Psychology

The seriously creepy “two-kitten experiment”

Think you’ve seen the worst that mad science has to offer? How about an experiment in which scientists rendered kittens essentially sightless? And that’s not the worst of it. Learn about harnessed kittens, yoked kittens, kittens going over a visual cliff, and researchers fake-punching a kitten. How do you virtually blind someone without doing any…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Why do we smile and laugh when we’re terrified?

Why do we smile and even giggle when we’re afraid? Are we trying to work things out? Or are we trying to convince everyone, even our attacker, that nothing’s wrong? Here’s what science has to say about “fear grinning.” One of the more ghastly human responses is the “fear grin.” I automatically sink into it…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Meet the heroic rats who are trained to sniff out land mines

No, the HeroRATs of APOPO are not a new fantasy series like The Owls of Ga’Hoole. These are actual rats trained by an NGO to detect land mines. APOPO stands for “Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling” (or “Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection Product Development” in English), and was officially founded in 1997 in Belgium. Today, it’s administrative headquarters…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta

The Asch Conformity Experiments should have been more evil

The past contains lot of objectionable experiments. There was the famous Milgram Experiment, in which participants were made to believe that they were murdering someone. There was the Stanford Prison Experiment, during which students acting as guards or prisoners turned sadistic or masochistic just to see how far the experimenters would let them go. On…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

What You Write On Facebook Reveals More Than You Realize

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have analyzed 700 million words and phrases from the Facebook messages of 75,000 volunteers. The resulting word clouds show the extent to which our use of language is influenced by our personality, age, and sex. Social media channels like Facebook and Twitter have revolutionized the way psychologists study human…

io9 George Dvorsky

Why is there so little scientific research about porn?

People sure worry a lot about porn. Are we watching too much? Is it creatingsex-addicts? What would a Game of Thrones porn parody even look like? But for all the hand-wringing and proselytizing and pontificating that goes on, the fact remains that there is VERY little scientific research on porn and its effects. Why is…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

A disturbing and sad experiment that revealed the nature of phobias

John Watson and Rosalie Rayner were two researchers at Johns Hopkins University who innocently wondered what caused phobias. Their next move was not quite so innocent. They got themselves a baby, about nine months old, and experimented with drilling fear into a child’s mind. They called the baby Albert B. Albert’s mother was an employee…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The Florida Effect

How do a few words affect how you act? Perhaps quite a bit. And without you even knowing it. That’s the lesson that psychologists learned from the weird, subliminal Florida Effect. The Florida Effect is one of the earliest, and most powerful, examples of “priming.” Priming, in psychological terms, means the use of background factors…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

We learn best from unjust punishment

We shouldn’t punish people for accidents. What purpose would that serve? But one study suggests that it would actually be a very effective practice. Here’s why we might want to be Draconian in our punishments. Image by Ronald Sumners via Shutterstock If someone was trying to help you, but screwed up, what would you do…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

A fascinating difference between pet dogs and tame wolves

If you could raise a wolf in your home, would it grow up to be any different from a typical pet dog? In a rare experiment with tame wolves, a Hungarian scientist tried to answer this question — and the results hinted at one major difference between dogs and wolves. https://gizmodo.com/why-everything-you-know-about-wolf-packs-is-wrong-502754629 Photo by Michael Cummings…

io9 Annalee Newitz

These experiments show that venting your anger makes it worse

In the 1970s, Michael Crichton wrote a book called The Terminal Man, about a man with a chip in his brain who becomes addicted to rage and violence. A few experiments done in the 1990s suggest that we actually can get addicted to anger, and to venting that anger in violent ways. Image by ollyy…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The 16th century exorcism that became political propaganda

In 1565, a teenager named Nicole Aubrey began to suffer horrific physical pain, speak in a gravelly voice, and refuse food. Several priests tried to exorcize her, to no avail. Soon, she became so famous that she was given a daily public exorcism, in front of the massive Laon Cathedral, where her “devil” delivered political…

io9 Annalee Newitz

The less-is-better effect lets you fake generosity

How can you trick people into thinking you’re generous when offering them crap? Just use the less-is-better effect to offer them bonus crap, fungible crap, or a complete set of crap. It’s like when you feel a surge of gratitude when an ice cream seller offers you a little extra scoop on your sundae. But…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Recency Bias makes us permanent amnesiacs

