http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY
What’s so fascinating about eating a marshmallow? Quite a lot as it turns out. In 1972, Stanford University’s Walter Mischel conducted one of psychology’s classic behavioral experiments on deferred gratification. Deferred gratification refers to an individual’s ability to wait in order to achieve a desired object or outcome. Continue reading
Like most fascinating phenomena, the flashed face distortion effect was discovered completely by accident. Honors student Sean Murphy had eye-aligned pictures of faces in the University of Queensland psychology lab and was playing around with them when he first noticed the grotesque faces staring back at him. When he looked at the faces individually however, they appeared normal and some were even attractive. Continue reading
Look closely at the picture above. What do you see? Make your decision then scroll down and read on for an explanation. Continue reading
An important aspect of a child’s cognitive development is the emergence of a representational theory of mind. Having a theory of mind means that one is able to impute mental states – such as beliefs, intentions, knowledge and desires – to oneself and others. In simple terms, it involves knowing that other people have minds of their own and that their thoughts and knowledge can differ from one’s own. Continue reading
