The observation of the actions of any particular life form, which may include contemplation and study of the motives and processes underlying such actions.

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0answers
155 views

Is peeing in the streets as a common habit in India, a common habit in the other countries too? [closed]

I saw them in some cities in India during my one month trip myself. I tried an on line research and found it is a negative behavior even in India as you can read here by an Indian woman: Anywhere ...
4
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0answers
187 views

Do cats have a chemical in their brains that resembles LSD?

So while our cat was acting "crazy" this evening tearing from room to room and pouncing on on nothing, my wife and I were laughing at its behaviour. During discussions she mentioned hearing that cats ...
7
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1answer
110 views

Does florescent lighting in schools correlate to increased illness and behavior problems?

A morning talk radio program was discussing Scotopic sensitivity syndrome and made the claim that in schools where Florescent lighting had been replaced with indirect non-florescent lighting had more ...
4
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2answers
857 views

Correlation between MAO-A gene and murderers / sex offenders

The MAO-A gene, also known as the "Warrior gene", is thought to cause increased antisocial and violent behavior patterns in people who have experienced an abusive childhood. [ref] Caspi et. al. found ...
18
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2answers
1k views

Are heavy metal music listeners more likely to commit crimes?

It has been suggested (particularly in the 1980s) that individuals that listen to heavy metal are more likely to be commit a crime, as shown here and here. Have any studies statistically shown so?
10
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1answer
424 views

Are STEM (science tech engineering math) suffering a shortage of people in the US?

I have been always hearing of not enough people in the science and technology field in the US. The government is always coming up with initiatives to increase the number of people. From my experience ...
1
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0answers
361 views

Do colours affect consumer behaviour? [closed]

I occasionally see articles from individuals working in marketing making claims about how colour affects consumer behaviour. For example, the infographic below describes how to produce a 'landing ...
6
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1answer
788 views

Do people who write down their goals achieve them?

In my high school 10 years ago, and at least 10 years prior and to this day, the staff has been using the Power of Positive Students (POPS) program to motivate students to do better and stuff. They ...
111
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2answers
36k views

Was the experiment with five monkeys, a ladder, a banana and a water spray conducted?

I've found the following picture online. It is about the moral/paradigm behind consistent behavior. Click to enlarge. The image text says A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage ...
3
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1answer
352 views

Do artificial colours in food cause hyperactivity in children?

As someone who works with children, I frequently hear people say that giving children food with artificial colouring (or, sometimes, artificial sweeteners) causes them to be hyperactive, louder, or ...
4
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0answers
185 views

Are shoppers disproportionately more likely to buy an item if it costs $3.95 (compared to $4.00)? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: The origin of "99 cents" I find that there are disproportionately many price tags that say $3.95, $69.99, $198, etc. See amazon.com for example. I suppose the ...
7
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1answer
2k views

Do people intuitively turn a particular direction?

I am wondering if any research has been done on whether human beings tend to turn left or right more often (say when attempting to traverse a virtual maze.) As a subquestion that need not ...
3
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1answer
507 views

Was there ever a cannibalistic butcher/meat pie/restaurant… shop?

Has there ever been a real case of Sweeney Todd's (without the musical of course)? As it seems a really non cost effective way of running a shop, similar stories pop up in few different cultures (as ...
3
votes
1answer
455 views

Does unplugging your stereo while playing can damage it? [closed]

When you unplug your stereo from the source while playing music, it usually makes a scratchy sound. I haven't seen any stereo broken from an unplug. I did it a couple of times on my stereo and it ...
10
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0answers
2k views

Does listening to rap music increase violent behavior?

Related (Kind of) Classical music in public places: does it affect violence? Do violent video games cause violent behavior? Can music incite murder? I've heard many people say that listening to ...
9
votes
1answer
482 views

If 1 in 10 is convinced, will the rest follow?

This sounds completely bogus to me, but the source is reputable: Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, ...
11
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2answers
522 views

Is it possible to determine if a person is telling the truth by which direction they look?

I have heard that people look up and to the left if they are not truthful, and up and to the right if they are telling the truth. Is there any truth to this?
7
votes
1answer
2k views

Can you “learn” to wiggle your ears?

My friend knows how to wiggle his right ear only, and I tried to wiggle my ears as well, but he told me that I can't learn it, it has to be natural. Is there any study on this, or is it actually ...
1
vote
1answer
597 views

Are people more likely to believe eloquent people?

Do a majority (e.g. >50%) of people form positive opinions about an individual's knowledge on the subject matter if the speaker/writer is more eloquent(well versed in grammar, clear and concise)? An ...
7
votes
1answer
299 views

Did an ostrich pull off its own head?

In The Runaway Brain by Christopher Wills, the author illustrates the fact that ostriches aren't too bright by saying that an ostrich has been recorded as getting tangled in the fork of a tree, ...
3
votes
1answer
417 views

Are shopping centres busier when it rains?

My old house mate told me this. And when I went to the shopping mall recently, I realized it was raining and it did seem unusually busy. I would've thought it'd be the opposite. If it's raining, I'd ...
18
votes
1answer
359 views

Do lower speed limits reduce gasoline usage?

There are three parts to this question: Does speed have an effect on miles-per-gallon? Is there a more accurate causal effect than speed that would also cause a connection at varying speeds? ...
19
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1answer
785 views

Is sitting dangerous?

I recently was e-mailed this link: Sitting down is killing you. Apparently this is based on a medical study and much of what is said in this range of adverts campaigning against sitting down makes ...
19
votes
2answers
9k views

Does plucking/epilation impact hair growth?

I've recently encountered the idea that plucking an area of hair (say, with tweezers) causes the hair to grow back thicker/denser/stiffer etc. yet I remain skeptical. This concept is rampant with ...
15
votes
0answers
3k views

Does technology have a negative effect on attention span?

Is it true that today's "information age" with the internet, TV, cell phones, movies, iPhones, etc can decrease your attention span? Society's impatience and short attention span is becoming a ...
9
votes
2answers
805 views

Classical music in public places: does it affect violence?

This article explains some British experience on playing classical music in public places and the effect on behaviour of people. It seems that the feeling (was it measured?) was that it prevented ...
11
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2answers
2k views

Can blood group affect behavior?

In Japan, blood group is believed to have ties with behavior. Is there scientific evidence for it?