Key To Subliminal Messaging Is To Keep It Negative, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2009) — Subliminal messaging is most effective when the message being conveyed is negative, according to new research funded by the Wellcome Trust.

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Gamers Are More Aggressive To Strangers

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 30, @05:20AM
from the xbox-live-proved-this-years-ago dept.

games

science

TheClockworkSoul writes"According to NewScientist, victorious gamers enjoy a surge of testosterone — but only if their vanquished foe is a stranger. Interestingly, when male gamers beat friends in a shoot-em-up video game, their levels of the hormone plummeted. This suggests that multiplayer video games tap into the same mechanisms as warfare, where testosterone's effect on aggression is advantageous. Against a group of strangers — be it an opposing football team or an opposing army – there is little reason to hold back, so testosterone's effects on aggression offer an advantage. 'In a serious out-group competition you can kill all your rivals and you're better for it,' says David Geary, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Missouri in Columbia, who led the study. However, when competing against friends or relatives to establish social hierarchy, annihilation doesn't make sense. 'You can't alienate your in-group partners, because you need them,' he says."

A Pet In Your Life Keeps The Doctor Away

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2009) — Lowers blood pressure, encourages exercise, improves psychological health— these may sound like the effects of a miracle drug, but they are actually among the benefits of owning a four-legged, furry pet.

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