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Psychology

Gym Paradox: People Want To Get Healthier But Until They’re Healthier Don’t Feel Comfortable

Gym Bro, Curl Gurl, Gym Rat if you choose not to identify as any gender - everyone knows what it means, and it can be pretty intimidating if you walk into a fitness center as a new member. Imagine feeling like you have to get in shape before you can join a gym to get in shape.Fitness executives don't want that but store managers know not to alienate their best customers for someone who will join...

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Two Fewer Almonds: That’s All You Need To Prevent Weight Gain

When people see labels or menus listing the calories in their food, it doesn't change their consumption in any way beyond what experts call "statistical wobble." About two fewer almonds worth of calories per meal. But two almonds over time can add up to a lot.That's the conclusion in the data of a systematic review by The Cochrane Collaboration. The team of academics reviewed 25 papers...

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Brits Associate Accents With Crime But Trust Scottish Accents Most

With Burns Night this weekend,  Scotland will celebrate its heritage. In the First Among Equals country to the south that controls them, Scottish accents used to mean trouble. Now, it is the sound of safety for both English men and women.A new study finds that the English, even some Welsh and Scottish, associate a "working-class" accent with criminal behavior. In a jury trial, that could...

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Thanksgiving Science: Did COVID-19 Revive Family Dinners?

If cultural pundits can invent an Anthropocene Epoch then a Digital Epoch makes even more sense. In 2000, only in Japan did you see people on trains four inches from other humans chatting other humans on other trains, most of whom they'd never meet. Now that is everyone in the developed world.read...

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Halloween Horror Science: Are Chickens That Learn A Bigger Threat To Us Than AI?

Halloween Horror Science: Are Chickens That Learn A Bigger Threat To Us Than AI?

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) vegetarian advocacy group has a paper out arguing that common broiler chickens not only learn more than the obvious, like which bowl has food, they get happier learning. Their marketing of the paper suggests they know who their key demographic is; middle-aged wealthy white women. And if you want them, you invoke...

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Independent Voters Decide Elections, But Undecided Voters Least Likely To Vote

Get-out-the-vote campaigns matter, which is why U.S. political parties encourage those in their tribe to vote by mail long before any controversies can change their mind. Voting is so predictable that about six percent of voters actually decide the election.Passion motivates, and that is shown by a new survey result which claims that undecided voters are also less likely to vote at all. Either...

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