Task-specific information outperforms surveillance-style big data in predictive analytics
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/14/e2020258118 https://github.com/SocialComplexityLab/big_vs_right_data Increasingly, human behavior can be monitored through the collection of data from digital devices revealing information on behaviors and locations. In the context of higher education, a growing number of schools and universities collect data on their students with the purpose of assessing or predicting behaviors and academic...
Ideology selectively shapes attention to inequality
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/14/e2023985118 Inequality between groups is all around us—but who tends to notice, and when? Whereas some individuals assert rampant inequality and demand corrective interventions, others exposed to the same contexts retort that their peers see certain inequalities where none exist and selectively overlook inconvenient others. Across five studies (total N...
Targeted school-based interventions for improving reading and mathematics for students with or at risk of academic difficulties in Grades K-6: A systematic review
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cl2.1152 Objectives The main objective was to assess the effectiveness of interventions targeting students with or at risk of academic difficulties in kindergarten to Grade 6. 1.3 What studies are included? In total, 607 studies are included in this review. However, only 205 of these were of sufficiently high methodological...
Optimal policy for attention-modulated decisions explains human fixation behavior
https://elifesciences.org/articles/63436 Traditional accumulation-to-bound decision-making models assume that all choice options are processed with equal attention. In real life decisions, however, humans alternate their visual fixation between individual items to efficiently gather relevant information (Yang et al., 2016). These fixations also causally affect one’s choices, biasing them toward the longer-fixated item...
Six weeks of basketball combined with mathematics in physical education classes can improve children's motivation for mathematics
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.636578/full This study investigated whether 6 weeks of basketball combined with mathematics once a week in physical education lessons could improve children’s motivation for mathematics. Seven hundred fifty-seven children (mean age = 10.4 years, age range: 7–12 years) were randomly selected to have either basketball combined with mathematics once a...
Testosterone reduces generosity through cortical and subcortical mechanisms
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/12/e2021745118.abstract Recent evidence has linked testosterone, a major sex hormone, to selfishness in economic decision-making. Here, we aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms through which testosterone reduces generosity by combining functional MRI with pharmacological manipulation among healthy young males in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design. After testosterone or placebo gel...
The key to successful diversity and inclusion? Belongingness
https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/the-key-to-successful-diversity-and-inclusion-belongingness/ If diversity is being offered a seat at the table, and inclusion is having a voice, belongingness is the ability to be heard. It’s the listening, the welcoming of diverse opinions, the lively but supportive debates. Encouraging this from senior leadership and ensuring they prioritize this practice throughout all...
Passion matters but not equally everywhere: Predicting achievement from interest, enjoyment, and efficacy in 59 societies
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/11/e2016964118 How to identify the students and employees most likely to achieve is a challenge in every field. American academic and lay theories alike highlight the importance of passion for strong achievement. Based on a Western independent model of motivation, passionate individuals—those who have a strong interest, demonstrate deep enjoyment,...
Do conversations end when people want them to?
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/10/e2011809118 Do conversations end when people want them to? Surprisingly, behavioral science provides no answer to this fundamental question about the most ubiquitous of all human social activities. In two studies of 932 conversations, we asked conversants to report when they had wanted a conversation to end and to estimate...
Stunted upward mobility in a learning environment reduces the academic benefits of growth mindsets
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/10/e2011832118 Does stunted upward mobility in an educational system impede beneficial psychological processes of learning? We predicted that growth mindsets of intelligence, a well-established psychological stimulant to learning, would be less potent in low-mobility, as compared to high-mobility, learning environments. An analysis of a large cross-national dataset and a longitudinal...
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