Human Behavior Fun Facts
"Girl Talk" Leads to Depression
Mean Girls movie photo from movieweb.com
Psychologist Amanda Rose studied 813 preteen and teenage girls during "girl talk," discussing social problems, boys, and other issues. Rose's finding was that the "girl talk," though it helped the girls bond, it did not relief their anxiety, but rather exasperated it making the girls feel depressed. Rose found that "girl talk" could even lead to depression and eating disorders.
Amanda Rose's research findings were published in the Los Angeles Times.
Men's Sweat: A Sweet Aroma to Women?
Indeed, men's sweat is a sweet aroma to only 1/3 of women. It all depends on the OR7D4 genes.
Some women are digusted by sweaty men; others are atractted to sweaty men; and some careless. No, this has nothing to do with psychology. It is physical. Finally we have the scientific explanation:
Women with 2 copies of the OR7D4 genes are disgusted by the smell of sweaty men.
Women with one copy of the OR7D4 genes are not affected by sweaty men.
However, Women with no copies of OR7D4 genes are atractted to the smell of sweaty men and often describe the smell as sweet as nutmeg.
Research was completed in 2007 at Rockfeller University.
Tattoo Regret
"I regret!"
According to the New York Times, 17% of those who have a permanent tattoo regret getting the tattoo. Today there are laser treatments that a person can get to disperse tattoo ink into the body. Traditional tattoo ink may require 8 or more laser treatments costing thousands and still leaving some marks of the tattoo. However, newer tattoos that use Freedom 2 ink need only one laser treatment to disperse the ink into the body and remove the tattoo.
Rock Stars Die Young
He lived 8 years longer than his average counterpart
Indeed! Rock stars are twice as likely to die young than the average people. Mark Bellis, a researcher at Liverpool John Moores University, collected data on 1,064 rock stars. He discovered the following:
American rock stars live on average 42 years.
European rock stars live on average 35 years.
She Wants Him to Be Like Her Daddy
Lynda Boothroyd lead a Polish study to see whether women were more or less attracted to men who looked like their fathers. The result was that a woman who during childhood enjoyed a good relationship with her father tends to chose men with similar physical features as her father's features. A woman who did not have a good relationship with her father was attracted to men whose physical features did not resemble those of the girl's father.
Anti-social Teen Girls Gain Weight
In 2008, Adina Lemeshow, at Harvard University, studied weight gain of 4,500 junior high and high school girls. She found that unpopular or anti-social girls gain more weight. Specifically, the study found that unpopular girls are 70% more likely to gain 11 pounds in two years. Without friends, young girls tend to seek solace in eating and careless about how they look physically.
Cellular Phone Radiation Causes Insomnia
No deep sleep for tonight!
Bengt Arnetz, a Swedish researcher whose finding was published in BBCnews.com in 2008, discovered that radiation your brain receives from using the cell phone before bed can keep you up at night. People, in the study, whose brains were exposed to cell phone radiation not only slept less, but did not reach a state of deep sleep.
A Myth: You Yawn Because You Need Oxygen
Italian Prime Minister Prodi cooling his brain.
State University of New York researchers questioned the old myth that a person yawns because of a need to increase oxygen levels. The researchers concluded that people yawn to allow air in to cool their brains. In their experiment, the researchers found that those who watched others yawn had the urge to yawn as well. However, those who held an ice pack to their forehead or those who breathed with their noses did not have the urge to yawn.
Left Handed: Good News and Bad News
Johns Hopkins University and Lafayette College researchers found out that left-handed men who graduate from college make 26% more than their right-handed counterparts.
Left handed people die on average 9 years earlier than right-handed people.
50% of the last 12 presidents of the United States have been left-handed (including President Barack Obama) (The Washington Post). How come only 11% of people are left-handed, but 50% of US presidents of the last half century are left handed?
In the early 1900s, only 3% of people were left handed. Today 11% are. A century ago, left-handed children were trained to be right handed in order to fit what was considered to be the norm.
