Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave

by Adam Alter

  Red is better for vigilance; blue for creativity: Mehta, R., and Zhu, R. J. (2009). Blue or red? Exploring the effect of color on cognitive task performances. Science, 323, 1226–1229.

  Olympians do better in red than in blue: Hill, R. A., and Barton, R. A. (2005). Red enhances human performance in contests. Nature, 435, 293.

  Referees award more points to red-clad competitors: Hagemann, N., Strauss, B., and Leissing, J. (2008). When the referee sees red. Psychological Science, 19, 769–771.

  Teams with black uniforms are more aggressive: Frank, M. G., and Gilovich, T. (1988). The dark side of self- and social perception: Black uniforms and aggression in professional sports. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1988, 54, 74–85.

  Black is associated with immorality; white with morality: Sherman, G. D., and Clore, G. L. (2009). The color of sin: White and black are perceptual symbols of moral purity and pollution. Psychological Science, 20, 1019–1025.

  Chapter 8: Locations

  Kowloon Walled City: Lambot, I., and Girard, G. (1999). City of darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City. Chiddingfold, UK: Watermark.

  Autistic, brain-damaged, and normal children in hospital: Hutt, C., and Vaizey, M. J. (1966). Differential effects of group density on social behavior. Nature, 209, 1371–1372.

  College students donating milk cartons: Bickman, L., Teger, A., Gabriele, T., McLaughlin, C., Berger, M., and Sunaday, E. (1973). Dormitory density and helping behavior. Environmental Behavior, 5, 465–490.

  Problems with overcrowding: Zlutnick, S., and Altman, I. (1971). Crowding and human behavior, in J. Wohlwill and D. Carson (eds.), Environment and the social sciences: Perspectives and applications. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

  “Butt brush effect” in the supermarket: Underhill, P. (1999). Why we buy: The science of shopping. New York: Simon & Schuster.

  Apartment noise and reading skills in children: Cohen, S., Glass, D. C., and Singer, J. E. (1973). Apartment noise, auditory discrimination and reading ability. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 9, 407–433.

  Nature improves recovery after surgery: Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224, 420–421.

  Nature dampens the effects of stress: Wells, N. M., and Evans, G. W. (2003). Nearby nature: A buffer of life stress among rural children. Environment and Behavior, 35, 311–330; Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. New York: Algonquin.

  Nature calms children with ADD: Taylor, A. F., Kuo, F. E., and Sullivan, W. C. (2001). Coping with ADD: The surprising connection to green play settings. Environment and Behavior, 33, 54–77.

  William James on two types of attention: James, W. (1962). Psychology: The briefer course. New York: Collier. (Original work published 1892.)

  Attention restoration therapy: Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 169–182; Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., and Kaplan, S. (2008). The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. Psychological Science, 19, 1207–1212; Raghubir, P., Chakravarti, A., and Meyvis, T. (2012). The water conjecture: Does the presence of water increase the blue vote? Working paper, New York University; White, M., Smith, A., Humphryes, K., Pahl, S., Snelling, D., and Depledge, M. (2010). Blue space: The importance of water for preference, affect, and restorativeness ratings of natural and built scenes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30, 482–493.

  Nature helped Dutch students who watched horrific video: Van den Berg, A. E., Koole, S. L., and Van der Wulp, N. Y. (2003). Environmental preference and restoration: (How) are they related? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23, 135–146.

  Forest walks reduce stress: Tsunetsugu, Y., Park, B.-J., and Miyazaki, Y. (2010). Trends in research related to “Shinrin-yoku” (taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing) in Japan. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 15, 27–37; Ulrich, R. S., Simons, R. F., Losito, B. D., Fiorito, E., Miles, M. A., and Zelson, M. (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11, 201–230.

  Women with breast cancer think more clearly around nature: Cimprich, B., and Ronis, D. L. (2003). An environmental intervention to restore attention in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. Cancer Nursing, 26, 284–292.

  Teens and leisure time: Lewin, T. (January 20, 2010). If your kids are awake, they’re probably online. New York Times. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html.

  John Carpenter’s million-dollar win: Vigoda, A. (November 22, 1999). Million-dollar winner untaxed by celebrity. USA Today, 1D.

  Ogi Ogas struggles with the million-dollar question: Ogas, O. (November 9, 2006). A researcher uses his understanding of the human brain to advance on a popular quiz show. Seedmagazine.com, available at http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/who_wants_to_be_a_cognitive_neuroscientist_millionaire/.

  Fonts in the environment: Much of the information on fonts and their uses is from Garfield, S. (2012). Just my type. New York: Gotham.

  Cognitive Reflection Test: Frederick, S. (2005). Cognitive reflection and decision making. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19, 25–42.

  The full test:

  (1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? _____ cents

  Correct response: 5 cents. Intuitive and incorrect response: 10 cents.

  (2) If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? _____ minutes

  Correct response: 5 minutes. Intuitive and incorrect response: 100 minutes.

  (3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake? _____ days

  Correct response: 47 days. Intuitive and incorrect response: 24 days.

