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Science Of Small Talk

The science of social behavior, one interaction at a time
by Sam Sommers
Sam Sommers, Ph.D., is a social psychologist at Tufts University. See full bio
November 7, 2009

Fort Hood Fallout

Psychologists call it illusory correlation. The idea is that when we think about others, we tend to overestimate the association between groups and distinctive actions. It's one of the ways in which societal stereotypes are perpetuated and endure . And it's exactly what has many an American Muslim concerned in the wake of this week's tragic shooting spree at the Fort Hood Army base... Read More

October 28, 2009

Searching for the Perfect Victim

In its most recent issue, Newsweek has a story on an ongoing string of unsolved murders in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The victims in these cases have been poor, Black, and–in some instances at least–have had criminal records. Read More

October 21, 2009

I'll Have What He's Having

The scene: New Orleans, the French Quarter. I'm out with college friends to celebrate the wedding weekend of a fellow buddy. It sounds like the set-up for a Vince Vaughn or Seth Rogen movie, but this story doesn't end in Judd Apatow-inspired, plastic-bead-related debauchery. Instead, it's a tale of mundane daily life with a social psychological moral... Read More

October 9, 2009

Obama’s Pyrrhic Prize

If my morning radio talk shows, workplace chatter, and Facebook news feed are to be trusted, the big topic of discussion this weekend is going to be Barack Obama's surprising win of the Nobel Peace Prize. Specifically, the first question most people are turning to–that is, after, wait, are you serious?–is whether this honor will help or hurt Obama politically... Read More

September 29, 2009

Thou Shalt Not... Copulate?

Why is Tufts, my university of employ, all over the news? Well, if you haven't yet heard, it's because we just instituted a formal policy prohibiting students from engaging in sexual activity while their roommate is present in the room. Read More

September 12, 2009

The Toolbox of Self-Deception, Part III

When you stop to think about it (and that's what we psychologists are trained to do), we enlist an impressive array of cognitive tactics and behavioral gambits in the daily effort to feel good about ourselves. We carry around a veritable toolbox of self-deception, including well more individual tools than I can catalog here. What follows is but a sampling of the more common strategies we employ in the daily pursuit of positive self-regard... Read More

September 9, 2009

The Toolbox of Self-Deception, Part II

When you stop to think about it (and that's what we psychologists are trained to do), we enlist an impressive array of cognitive tactics and behavioral gambits in the daily effort to feel good about ourselves. We carry around a veritable toolbox of self-deception, including well more individual tools than I can catalog here. What follows is but a sampling of the more common strategies we employ in the daily pursuit of positive self-regard... Read More

September 6, 2009

The Toolbox of Self-Deception, Part I

When you stop to think about it (and that's what we psychologists are trained to do), we enlist an impressive array of cognitive tactics and behavioral gambits in the daily effort to feel good about ourselves. We carry around a veritable toolbox of self-deception, including well more individual tools than I can catalog here. What follows is but a sampling of the more common strategies we employ in the daily pursuit of positive self-regard... Read More

August 27, 2009

Erasing Race

A White woman, an Asian guy, and a Black guy are seated around a table. No, it's not the lead-in to a joke of questionable appropriateness. Rather, it's the source of the latest on-line controversy about race. Welcome to the tale of the competing Microsoft ads... Read More

August 19, 2009

Da Meaninglessness of Denials

Not long ago, a baseball tradition was continued. No, not the All-Star Game or any other midsummer classic to which the old-school baseball fan has grown accustomed. I'm talking about that newest of annual rites, the anonymous leaking of additional players who failed drug tests in 2003. Clearly, there's a lot that's interesting regarding the psychology of the contemporary baseball fan... Read More

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