economics then you will understand the term ‘nudge’ - that is, using positive reinforcement and subtle suggestions to get a person to do something.

But what if the information that nudge is based on is not quite right?

The Guardian reports that the ‘nudge unit’ in the UK created by David Cameron has been accused by the VIA Institute in the US of bad practice after using the institute’s personality tests to pilot experiments despite being refused permission.

The problem is that the questionnaires used in the experiments were not validated scientifically and the results are pretty disturbing.

Read more here

Photo (cc) cgalvez777

17 May 2013 by Chinwag Team
Chinwag Team

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