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Things You Should (Maybe) Know…
Sometimes stuff just comes up that we think you need to know but it isn’t enough to fill an entire blog post. This is one of those times. Think of it as things you didn’t know you needed to know until you knew it!
Chocolate
Why do we love it so? Well. M&Ms are not only in focus group facilities waiting to ensnare the frustrated trial attorney watching mock jurors behind darkened glass. They also apparently lurk in rat mazes to see why chocolate so appeals (to us and to those rat stand-ins for us). As it turns out, chocolate is like opium for rats. And presumably, it’s a bit like opium for us as well. I, for one, would be quite willing to gorge myself on M&Ms for the good of science. So, we’re thinking maybe someone should do some research on what is really in Starbuck’s coffee!
Does your non-working nose mean you’re a psychopath?
We’ve written about psychopaths here before and they are a pretty scary bunch. But now we have a simple test for you to use at home to determine whether you are potentially a psychopath. How’s your sense of smell?
Psychopaths seem to have a very poor sense of smell. [Wow. I want to be in the court the first time a detective testifies that the suspect’s inability to smell was one of the tip-offs to their guilt!] Researchers think this is a good test to use since expectations of performance are unclear and the subject may be less able to fake good (or bad) responses. Of course, this research doesn’t mean just because you have a poor sense of smell that you are a psychopath. You could also have schizophrenia, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. We thought that was reassuring. Oh– plus, seasonal allergies can also be a factor.
Annoying co-workers? There are actual benefits to this! Be thankful.
While you may not have a Dwight Schrute in your office, you may have someone equally odd, annoying, or even deviant. New research focuses on the benefits you may gain from working with oddballs–even when they are very annoying. Specifically, in comparison to the deviant coworker–you can feel better about yourself. That’s always a good thing, e.g., “I’m an idiot, but at least I’m not that idiot!”. Second, by observing other’s reactions to the deviant colleague, you can gain invaluable information as to unwritten workplace norms. If this doesn’t bring you a sense of gratitude for your own odd coworkers, you might try buying them lunch.
Think you’re better off up-front in that plane?
Whoa. Think again. ChartPorn has come to your rescue by publishing a visual of the safest seats on a commercial jet. To do this, they looked at a review of every commercial jet crash in the US since 1971 where there were both fatalities and survivors. That’s pretty thorough. And the verdict? Sit in the rear and arrive alive! Hmmm. You might also want to check the directional capabilities of your pilot.
It’s the economy!
Along with the other bad news on the economy in the US for the past few years, here’s another feel-bad fact from our friends at the Atlantic. Income inequality is worse in the US today than it was in 1774. Yes. 1774. Not a typo. Although the Atlantic says this isn’t as demoralizing as it sounds–they are totally right as to how demoralizing it sounds. As they say, America is richer and better off today than we were 240 years ago. (That’s good news, right?) There are, however, sharper delineations between the have’s and have-nots (the 99%) today than there were then. It reminds us of another (and more uplifting) story we saw in the Atlantic recently. Sometimes, it seems like things are getting better.
Mehmet K. Mahmut, & Richard J. Stevenson (2012). Olfactory Abilities and Psychopathy: Higher Psychopathy Scores Are Associated with Poorer Odor Discrimination and Identification. Chemosensory Perception. DOI: 10.1007/s12078-012-9135-7
Tidbits–news you can use! (maybe…)
Blogging requires a curiosity for odd facts, and a passion for reading and writing. This blog is a terrific outlet for our curious selves, where we can spend time monitoring new research and current events, and share it with you. Usually, the items are meaty enough to form a blogpost on the issue. Sometimes, though, we find random factoids that we think you might want to know about and we save them for days like today. Think of these as delectable tidbits of information that bring a smile or a ‘hmmm’ to your day. Or as our Cajun friends would say, “lagniappe”. Enjoy.
Red lipstick and tipping behavior:
You likely recall our posts on wearing red (for both men and women) and the advantage in represents for how others see you. Here’s another twist to that research. Heterosexual men tip more when their waitress is wearing red lipstick! Adding credence to their finding–the research was conducted in France where tips are already included in the total bill, and tipping is not routinely expected. Thus, extra tipping is unusual. And here we find that waitresses with red lipstick got the bonus tips, and waitresses wearing other shades went without. We have no suggestions for any lesson for litigators with this news, but you might want to let your friends who are waitresses know about this. Also note– there is no current indication on what the tipping effect is for men who wear red lipstick. But we’re guessing that in most restaurants it isn’t nearly as helpful.