  Disfluent font makes people think more deeply: Alter, A. L., Oppenheimer, D. M., Epley, N., and Eyre, R. N. (2007). Overcoming intuition: Metacognitive difficulty activates analytic reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 569–576; see also Simmons, J. P., and Nelson, L. D. (2006). Intuitive confidence: Choosing between intuitive and nonintuitive alternatives. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135, 409–428.

  Fluency prompts deeper confessions on Grouphug.us: Alter, A. L., and Oppenheimer, D. M. (2009). Suppressing secrecy through metacognitive ease: Cognitive fluency encourages self-disclosure. Psychological Science, 20, 1414–1420.

  Fluent violations seemed more moral: Laham, S., Alter, A. L., and Goodwin, G. P. (2009). Easy on the mind, easy on the wrongdoer: Unexpectedly fluent violations are deemed less morally wrong. Cognition, 112, 462–466.

  Lighting in modern life: Gallagher, W. (1993). The power of place. New York: HarperCollins.

  Darker rooms prompted dishonesty: Zhong, C. B., Lake, V. B., and Gino, F. (2010). A good lamp is the best police: Darkness increases dishonesty and self-interested behavior. Psychological Science, 21, 311–314; digit summing task from Mazar, N., Amir, O., and Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45, 633–644. The three numbers that sum to 10 are 1.96, 3.27, and 4.77.

  Broken windows theory: Wilson, J. Q., and Kelling, G. L. (1982). Broken windows. Atlantic Monthly. Available online at http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/4465/.

  Cars, flyers, and littering: Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., and Kallgren, C. A. (1990). A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1015–1026; Cialdini, R. B. (2003). Crafting normative messages to protect the environment. Current Directions in Psy
chological Science, 12, 105–109.

  Study on Americans in Chinatown and Chinese supermarkets: Alter, A., and Kwan, V. S. Y. (2009). Cultural sharing in a global village: Evidence for extracultural cognition in white Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 742–760.

  Flashbulb memories: Brown, R. and Kulik, J. (1977). Flashbulb memories. Cognition, 5, 73–99.

  Vietnam veterans recovered surprisingly well from drug addiction: Robins, L. N. (1993). Vietnam veterans’ rapid recovery from heroin addiction: A fluke or normal expectation? Addiction, 88, 1041–1054; Robins, L. N., Davis, D. H., and Nurco, D. N. (1974). How permanent was Vietnam drug addiction? American Journal of Public Health Supplement, 64, 38–43.

  Classic psychology experiment on scuba divers and context-dependent memory: Godden, D. R., and Baddeley, A. D. (1975). Context-dependent memory in two natural environments: On land and underwater. British Journal of Psychology, 66, 325–331.

  Chapter 9: Weather and Warmth

  Heat leads to retaliation in baseball pitching: Reifman, A. S., Larrick, R. P., and Fein, S. (1991). Temper and temperature on the diamond: The heat-aggression relationship in major league baseball. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 580–585; Larrick, R. P., Timmerman, T. A., Carton, A. M., and Abrevaya, J. (2011). Temper, temperature, and temptation: Heat-related retaliation in baseball. Psychological Science, 22, 423–428.

  Heat leads to road rage: Kenrick, D. T, and MacFarlane, S. W. (1984). Ambient temperature and horn-honking: A field study of the heat/aggression relationship. Environment & Behavior, 18, 179–191. See also Baron, R. A. (1976). The reduction of human aggression: A field study of the influence of incompatible reactions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 6, 260–274. For a more general review, see Anderson, C. A. (1987). Temperature and aggression: Effects on quarterly, yearly, and city rates of violent and nonviolent crime. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1161–1173.

  Men confused anxiety for sexual attraction on a swaying bridge: Dutton, D. G., and Aron, A. P. (1972). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 510–517.

  Winter breeds love: Lam, D. A., and Miron, J. A. (1994). Global patterns of seasonal variation in human fertility. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 709, 9–28.

  Polish researchers showed that winter brings love: Pawlowski, B., and Sorokowski, P. (2008). Men’s attraction to women’s bodies changes seasonally. Perception, 37, 1079–1085.

  Why men prefer looking at women in winter: Svartberg, J., Jorde, R., Sundsfjord, J., Bonaa, K. H., and Barrett-Connor, E. (2003). Seasonal variation of testosterone and waist to hip ratio in men: The Tromsø study. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 88, 3099–3104.

  Harry Harlow and his baby rhesus monkeys: Harlow, H. F. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 673–685; background in Slater, L. (March 21, 2004). Monkey love. Boston Globe. Available at http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/03/21/monkey_love/.

  Warmth compensates for social isolation: Williams, L. E., and Bargh, J. A. (2008). Experiencing physical warmth promotes interpersonal warmth. Science, 322, 606–607; Bargh, J. A., and Shalev, I. (2012). The substitutability of physical and social warmth in daily life. Emotion, 12, 154–162.

  The role of the insula in trust and the sensation of warmth: Kang, Y., Williams, L. E., Clark, M. S., Gray, J. R., and Bargh, J. A. (2011). Physical temperature effects on trust behavior: The role of insula. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6, 507–515.

