Researchers “Prove” that Anger Leads to Good Decision Making

Good decisions like this one I guess. From Live Science:

Previous research has shown that anger biases people’s thinking—turning them into bigger risk-takers and making them less trusting and more prejudiced, for instance.

But little has been done to study how, exactly, anger affects a person’s thinking.

So Wesley Moons, a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and his colleague Diana Mackie designed three experiments to determine how anger influences thinking—whether it makes people more analytical or careful about their decisions, or whether it leads people to make faster, rasher decisions.

In the first experiment, the researchers induced anger in a group of college students by either asking them to write about a past experience that had made them very angry, or by having their stated hopes and dreams harshly criticized by another participant. In a second group of students, anger was not induced.

The researchers later checked to be sure that the subjects were as riled up as they were supposed to be.

The two groups were then asked to read either compelling or weak arguments designed to convince them that college students have good financial habits. The strong argument cited research from numerous scientific studies, whereas the weak argument contained largely unsupported statements. The subjects were asked to logically evaluate the strength of the arguments they read and indicate how convinced they were by them.
The researchers repeated the experiment with a second group of students, this time giving the subjects an additional piece of information: who had made the arguments. Some students were told that the argument was made by an organization with relevant expertise in financial matters; others were told that the argument was made by a medical organization whose expertise was irrelevant to the financial topic being considered.

In both studies, the researchers found that the angry subjects were better at discriminating between strong and weak arguments and were more convinced by the stronger arguments. Those who were not made to feel angry tended to be equally convinced by both arguments, indicating that they were not as analytical in their assessments.

The angry students were also better at weighing the arguments appropriately depending on which organization had made them.

If being angry makes one make more rational arguments, then it stands to reason that the angry side of the blogoshpere would have the most compelling arguments. Let’s see if that holds up to some informal, unscientific scrutiny.

Robert Lindsay, a somewhat angry dude, explains why he’s moving:

This outrageous spectacle of a brown-skinned nuclear bomb detonating on the working class of America (including the Hispanic working class) has been outrageously cheered on by the entire US liberal-Left.

The farther to the Left (and the more supposedly pro-working class) the more they cheer on the illegal alien destroyers of jobs and wages. It is for this reason that I say that the US Left is the most anti-working class Left on Earth (because they support the illegal alien job- and wage-destroyers).

What is most sickening of all is that the only people complaining about t he job and wage-destroying effects of the illegal alien hordes are people on the Right, of all places, especially the Center-Right. Outrageous! The only defenders of the American working class against the illegal alien invaders driving them to penury are conservatives! Where is the Left? Siding with the enemy!

O.K., so his argument, whatever it is, isn’t the most rationally thought out. What about our friends at DailyKos, they seem angry. Let’s see if it helps their critical thinking. DavidNYC writes this of Lieberman’s hard line stance on Iran:

I could say a million things here, but I’ll just stick with the most obvious: If Lieberman really wanted to stop what he believes are Iranian-sponsored attacks on our troops, well, then, he should be demanding that we bring our troops home.

I guess that would stop Iranians from killing Americans in Iraq, but doesn’t Iran have plans that would lead us to butt heads later anyway? Plans like lobbing Nukes to and fro, cutting off America’s oil supplies when they rule the middle east and establishing a world wide caliphate? Wouldn’t a more rational argument be that we just can’t open another front in the war?

MYDD takes illogic a step further by juxtaposing generic comments made by Ricard Nixon and Joe Lieberman, which by their similar word structure are supposed to prove Lieberman is today’s Nixon.

This seems like a good decision.

This is rational.

Hmmmm. Maybe they’re reading the data wrong?

Malkin Evening Gown Linkbait (and Fashion Critique)

Her new Vent, now in ifilm format (nerd alert) is a Oscar satire. As is the case when Malkin and crew are heavily invested emotionally in an issue it seems light on the satire and heavy on the kicking of Bush and his cronies when they’re down. But it isn’t a bad way to spend almost ten minutes of your life.

She’s frankly a little more gracious than Linda Chavez, who’s now apologizing for calling Republicans who were against the immigration bill racists in a piece that strongly implies Republicans are indeed racists.

Laura Ingraham gets a nod from Malkin, as usual. Is there a girl crush between the two? is it wrong that I hope there is? Should I have an auxiliary gossip blog for such speculation?

Now as for the dress, I liked it but she could have been more daring. She’s tiny so she could have went couture as designers love petite celebs to drape their dress on. She was feminine but could have gone sexier with either more skin or a tighter fit.

I also think the jewelry was too understated for the camera, her dress was a little plain to go with a necklace that was so small, and since she was working with her hands a nice ring or bracelet would have would have worked well. Something bold like like Alex Soldier or maybe she should have went neo-Victorian. or even something fun and gothic like Alchemy.
She did look lovely however.

On a linkbait scale of one to ten, with Malkin in a cheerleader outfit being a ten, I give this a solid seven. In terms of of the debate on immigration, a little much.

I should talk though.

Lieberman: If Iran Wants Some, Let’s Give Them Some

Full disclosure, although I’m a Republican I was residing in CT during the elections and voted for Lieberman. Not just because of his strong foreign policy stance, but because Lamont supporters were so blase about the disclosure that he once belonged to an all White club that I wanted to make sure the guy they hated the most was elected.

But brave stands like this always make me proud to have supported Joe regardless:

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Finally a Democrat that doesn’t sound like an abused wife when talking about the conflict that will decide the future for our country. None of this “we should stop making them mad and they’ll stop hitting us” B.S., just good old fashioned “if you want some get some” Americana.

May the gods bless Citizen Joe. I’m with him all the way.

h/t Hot Air

A Fatwa Worth Noting

The Palestinian authorities Mufti has issued a Fatwa against emigration from the Palestinian territories. From JPost:

The sources said most of the applicants were young men seeking work abroad. They said the majority of them wanted to move to the US, EU and Canada.

The number of Palestinians who wish to emigrate increased significantly after the second intifada broke out in September 2000. Figures published by a number of Palestinian groups show that 50,000 to 80,000 people emigrated in the first few years after the violence erupted.

Dr. Nu’man Amr of Al-Quds University attributed the phenomenon to the harsh economic situation and the high rate of unemployment. “Most university graduates can’t find jobs here,” he said. “Even those who find jobs here are not receiving good salaries.”

Entitled “No Permission to Emigrate from Palestine,” the fatwa reads: “There has been much talk in Palestine about emigration, especially among the young people, due to the difficult security and economic situation. This is being done in search of a better life abroad. Many are continuing to rush to the gates of the embassies and consulates of the Western nations with requests for visas in order to reside permanently in those countries.

“We hereby declare that emigration from the blessed lands is not permitted according to religious law. The people living in these areas must remain in their homes and must not leave them to conquerors. Those who abide by this ruling will perform an honorable deed and will support the Aksa Mosque.”

However, the fatwa permits Muslims to travel abroad temporarily for study and work “as long as they are committed to returning and living in the blessed lands.”

So we see that the Fatwa is concerned mostly with the young men, cannon fodder for older Islamists, who are leaving the territories and may discover that they like living in a civilized fashion. You can only leave if you promise to come back and blow yourself up is the proper paraphrase for this one.

If the religious leader of the Palestinians is concerned only with ensuring that enough young men stay hungry and impoverished enough in the territories so that fighting the Israelis seems the best option for their lives, can peace ever be achieved there?