Tag Archives: altruism

The shocking truth about left-handers

Posted on December 19, 2010 by

Famous left-handers include Angelina Jolie, Chewbacca the Wookie, Prince William and Bob Geldof. Notice a pattern? Me neither. Economist Thomas Buser set to find out whether people who are left-handed have different social preferences: for example, are they more or less selfish? Are … Continue reading →

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Just a jealous child

Posted on October 29, 2010 by

In the kingdom of children, the established currency is gummy bears. Or at least, that’s what researchers at the Friedrich Schiller University in Germany used in experiments to understand envy and altruism in children. For adults, studies often focus on … Continue reading →

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Warmly glowing students

Posted on October 21, 2010 by

The easily amused members of the academic community have rather enthusiastically embraced the use of the acronym WEIRD (used to describe people from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic societies) as is evident in the title of this paper: “Warm … Continue reading →

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Please don’t say you’re sorry

Posted on September 29, 2010 by

Two people in separate rooms: $10 to divide between them. One person – the lucky one – is the sender, who gets to choose how the $10 should be divided up. The other person, the receiver, has no choice but … Continue reading →

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The trouble with disasters

Posted on August 17, 2010 by

Now that David Cameron is off on his summer holiday, his deputy Nick Clegg has been let out of the cupboard. And he’s been using his new-found limelight to comment on the plight of those caught up in the Pakistan … Continue reading →

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Criminally selfish – or not?

Posted on July 12, 2010 by

How to reduce crime rates is one of the big issues that Governments are judged on. So it makes sense to try to understand why criminals actually commit crimes. A recent study by researchers at the University of Bonn suggests … Continue reading →

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