Maia Szalavitz on December 28, 2007 4:10 PM
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I am a huge fan of randomized controlled trials and about as hard-core as it gets in supporting evidence-based interventions whenever possible. But I was nonetheless troubled by the study Science published last week, in which Romanian orphans were randomized to receive either foster care or to stay in an orphanage.
Unsurprisingly, the research found a large 8 point difference in IQ between those given foster parents and those left behind and confirmed all the results from animal research and unfortunate “natural experiments” which show that the longer a baby languishes without specific parental care, the more damaged he is likely to be.
Continue reading 'Disturbing research on orphans from Science' >
Maia Szalavitz on December 21, 2007 3:12 PM
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What does it take to shut down an abusive school? Perhaps the fact that it has just replicated an experiment notorious both for being ethically problematic and showing how easy it is to get normal people to "just follow orders" to hurt others? Remember Milgram from Psych 101?
Continue reading ''Shock school' inadvertently replicates Milgram's obedience study' >
Joey Seiler on November 2, 2007 3:14 PM
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Doron Friedman, Anthony Steed and Mel Slater at University College London, UK, wanted to study whether people interacted differently in virtual worlds from real life. To do so, they created SL-bot, the first walking, talking, recording, wino robot in Second Life. "When it walks around it looks a little spooky" says Friedman. "It looks a bit drunk actually, but it is a great way to get data."
Continue reading 'Researchers study personal space in virtual worlds by getting their robot drunk' >
