Psychology/Sociology stuff from the week 11-17/6/12

I love this story! Even though it does have a rather morose theme.
I remember Richard Wiseman wrote about it in his book 'Quirkology' -- it's a must-read book - do so if you haven't already!
Due to the curious mechanics of psychology, people are more likely to die, by any means, on their birthday - from accidents, diseases, strokes, cancer, and especially suicide... if you're a man.
Men, in general, tend to be more successful at suicide, even though more women attempt it (depression affects more women than men).
It's thought that the reason is the social pressure and expectations associated with the 'big day'. Most people want to reach it before they pop their clogs; already-depressed people are overcome by the expectations surrounding birthdays and are driven to kick the bucket by it.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-statistics-people-die-birthday.html
Quirkology:
http://www.quirkology.com/UK/index.shtml
Articles from Richard Wiseman's blog often appear in the entertainment section on my blog

Heterosexual couples are far more likely than homosexual couples to fall into the old stereotypical roles of 'man ignores health, woman nudges him to go to the doc'.
Both gays and lesbians tend to be far more mutually supportive when it comes to health, even though there is usually a discrepancy in health knowledge.
All the respondents had been in relationships for more than a decade.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-health-behavior-long-term-relationships.html

Hauls from bank raids are much smaller than you might imagine
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-banks-crime-doesnt-econometrics.html

Coffeehouses have gone to such extensive to make their stores seem so much like homes away from home, that some regular customers start to feel like they're owed a particular seat - 'their' seat.
Customers have become territorial - defending their favoured seat, and believing that buying something means they can linger for an unlimited amount of time, even if they didn't buy anything on that particular occasion.
"One girl argued that having the Starbucks' logo on her travel mug entitled her to stay as long as she wanted"
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-territory-professor-customers-stake-coffeehouses.html

Personalized e-mails put people off when they mention names, but draw people in when they don't.
Tailored product referrals, sent in higher number to established customers, works best as a marketing strategy, because new customers are put off by large numbers of adverts, and all are put off by unpersonal organisations behaving in a personal way
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-dear-insert-company-personalized-emails.html

'Research punctures 'modern' fathers myth -- except for nappies, that is'
"The study suggests that in the post Second World War era, fathers were more determined to cultivate much closer relationships with their children than they had experienced with their own fathers.
This was reinforced by important social trends, the reduction in average family size meant that many parents could devote more time to each of their children. A decrease in working hours and increased holiday time also meant that men had more time available to spend with their families."
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-modern-fathers-myth-nappies.html

A study has found that lesbian/bisexual women experience more abuse and/or sexual abuse than their heterosexual counterparts.
Butch women are more likely to be abused as children, and femme women are more likely to be sexually abused as adults.
This is a cultural problem - it can and must be stopped.
"Given the gravity of this widespread problem, identifying the most vulnerable among this group is critical."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-sexual-minority-women-victims-abuse.html

[video] 'A desensitized fool can be a little monster'
Repeated exposure to, for example, a joke, desensitizes people to its comic value or shocking content. This makes it difficult to judge whether other people will find that same joke funny or the content shocking.
On the other side of the metaphorical coin, sensitization can be achieved by preventing and discouraging exposure. This is how so many people loathe things like porn, whereas others treat it like the nutritional information on a packet of biscuits, and the Religious loathe homosexuals/homosexuality so much, whereas others just see two people being incwedibwy cute. Awww :D
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-desensitized-monster.html

Having sex with multiple partners con-currently poses an increased risk for STDs only when one partner imposes expectations of monogamy.
It is less risky to either not have sex with other people (like that'll work!) or operate an open relationship, so that transmission mitigation can be managed effectively.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-secret-pose-greater-infection-sexual.html

Anyone who's had a fever will know that the perception of their body doesn't necessarily match up with their actual proportions.
Phantom hands are wider, have shorter fingers, and bigger thumbs.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428695.200-phantom-hand-mapped-for-the-first-time.html

People who expect to decay more as they age, will do so, presumably because they develop bad habits, lower their expectations of themselves, work less to maintain their performance, and resultedly decay faster.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-attitude-age-dementia-diagnosis.html