Tag Archives: personality

Challenging the “Banality” of Evil and of Heroism Part 2 – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Situationism implies that evil-doers are victims of circumstances beyond their control, yet argues that heroes are those who can rise above their circumstances to do what is right. An ideology of victimisation is incompatible with heroism. Personal responsibility for one's actions cuts both ways.

read more

Challenging the “Banality” of Evil and of Heroism Part 1 – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

What makes a hero, what makes a villain? Phil Zimbardo has claimed that evil and heroism are equally banal and mainly arise as a matter of circumstance rather than any special qualities of the person. However, his own analysis blames evil on external forces, but views heroism as coming from within the person. A more balanced view is needed to understand these extremes.

read more

Why Do We Take Personality Tests? – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)

I often get questions from friends and family that they would like answered in a post. This month, my post is inspired by a question from my grandmother. Kudos to my grandma for asking a question about a popular trend on the internet!


Personality tests
Personality tests are not new, but they have recently skyrocketed in popularity on the internet. This week, Buzzfeed published 15 such tests in one 24-hour period. It seems every day on my Facebook news feed, someone has posted new results from one of these quizzes. Online personality tests have expanded beyond the traditional format of telling us certain traits we possess, although those do still exist (try here and here). Now, there are also tests that give us information about ourselves by comparing us to people or characters we know (“Which pop star should you party with?” or “Which children’s book character are you?”) and by comparing specific behaviors or knowledge to others’ (“How many classic horror films have you seen? Continue reading

Ten Findings About Facebook for its 10th Birthday – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)


Happy Birthday, Facebook!
Over the past ten years, Facebook has added a new dimension to the social lives of over a billion people. Given its popularity, it has become the topic of a growing body of research in the social sciences. For Facebook’s 10th birthday, I collected ten discoveries this research has yielded and share brief summaries below. If you’re on Facebook, then this research applies to you! Happy birthday, Facebook!

1. Does Facebook help us feel better by fulfilling our need for social connection? The authors of one study text-messaged people five times per day for two weeks and asked people about their Facebook use and their well-being. The more people used Facebook at one time, the worse they felt the next time they were text-messaged. Continue reading

More Knowledge, Less Belief in Religion? – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

A recent review of 63 studies found that higher intelligence was associated with less religious belief. The reasons for this are not known, although a number of explanations are possible. One factor that may be relevant is that religious people tend to be less knowledgeable about religion and about other topics than atheists and agnostics.

read more

Facebook Usage and Easy Acceptance of Racism – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

A research study found that people who spend a lot of time on Facebook are more accepting of racist content than less frequent users. This may reflect an online culture of shallow information processing. Whether Facebook is more apt for spreading misinformation compared to other social media sites is not yet known.

read more

The Illusory Theory of Multiple Intelligences – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

The theory of Multiple Intelligences suggests that everyone can be "intelligent" in some way even if they do not have a high IQ. As appealing as this idea is to egalitarian sentiments, the theory has never been validated and is not supported by any empirical research.

read more

What Your Resistance to Halloween Candy Predicts About Your Life – Kate Reilly Thorson (Psych Your Mind)


Tempting Halloween candy
Thanks to yesterday’s festivities, both kids and adults have a few more sweet treats on hand than normal. With a big bowl of candy sitting at home on the kitchen table or stashed in a desk drawer, many of us now face the annual challenge of eating our Halloween candy in moderation. Some of us will succeed; others won’t. We face situations like this constantly in life, where we are tasked with resisting temptations and overriding our impulses.  What might our responses to these situations reveal about the rest of our lives? Are we happy? Are we satisfied? To approach this question, let’s imagine a couple of eight-year olds and their new stashes of Halloween candy. 
Read More->

Personality’s Big One Revisited: The Allure of the Dark Side – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Some scholars have proposed the existence of a general factor of personality combining all the socially desirable personality traits. However, new research suggests that people who are reliable and honest also tend to be socially awkward, while those who are selfish and deceitful are more socially skilled. Not all "good" traits seem to fit together in a nice whole.

read more

Dogmatism and Openness to Experience in the Non-Religious – Scott McGreal (Unique—Like Everybody Else)

Dogmatism is usually associated with low levels of openness to experience, particularly among the religious. A study on the non-religious found that among atheists higher levels of openness to experience were actually associated with greater dogmatism, particularly if they had a strong social identity as atheists.

read more