Is gaydar real?
We’ve blogged about gaydar before but the research on it keeps coming. [Did we need more research?] The Atlantic recently ran an article on the ability of college students to guess sexual orientation after 50 milliseconds to look at a photo of a face. And their accuracy was above chance even when the faces were upside down! It turns out that facial features, pupil dilation, and even right-brain or left-brain orientation has been found to accurately predict sexual orientation–although apparently it’s a bit more straightforward to predict in men than it is in women. (And a co-author of the pupil dilation study even claims their findings could be “used to help people who are confused about their sexuality sort through their desires”. Oy. We wish researchers wouldn’t say things like that. And there is no reason whatsoever for you to search out photos of the authors.)
What percentage of water on their fur can dogs shake off in 4 seconds?
That would be 70%. Now that is news you can use. For something. The Atlantic (again) brings us need-to-know information complete with a video of a wet canine shaking off wetness. Surprisingly, there is not a flexible spine to account for how efficiently dogs shake off water. It has to do with how loose the dog’s skin is and (again thanks to the Atlantic) that loose skin isn’t just so dogs look funny here.
Staying in the ICU? How many medical errors occur there anyway?
Let’s just say you want to avoid the ICU whenever possible. According to the Johns Hopkins Patient Safety Team:
Each year as many as 40,500 critically ill U.S. hospital patients die with an unknown medical condition that may have caused or contributed to their death. In a discussion of their findings, researchers say that diagnostic errors in the intensive care unit (ICU) may claim as many lives each year as breast cancer.
The actual numbers are staggering. Misdiagnosis in ICU patients is as much as 50% more common than it is in general hospital patients. In the US, about half of all deaths occur in hospitals and half of hospital deaths occur either in the ICU or immediately following ICU stays. In fairness, it isn’t called an “Emergency Room” or “Intensive Care Unit” for nothing. But this study controls for life threatening presenting problems (like massive heart attacks and gun shots), and deals with diagnostic errors. You can see a user-friendly interpretation of the study at the Atlantic.
If you walk with a swagger, are you narcissistic?
Maybe. And maybe not. Research Digest recently cited a study looking at how we interpret the personality of someone based on how they walk. That is, we see an expansive, loose walking style as related to adventurousness, extraversion, trustworthiness and warmth while a slow and relaxed walking style was associated with being neurotic. According to the personality questionnaires completed by the walkers, however, their style of walking was not correlated with their personality–but it was in the minds of the observers. We see this sort of assumption operating in our mock juror observations of witnesses. They look at witnesses or parties and “see” drug abuse, liars, conspiracy, jealousy and much more. It isn’t that those negatives are there in truth–but they are there in the minds of the observer.
So. Just because you walk with a swagger or a strut doesn’t really mean you are truly a narcissist–but if you’re being observed by someone prone to sensitivity to that trait, you could get tagged with it. Not sure what you should do about it, but don’t be surprised. People are constantly judging…
Nicolas Guéguen, & Céline Jacob (2012). Lipstick and tipping behavior: When red lipstick enhances waitresses tips. International Journal of Hospitality Management DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.03.012
Rieger G, & Savin-Williams RC (2012). The eyes have it: Sex and sexual orientation differences in pupil dilation patterns. PLoS ONE, 7 (8) PMID: 22870196
Practice Strategies You May Have Missed in Your Travels
We know you’re busy. We’re busy too. And often we collect tidbits that are perhaps amusing and potentially useful. So once again, we want to share those with you.
Civility is just plain a good thing
Being civil is a good thing for many reasons. A powerful and new reason may simply be self-defense. Be civil in the courtroom and avoid mistrials caused by jurors who want to punch you in the nose.
The dangers (or perhaps the advantage) of sleepy jurors
Avoid seating sleepy jurors because they will engage in much counter-factual thinking. (On second-thought, don’t seat them unless you want jurors with bias.) If you see jurors yawning, perhaps it’s a good time for a short recess?
It’s definitive
You need to own twenty pairs of underwear. This is every day, non-special-occasion underwear.
