Ryan McKay, Royal Holloway University of London and Colin Davis, University of Bristol
New research shows distrust of atheists is pervasive. This could affect the credibility of witnesses.
While compelling, personal anecdotes of what helped people quit smoking suffer from self-selection bias. We don’t hear from people who didn’t succeed.
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Reports of facts’ death have been greatly exaggerated. Effective communication jettisons the false dilemma in favor of a more holistic view of how people take in new information on contentious topics.
Social media allow us to feel closer to tragedies on the other side of the world.
Nigel Roddis/EPA/AAP
We know negative news has an impact on our mental health, especially if we are constantly being exposed to it. Twitter is trying to help young people cope with the stress, which is a good start.
Teach For America teacher Sergio Santiago looks over an assignment with a student.
pennstatenews/flickr
Crime data reflect only what crimes are identified by the police – not all the crimes that occur. So decisions based on crime data are necessarily biased and incompletely informed.
When a player’s on fire, is it hot hands?
Basketball image via www.shutterstock.com.
For 30 years, sports fans have been told to forget about streaks because the ‘hot hand’ is a fallacy. But a reanalysis says not so fast: Statistics show players really are in the zone sometimes.
Good luck getting a job if you don’t share the same characteristics as the person hiring you.
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There are many instances where underrepresented groups may be unwittingly discriminated against in recruitment due to affinity bias.
Stories in the media are often the first or even the only way that people hear about science and medical news. So we need to get the reporting right.
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Health reporting requires asking the right questions and doing quality research. But specialist skills are also handy, especially when it comes to knowing the language and processes of science.
Does gold go to the best snowboarders or the ones with the best place in the order?
AP Photo/Morry Gash
Whether it’s items in a shop, potential speed-dating matches or athletes competing one after another, the order in which they’re presented affects our judgments.
Still waiting?
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Cab drivers have long discriminated against African-Americans and other minority groups. New research suggests ride-hailing apps haven’t solved the problem.
Old books know best.
Old books via www.shutterstock.com
Khatera Sahibzada, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Many managers say they’re uncomfortable giving negative feedback, yet employees tend to consider it helpful to improving importance. Research – and a 13th-century saying – offers some tips.
NASA has a long history of conducting climate science. Here, a NASA camera captures a storm over South Australia.
NASA
One of Donald Trump’s senior advisers has recommended cutting NASA climate research because the science has become “heavily politicised”. The question is: by whom?
Like wearing psychological blinders.
Horse image via www.shutterstock.com.
It’s human nature to notice or search out information that supports what you already believe and discount or avoid data to the contrary. The problem comes in when you don’t recognize this bias is in play.
Outside the courthouse in Charleston, South Carolina.
Grace Beahm/The Post and Courier via AP
Two major trials in the killings of black victims in South Carolina start this week. Learn about the state’s past and present struggle with racial violence in this roundup.
Who succeeds will depend not on intentions alone.
Gettysburg College
Two researchers set out to find out why some people might be better at achieving goals than others. The answer, they found, could lie in implicit beliefs.
The audience listens to the third presidential debate, Oct. 19, 2016.
AP Photo/John Locher
Ian Anson, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
New research shows that ideological media employ a powerful method to bias partisans’ economic beliefs. In turn, partisans perform mental gymnastics worthy of Simone Biles to preserve those biases.
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes stepped down amid sexual harassment allegations.
Fred Prouser/Reuters