Weird Science makes friends with atheists to keep them happy

A fisher in the woods at night.

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Christians have happy tweets, atheists think too much. Social networking services allow behavioral questions to be examined using a large subject population. This one is no different, involving 16,000 Twitter users. The group was split in two based on simple criteria: do you follow one of a list of famous Christian figures, or do you follow someone from a comparable list of atheists (no word on how many people followed both). The researchers then analyzed the content of the tweets. Christians ended up using terms that suggested an intuitive thinking style and a focus on community; they were also generally happier. In contrast, atheists tended to be more analytic and less focused on social connections. This latter bit is important, as having social connections tends to keep people happier, and the authors think religion can help provide those connections.

Maybe we just need to give investment bankers smaller chairs. When yelling at you to stop slouching, your parents may have emphasized how posture influences how others perceive us. What they probably neglected to mention is that posture also influences how we see ourselves. And the truly weird thing is that this works even if we don't make any conscious choices about our posture.

The researchers set up chairs that either kept their subjects a bit constrained or allowed them to spread out into an expansive posture. Those who ended up with an open posture were more likely to steal money, cheat on a test, or break the law when in a driving simulator. The authors ascribe this to the fact that this sort of posture is generally associated with people being in a position of power. To see if there were any real-world consequences, the authors then turned to the streets of New York City, finding that cars that allowed their drivers to adopt an expansive posture were more likely to be illegally parked.