Masculinity and Cars
Real men drive this car! Not the Hummer!
When you threaten a man’s masculinity, you can more easily sell him an SUV. In a study done by Cornell University researchers, two groups of men were given a bogus analysis. Men in one group were told that they exhibited weak masculine characteristics, and the men in the other group were told that they did not. The men whose masculinity was questioned were much more likely to support wars and convey a desire to own an SUV.
Don't Trust Phone Conversations
Most likely he's lying.
People lie most during phone conversations. A Cornell University study found that 37% of college students' phone conversation is telling lies. People tend to be more truthful in face to face conversations and in anything written (including text messaging).
ZZZZZZ: Drowsy Driving
Americans are getting much less sleep today, resulting in many accidents. Drowsy driving is the cause of 100,000 accidents, 1,500 deaths, and 40,000 injuries each year (USA Today). The main cause of sleep deprivation is technology. Many Americans suffer from addiction to the use of technological devices late into the night.
Hang up and Step on the Gas
Traffic today is 10% slower thanks to cellular phones. According to researcher David Strayer, at the University of Utah, motorists who use cell phones drive slower and do not pay much attention to traffic speed changes around them causing an estimated traffic delay of about 10%.
Smell Can Make You or Break You
Sweat Smell Improves Test Scores
In 2006, Rice University researchers found that smelling the odor of fear could improve test results. They gathered men’s sweat from two groups of men: some who watched a horror movie and others who did not get scared. They asked a group of women to smell the sweat and complete language quizzes. Women who smelled the sweat of the scared men did much better than women who smelled the sweat of men who were not scared.
Fries and Anxiety
Peppermint and cinnamon smells decrease the level of anxiety and frustration, while smells of pastries and fast foods increase anxiety and frustration.
Scent Advertising: Is it the New Vogue?
Kentucky Fried Chicken uses scent dispensers from carts that deliver lunches in office buildings. James O'Reilly, KFC's chief marketing officer, believes that the fresh scent of fried chickens is better advertisement than other traditional methods of advertisement.
Momma's Calling
Children ages 6-12 are more likely to wake up hearing their mother’s voice calling their name than hearing the sound of a home smoke alarm (Newsday).
Old, Mature, and … Honest or Grumpy?
In 2008, University of Michigan researchers completed a 13-year study about human relationships. The following are the study results published in LiveScience.com: The younger the person is the more that person is involved in fighting and bickering with all of his/her relationships (friends, parents, siblings). The older the people get the less they fight with family and friends. Older people are choosier in selecting the right people they get along with to build relationships. Nevertheless, married couples showed opposite results. Younger couples bickered and argued less. The older they got, the more they irritated each other. The study concluded that this is a result of having stronger, closer, and more honest relationship.
Good News for Organized People
According to New Scientist, if you are a very meticulous and organized person, you are less likely to get Alzheimer’s disease.
Lose Your Brain over Worry!
Australian study revealed that those who worry much are 40 times more likely to develop some degree of dementia later in life, though not all dementia cases were Alzheimer’s disease.
IQ and Money
In 2007, economist Jay Zagorsky, at Ohio State University, studied the relation of IQs and financial status of 7,500 people. The following is the conclusion of his study:
For every IQ point a person made $200 to $600 more annually. For example, a person with an IQ of 140 made about $8,000 more per year than a person with an IQ of 120.
However, those with lower IQs tend to save their money and use it more wisely.
Free Money Anyone?
A study at the University of British Columbia in 2008 proved that people found happiness and satisfaction NOT from money they have earned and spent on themselves, but from money they spent on other people. This theory proves an old-time saying from the Bible: “It is better to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
It's All in the Handshake
The strength of your handshake is in your genes. State University of New York at Albany found in a study of 143 men that those with strong handshake were healthier and had more aggressive male dominant characteristics. The study found that the strength of a handshake was mainly determined by the genes, and not by the man’s muscularity.