  Romantic films are more popular when it’s cold: Hong, J., and Sun, Y. (2012). Warm it up with love: The effect of physical coldness on liking of romance movies. Journal of Consumer Research (forthcoming). For an insightful take on the romantic comedy genre and why it appeals to people, see Angyal, C. S. (February 14, 2012). I spent a year watching rom-coms and this is the crap I learned. Jezebel.com. Available at http://jezebel.com/5884946/the-crappy-lessons-of-romantic-comedies.

  Frederick Cook and seasonal affective disorder: Gallagher, W. (1993). The power of place. New York: HarperCollins.

  Mood disorders affect artists and writers: Kay, J. (1989). Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in British writers and artists. Psychiatry, 52, 125–132.

  Sharks respond to hurricanes: Vatalaro, M. (May 2005). Sharks’ sixth sense. BoatU.S. magazine. Available online at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQK/is_3_10/ai_n13778822/.

  Foehn winds and Hitler’s headache: Hoffman, H. (1955). Hitler was my friend. London: Burke.

  Germans investigate effects of foehn winds on accident rates: Muecher, H., and Ungeheuer, H. (1961). Meteorological influence on reaction time, flicker fusion frequency, job accidents, and the use of medical treatment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 12, 163–168.

  American researchers investigate the role of ions in seasonal wind effects: Charry, J. M., and Hawkinshire, F. B. W. (1981). Effects of atmospheric electricity on some substrates of disordered behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 185–197; see also Giannini, A. J., Jones, B. T., and Loiselle, R. H. (1986). Reversibility of serotonin irritation syndrome with atmospheric anions. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 47, 141–143.

  Mercer’s quality-of-life ratings: Mercer’s 2011 report is available at http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/quality-of-living-report-2011.

  Bad weather improves memory: Forgas, J. P., Goldenberg, L., and Unkelbach, C. (2009). Can bad weather improve your memory? An unobtrusive field study of natural mood effects on real-life memory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 254–257.

  Financial stocks appreciate when the weather’s good: Hirshleifer, D., and Shumway, T. (2003). Good day sunshine: Stock returns and the weather. Journal of Finance, 58, 1009–1032; Saunders, E. M., Jr. (1993). Stock prices and Wall Street weather. American Economic Review, 83, 1337–1445.

  Daylight saving time hampers intellectual performance: Gaski, J. F., and Sagarin, J. (2011). Detrimental effects of daylight saving time on SAT scores. Journal of Neuroeconomics, Psychology, and Economics, 4, 44–53.

  Epilogue

  Edward Lorenz’s butterfly effect: Lorenz’s original paper is Lorenz, E. N. (1963). Deterministic nonperiodic flow. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 20, 130–141; background information from Mathis, N. (2007). Storm warning: The story of a killer tornado. New York: Touchstone; Palmer, T. N. (2008). Edward Norton Lorenz. Physics Today, 61, 81–82; Palmer, T. N. (2009). Edward Norton Lorenz, 23 May 1917–16 April 2008. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 55, 139–155.

  INDEX

  The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. To find the corresponding locations in the text of this digital version, please use the “search” function on your e-reader. Note that not all terms may be searchable.

  Academic achievement

  of labeled students, 40–41

  and noise exposure, 184–85

  red ink, effects on, 171–73

  Accidental death, and men, 105–6

  Advertising

  brand symbol, power of, 71

  in individualistic versus collectivistic cultures, 131

  Aesthetic preferences, and culture, 136–39

  Affiliation, human motivation for, 115–19

  Africa

  culture-bound disorders, 143–44

  nominative determinism in, 9

  visual discrimination differences, 126–28

  African Americans

  black males/crime association, 109–12

  racism and labels, 37–38

  stereotyping. See Racial stereotyping

  Aggression

  pink, effects on, 1–3

  and red, 175–76

  response to, and culture of honor, 141–43

  and seas
onal affective disorder (SAD), 215–16

  U.S. flag associated with, 67–68

  and weather, 205–9

  Aloneness. See Social isolation

  Animals

  feral children living with, 79–80

  weather, effects of, 216

  Anorexia mirabilis, 143

  Anorexia nervosa, 143

  Apathy, bystander nonintervention, 95–100

  Apple logo, 55–56

  Aptronyms, 7–8

  Armstrong, Stephen, 37–38

  Art

  aesthetic preferences and culture, 136–39

  and cultural ideals, 138

  Asch, Solomon, 131–33

  Associations. See also Labels; Symbols

  induced by colors, 165–67, 177–79

  subliminal priming, 109

  Athletic performance

  nominative determinism, 8

  and presence of others, 89–92

  and uniform color, 174–77

  weather, effects of, 205–6

  Attention

  directed, 187–88

  involuntary, 188

  and vigilance, 173

  Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

  label, dangers of, 49

  nature, effects on, 187

  Attention restoration theory (ART), 188–191

  Auroratone films, 160–61

  Avoidance motivation, 172–73

  Bailey, Donovan, 93

  Baker, Gene, 2

  Baseball, weather, effects on game, 205–6

  Beard, George, 48