As smart devices have evolved and improved, their popularity has increased rapidly. According to a Pew Internet report, more than half of all adults in the United States owned a smartphone in 2013, a 21% increase from 2011.
“Helicopter parents” — so called because they’re seen as overprotective or excessively interested in their children — have been both praised and criticized: They can improve students’ academic performance, but also dominate their children’s college and workplace interactions.
The NBA draft is just three months after March Madness every year, and NBA executives have to decide how a player’s performance over the games in March — a maximum of six, from the tournament’s first round to the championship game — should affect their draft decision. Is it possible that a player who can sustain a high level of performance in a few must-win games has demonstrated that he has what it takes to succeed on the highest stage?
In U.S. politics, religious and unaffiliated or nonreligious voters often appear to fall somewhat predictably on opposite sides of many controversial policy and “moral” issues. The issue of immigration reform and the degree to which religion plays a determinative role, however, has yet to be comprehensively studied, despite the fact that many religious leaders have voiced strong positions.
From the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock to every football end-zone display of faith, religion is often seen an essential part of the American identity. Gallup polls have consistently shown that the vast majority of Americans say they believe in God: 92% so did in 2011, down only slightly from the 96% who said yes in 1944.
Beliefs about how risky something is — from legalizing concealed handguns to allowing carbon pollution — are often shaped by deep cultural forces. The theory of “cultural cognition” suggests that individuals will interpret evidence, no matter how well supported by science, in ways that reinforce their connections to those with whom they share a worldview.