Finally got paid on that over-due account?
Alas. It may not be a reason to celebrate. Economists tell us you are much more likely to die after a payday. And it’s as consistently happening now as it was in the mid-1970’s. Yikes.
Avoid seating overtly hostile jurors but know not everyone will think you’re amazing
Finally, it’s okay if not everyone on the jury likes you. I mean, you want to try for sure. But no one, not even the most omniscient, hits a home run every time.
If you read us and find us useful, helpful, entertaining, or in any way enlightening–please consider nominating us for this year’s Blawg 100 listings. You brought us into the Blawg 100 for 2010–how about helping in 2011? Nominate us for the ABA Blawg 100 here.
2010 in review: Aging brains, money, happiness, and a bris exception
As trial consultants, we are always on the lookout for new nuggets of useful information. Some of them are true wisdom and some… let’s just say ‘not so much’. Generally, we share only the really good stuff with you but sometimes we regress a bit. And this is one of those times. Hang on!
Despite the disturbing news out earlier this year that middle age now begins at 35 and multiple other (obviously erroneous) sources telling us that aging brains are simply not up to par—there is good news for those of us on the other side of 30 (even those of us way on the other side!). The development of face memory doesn’t reach it’s peak until our early 30s. I bet this is why those of us well on the other side of 30 ponder ‘that person looks familiar’ more often than those under 30. We simply remember more.
2010 also brought us the disconcerting news that money can’t buy happiness (or fidelity) unless it’s above a certain amount of money. Turns out it also can’t buy you sensitivity to others. Members of the ‘upper class’ (rich people) have a much harder time reading/intuiting the emotions of others.
We’ve done an ongoing post topic here at The Jury Room on how hard it is to be a woman. And there are certainly lots of reasons for that. But we’re ending up 2010 with a ray of hope. Women often report ongoing instances of sexist statements/communications in the workplace. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that women who confront sexist statements in the workplace feel more competent and more capable.
And on that note, we want to applaud Judge Kimba Wood from the Southern District of New York who responded to a male attorney requesting time away if his daughter gave birth to a boy. Judge Wood made a ‘bris exception’ and countered with what would happen if a daughter was born:
“Mr. Epstein will be permitted to attend the bris, in the joyous event that a son is born. But the Court would like to balance the scales. If a daughter is born, there will be a public celebration in Court, with readings from poetry celebrating girls and women.”
Gervais, S. J.,, Hillard, A. &, & Vescio, T. K. (2010). Confronting sexism: The role of relationship orientation and gender. Sex Roles, 63, 463-474
Kraus MW, Côté S, & Keltner D (2010). Social class, contextualism, and empathic accuracy. Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS, 21 (11), 1716-23 PMID: 20974714
I don’t have a vested interest in Starbucks but I’d accept free coffee
I have a gold card. A Starbucks gold card engraved with my name and signifying that I spend altogether too much money at Starbucks. It’s summertime and that changes my winter coffee from a venti skinny vanilla latte to an iced venti skinny vanilla latte. I love coffee.
But I am something of a coffee snob. And I do love me some Starbucks. So I resent it when what I know to be true is debunked. I am not so easily persuaded. After all, I know that coffee does many, many wonderful things. It helps keep us safe and makes us like people more. It slows down the dementia process and who can argue with that as a benefit? And it reduces mistakes made by shift workers (which would intimate that medical mistakes can be reduced by caffeine!). And in a vein truly near and dear to my heart—caffeine and Starbucks inspires social sciences researchers in their understanding of persuasion.
So I think it’s understandable that I am offended by the recent publication of a study showing that coffee consumption is unrelated to alertness. Please. I think I know if caffeine gives me a boost in the morning. But researchers from England say it isn’t true. They say there is no “net benefit” from drinking coffee. Yeah, sure. Research probably funded by the ‘Prince of Wales Tea Council’. I considered their ideas because I am open-minded and thoughtful. But it simply isn’t true. (Starbucks executives reading this can find my contact information on our website. I mean hey—I heard that Gold Cards have privileges!)
Coffee is terrific. It’s good for us. It keeps us from being snarky about lame research. This study is as ridiculous as that one saying a Big Mac nutritionally beats out Chipotle’s burritos.
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