I host solo.
I recently spent ten days at Texas Tech University, where I subjected the faculty of the psychology department to a round of video blog posts. As the second part of a four-part series, I asked Associate Professor, collaborator, and friend, Jeff Larsen: Is happiness having what you want or wanting what you have? I recognize […]
I recently spent ten days at Texas Tech University, where I subjected the faculty of the psychology department to a round of video blog posts. As the first part of a four-part series, I spoke to Associate Professor Chris Robitschek. I asked her about a potential downside of maximizing your potential: . Chris runs a […]
Moral Hazards and Women’s Lacrosse This week, I team up Decision Science News for a joint post. — Enjoy The New York Times just ran a piece called “A Case Against Helmets in Lacrosse“. The hook of the article is that wearing helmets, which one would expect to make the game safer, could make the […]
One day in HuRL, the Humor Research Lab, we were talking about our favorite sites on the Cheezburger Network (my favorite is FailBook, in case you care). Among other reasons, we decided that as scientist who study humor, we should be able to build a successful humor website. The team brainstormed a bunch of ideas […]
[An early post this week.] The Super Bowl featured numerous injuries, but not all of them occurred on the field. According to a recent paper, violence as a means of humor in advertising is on the rise. Two of the top five rated ads from Super Bowl XLV (2011) featured violence: #1 (tie) #5 The […]
I recently returned from the Humor pre-conference at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. I got a chance to talk to Bob Mankoff, a cartoonist and the Cartoon Editor of The New Yorker. I asked him: Why aren’t The New Yorker’s cartoons funnier? (sic) His answer is compelling. Yes, The New Yorker’s cartoons are […]
I have ESP on my mind lately (see this post and this post). A potentially controversial paper on ESP authored by Daryl Bem and colleagues, which is forthcoming in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, got me wondering about an important questions about the peer-review process: In spite of the lofty standards of top […]
Apes, babies, and people everywhere (with the possible exception of Switzerland) enjoy humor. But why is humor so prevalent? And why is it so pleasurable? Why do we seek spouses, friends, books, movies, television programs, websites, and LOL cat photographs that make us laugh? Most likely, humor is ubiquitous and enjoyable because it somehow enhances […]
