“We observed the beer drinking behavior of 308 university students in several bar and party settings. The following relationships were found: (more…)

Possibilities to improve the aircraft interior comfort experience.

“Comfort plays an increasingly important role in the interior design of airplanes. Although ample research has been conducted on airplane design technology, only a small amount of public scientific information is available addressing the passenger’s opinion. In this study, more than 10,000 internet trip reports and 153 passenger interviews were used to gather opinions about aspects which need to be improved in order to design a more comfortable aircraft interior. (more…)

“Recent research suggests that heterosexual men’s (but not heterosexual women’s) cognitive performance is impaired after an interaction with someone of the opposite sex (Karremans et al., 2009). These findings have been interpreted in terms of the cognitive costs of trying to make a good impression during the interaction. In everyday life, people frequently engage in pseudo-interactions with women (e.g., through the phone or the internet) or anticipate interacting with a woman later on. (more…)

“Vertebrate males commonly experience elevations in testosterone levels in response to sexual stimuli, such as presentation of a novel mating partner. Some previous human studies have shown that watching erotic movies increases testosterone levels in males although studies measuring testosterone changes during actual sexual intercourse or masturbation have yielded mixed results. Small sample sizes, “unnatural” lab-based settings, and invasive techniques may help account for mixed human findings. Here, we investigated salivary testosterone levels in men watching (n = 26) versus participating (n = 18) in sexual activity at a large U.S. sex club. (more…)

Overheard cell-phone conversations: when less speech is more distracting.

“Why are people more irritated by nearby cell-phone conversations than by conversations between two people who are physically present? Overhearing someone on a cell phone means hearing only half of a conversation–a “halfalogue.” We show that merely overhearing a halfalogue results in decreased performance on cognitive tasks designed to reflect the attentional demands of daily activities. By contrast, overhearing both sides of a cell-phone conversation or a monologue does not result in decreased performance. (more…)

Beautiful faces have variable reward value: fMRI and behavioral evidence.

“The brain circuitry processing rewarding and aversive stimuli is hypothesized to be at the core of motivated behavior. In this study, discrete categories of beautiful faces are shown to have differing reward values and to differentially activate reward circuitry in human subjects. (more…)

Neatness counts. How plating affects liking for the taste of food.

“Two studies investigated the effect that the arrangement of food on a plate has on liking for the flavor of the food. Food presented in a neatly arranged presentation is liked more than the same food presented in a messy manner. (more…)

“Although it is assumed that there are negative social consequences for individuals missing visible front teeth, no study of the way in which edentulous individuals were perceived in a social context and the potential social repercussions could be located. This initial study concerned college students’ perceptions of individuals missing visible upper front teeth. 200 volunteers, 19 to 50 years of age (M = 20.6, SD = 4.4), rated five photographs depicting tooth presence or absence, from a full dentition to missing as many as four upper front teeth, on social traits including attractiveness, health status, educational attainment, satisfaction with life, active social life, aggressiveness, intelligence, trustworthiness, amount of caring, friendship, dating, and likelihood to live as a neighbor. (more…)

Self-perceived technical orientation and attitudes toward being flattered.

“An investigation was done of the relationship between scores on the Technical Orientation Scale and self-ratings of liking to be flattered among 103 working adults. (more…)

Perception of men’s personal qualities and prospect of employment as a function of facial hair.

“The present study investigated the contribution of men’s facial hair to impression formation. Participants evaluated photographs of one of four versions of a man–clean shaven, mustached, goateed, or bearded–on a 7-point scale. (more…)