With time we are meant to gain experience. This doesn’t always seem to be the case. Recency biases show we don’t learn over time so much as remember the last thing that happened, and pretend that that’s the way it has always been and will always be. How long is your memory? Doesn’t matter. No…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Professional pickpocket Apollo Robbins on the art of misdirection

Sleight-of-hand artist Apollo Robbins steals things for a living. In this captivating TED video, he explains how treating people’s attention as a limited resource keeps him employed. For more from Robbins on the nature of human attention, see his instructional video on how to steal someone’s watch. https://gizmodo.com/pickpocket-master-apollo-robbins-reveals-how-to-steal-s-5975788 [Via TED]

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

10 Vivid Rorschach Tests, Made By Camera

You can call them Rorschach tests, or you can call them inkblots. But what happens when you merge the idea of abstract symmetry with photography? You get the incredible entrants in this week’s Shooting Challenge. WINNER: Demon “Demon”—My approach to this challenge was pretty simple: take a picture of something colorful then mirror and overlay…

Tech News Mark Wilson

Why do human beings seek out terrifying experiences?

Why do we scare the hell out of ourselves? Why do we pay for the privilege? Is it pure thrill-seeking, or is it what’s known as counterphobic behavior? Some people back away from what they fear. Some people seek it out. That looks good scrawled across a poster for an action movie, but it’s also…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Is the Peak-End Rule responsible for overlong movies?

Most people think they judge a movie by its overall quality, but that might not be true. We might instead judge it by its best scene, and its spectacular ending. And this might explain a few things about movies. But first, let me tell you a tale. There once was an experiment! This experiment lived…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Penis reattachment, and other winners from the 2013 Ig Nobel Awards

Last night, scientists from around the world traveled (at their own expense!) to Harvard’s iconic Sanders Theatre for the “23rd First Annual” Ig Nobel Awards – a ceremony created to recognize those achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. Above: A dung beetle navigates via the Milky Way – image based…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Hide your greater sins by listing your lesser ones

Have you screwed up a lot of different things? Do you want to hide the worst of your screw-ups? There’s an easy way — just tell people only your smallest mistakes. When people have to remember a long list of things, you can erase some of the items on their mental list by prompting them…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The seriously creepy “two-kitten experiment”

Why do we smile and laugh when we’re terrified?

Meet the heroic rats who are trained to sniff out land mines

The Asch Conformity Experiments should have been more evil

What You Write On Facebook Reveals More Than You Realize

Why is there so little scientific research about porn?

A disturbing and sad experiment that revealed the nature of phobias

The Florida Effect

We learn best from unjust punishment

A fascinating difference between pet dogs and tame wolves

These experiments show that venting your anger makes it worse

The 16th century exorcism that became political propaganda

The less-is-better effect lets you fake generosity

The Recency Bias makes us permanent amnesiacs

Professional pickpocket Apollo Robbins on the art of misdirection

10 Vivid Rorschach Tests, Made By Camera

Why do human beings seek out terrifying experiences?

Is the Peak-End Rule responsible for overlong movies?

Penis reattachment, and other winners from the 2013 Ig Nobel Awards

Hide your greater sins by listing your lesser ones

ASUS Eye Care Monitor Hits an All-Time Low, Only Hours Left to Grab a 27″ Screen at a 15.6″ Budget Price on Amazon

How to Watch Artemis 2, NASA’s First Crewed Mission to the Moon in 54 Years

KitchenAid 4.5-Quart Stand Mixer Is Back at Its Lowest Price, a Last-Minute Spring Sale Deal Outside Amazon Prime Day

‘Pizza Movie’ Has a Hilariously Grisly New Way to Say ‘This Is Your Brain on Drugs’ (Exclusive)

Amazon Makes a Last Push for Govee LED Strip Light at a Black Friday Low as the Spring Sale Winds Down, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant

Forget Shokz, Anker Pushes Soundcore AeroClip Open-Ear Earbuds to an All-Time Low in the Final Hours of Amazon’s Spring Sale

Google Pixel 10 Pro Gets Cleared Out at a Record Low, Now Even Cheaper Than AirPods Pro With Trade-In

Meta’s Two New Smart Glasses Are Slimmer and More Like Regular Glasses

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Let us help find what you are looking for...