Science

Prisoners BelieveThey Are Just as Law Abiding as Non-Prisoners

The belief that we consider ourselves better than our peers holds true to convicted criminals as well.
Research from the University of Southampton has shown that prisoners believe themselves to have more pro-social characteristics -- such as kindness, morality, self-control, and generosity -- than non-prisoners.
The research also showed that prisoners did not rate themselves as more law abiding than non-prisoners, but they did rate themselves as equal.
During the study, 79 prisoners from a prison in south England filled out a questionnaire, which asked them to rate themselves in comparison to the average prisoner and the average member of the community on nine traits. These were: moral, kind to others, trustworthy, honesty, dependable, compassionate, generous, self-controlled, and law abiding.
Participants rated themselves as superior to the average prisoner on all traits. Surprisingly, they rated themselves superior to the average community member on all traits as well, with one exception. Prisoners considered themselves as law-abiding as the average community member.
The study, published in the British Journal of Social Psychology also included researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London and Ohio University.

What Would Make You More Likely to Read This Story?

New research, published in the journal Social Influence, has found that question headlines are significantly more effective than declarative headlines in generating readership. The study by Linda Lai and Audun Farbrot of the Norwegian Business School, Oslo, looked at the impact of question headlines in computer-mediated communications.
Not only were question headlines more effective than declarative headlines, self-referencing questions (such as those including "you" or "your") were also found to generate higher readership than those without self-referencing cues.
The researchers conducted two experiments, one on Twitter and one on FINN™, a Norwegian shopping website similar to eBay. Over four months, a series of question headline and statement headline news stories were posted on a Twitter account with over 6,000 followers. Examples of two headlines on the same topic are: "Power corrupts" (control condition) and "Is your boss intoxicated by power?" (question headline with self-referencing cues). Readership was measured using the number of clicks to the ads.
Question headlines without self-referencing cues gained on average 150% more clicks, and question headlines with self-referencing cues on average gained 175% more clicks.

Study Supports Eliminating Restrictions On Hospital Visiting Hours

Removing restrictions on hospital visiting hours not only allows patients to spend more time with family and friends, it can enhance outcomes by lowering patient anxiety levels and feelings of social isolation, according to a study reported in the Journal of Healthcare Quality. In the United States, there is increasing support for eliminating visiting restrictions, which has been a common practice in European hospitals. Today, family and friends are viewed as patient advocates and many hospitals actively encourage more active patient and family involvement in clinical decision making. Morristown (NJ) Medical Center implemented a 24-hour visitation policy and measured patient satisfaction scores before and after the open visitation policy was implemented.
In the first eight months of the new policy (March -- Oct., 2012), the medical center had 14,444 visitors between 8:00 pm and 5:00 am, but there was no increase in the number of complaints by patients or visitors. After-hours visitors were greeted at a reception desk by a security officer and every patient had the right to determine who may or may not visit. Two visitors were allowed in a room.
Patient satisfaction survey scores rose after the open visitation policy and family members expressed positive comments about being able to visit their loved one before going to work.

Gardens Used to Reduce Landslides

With a technology developed at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the slopes of the roads could become monumental gardens, reducing the number of landslides and isolation between populations.
The main objective is to use it in rocky slopes because, besides obtaining green areas next to the roads, they can be safer with the planting of proper vegetation, given that the function of the plants is to retain the soil.
The researchers at UNAM, Aracadio Monroy Ata, have studied the procedures of a technique called hydroseeding that allows "green upholstery" to populate the slopes bounding the roads.
The Mexican development can be used for almost any type of vegetation in soilless or steep slopes, with an inclination up to 45 degrees; if a higher inclination is the case, up to 90 degrees, a yute (high resistance fiber from an herbaceous plant) mesh would be used, given that rain or another meteorological phenomenon could unstabilise the hydroseeding.