Neuro News Nanos

Image by pedrosimoes7 via Flickr

Here are this morning’s:

* Free will and ethics — students who had read the anti-free will quote were significantly more likely to cheat on the mental arithmetic test — a “disbelief in free will” could increase aggression and reduce prosocial behavior

* Testosterone vs. belief — Subjects who believed they were receiving a dose of testosterone, whether they actually did or not, acted the part — a fair amount of evidence has surfaced that testosterone is a key ingredient in social relations, not by increasing, but by decreasing conflict

* Racist, even on mute — body language and facial expressions are enough to convey more negative attitudes towards black characters compared to white ones — a series of clips taken from episodes of 11 popular shows, including CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes and House

* Disrespectful robots — designing robots’ personalities for their environments — default settings were interpreted as demanding and attention-seeking on the oncology ward

* Political leaders giving serious consideration to adopting population well-being, or ‘happiness,’ as their ultimate goal — rather than economic prosperity — people seem to be happier in those places that the economists have identified as having a high quality of life

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