Thomas, R. & Mark, N., “Population Size, Network Density, and the Emergence of Inherited Inequality,” Social Forces (forthcoming).
No, you can’t catch ‘gay’
Brakefield, T. et al., “Same-Sex Sexual Attraction Does Not Spread in Adolescent Social Networks,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (forthcoming).
Electrocution is better than change
Suri, G. et al., “Patient Inertia and the Status Quo Bias: When an Inferior Option Is Preferred,” Psychological Science (forthcoming).
Your ethics make me feel bad
Cramwinckel, F. et al., “The Threat of Moral Refusers for One’s Self-Concept and the Protective Function of Physical Cleansing,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (forthcoming).
I’m a zombie now, really!
IF YOU SWITCH TEAMS, how can your new team know to count on you? One way, according to new research, is for you to be aggressive against your old team. Players in a humans-vs.-zombies game of tag who switched sides from “human” to “zombie” and managed to kill (i.e., tag) a human identified more strongly as zombies. (The percentage of time spent as a zombie, or sharing in other zombies’ kills, didn’t increase this sense of identification.) Likewise, an analysis of NBA players who changed teams found that the number of blocked shots that players made in their first games against their old teams—but not the number of points, rebounds, or steals—predicted the number of assists the players made (that is, the amount they helped their new teammates) in the following games.
Toosi, N. et al., “Aggressive Acts Increase Commitment to New Groups: Zombie Attacks and Blocked Shots,” Social Psychological and Personality Science (forthcoming).
Kevin Lewis is an Ideas columnist. He can be reached at kevin.lewis.ideas@gmail.com.