Psychological science tells us what we already know.

From the treasure trove of Psychological studies, we here at IB Psychology delve into our basket of goodies to bring you a lot of stuff you no doubt already know:

• We judge naked people as having less self-control.
  
• Pain is felt intensely when it's intentionally inflicted.
  
• Relationships are more exciting when they're secret.
• Trying too hard at something can make us rubbish at it.

Pervy

This may make you think differently about those photos you've been posting to Facebook. 

Seeing someone without their clothes my not cause us to objectify them, but we certainly start to think differently about them. Participants were shown pictures of the same target individuals who were either shown wearing clothes, topless or, ahem, wearing just a smile.

Unsurprisingly, naked individuals were perceived as having less control over themselves and also as having more access to 'experience'. When pictured clothed, the same individuals were rated as being more 'capable' and 'competent'. 

Ecological validity? Probably pretty good. If I was walking through my university and just happened perchance (no way was I hiding up the tree!) to see a drunken, naked frat run. That is exactly what I would be thinking - not very competent but much more open to experience.

Secret spice

We all love a secret. Secrets can be endlessly obsessed over. Those with whom we share secrets seem more exciting and we feel that we have a much closer bond. Secretly playing footsie under a table at an experimenter's behest makes us rate our experimental partner as being much more attractive, than when this footsie was carried out openly.

The best IB Psychology IA experiment to replicate, ever?

Performance anxiety

Have you ever been involved in close golf game with a friend where maybe a $20 is on the line? It's the 18th hole, scores are tied and you've both reached the green on the same number of shots. This putt is important. You line up your shot thinking hard about angles and how much power to put into your shot. The $20 is there in your thoughts. The shot you now play is going to be the worst you've made all day. You choke. 

A few conditions in this experiment. Participants were explicitly told not to over hit the golf ball. In some instances while putting they were instructed to remember a six-figure number. And all putts took place in a darkened room where the putter either glowed in dark or didn't. A glow in the dark putter enabled participants to see it in their hands and actively self monitor their shots. 

Being told not to overshoot the hole led to way more holes being overshot. Keeping a six figure number in your head makes it worse. Being able to monitor your shot made it worse again. The moral of the story. Relax and enjoy your golf.

Relax and enjoy your golf to reduce your 20 handicap

This will hurt me more than it hurts you

Psychological and physical pain are intertwined. Some of that psychological pain can have a social component. When we believe others are intentionally harming us. It hurts more.

MALE BIAS AGAINST OBESE WOMEN.

You are on a jury, the facts and evidence are being presented and it's your job to weigh all of that information and make a judgement on the defendant's guilt. Most people could do this objectively and not let personal biases influence their decisions, right?

Wrong. There is a double whammy when you're a black defendant in the American justice system. We have known for a long time that black Americans are far more likely to be convicted than their white counterparts, and given harsher prison sentences when found guilty (see Three Worst Jury Verdicts).

Thanks to a team of Yale researchers, we now know that the criminal justice system is likely to be influenced by other negative stereotypes too. In the study, mock jurors were presented with a case of cheque fraud. The defendant was identified from one of four photographs (the experimental condition): large female, slim female, large man or slim man.

There was no fat bias when men and women were evaluating the guilt of the male defendants, and no fat bias emerged when female participants were judging the female defendants. But male jurors were significantly more likely to exhibit a fat bias when assessing the guilt or innocence of the female defendants. Males were more likely to judge fat women as being more likely to be guilty of cheque fraud on the basis of the same evidence, than the slimmer defendant.

But wait, it gets worse ... Slim male participants were the worst of all. Not only were they much more likely to find the obese woman defendant guilty, they were more likely to ascribe the obese woman defendants as being 'repeat offenders' and 'having more awareness of their crimes'.

As you explore the IB Psychology learning outcome: 'Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behaviour', you will come to learn that that these negative stereotypes are activated automatically and below the level of conscious thought. They are also very, very difficult to overcome. Crash diet if you're a woman facing jury trial in America?