Improbable Research

“Despite the possibility of mixed feelings of disgust and amusement hardly anything is known about the relationship between these emotions.”

Prompting researchers from Western Illinois University and the University of Toronto to investigate  – and in so doing constructing what maybe the only formal psychology study to have centred around the work of transgressive cult film-maker John Waters.The experimenters showed a two-minute disgusting/humorous clip from Waters’ 1972 film Pink Flamingos (an exercise in poor taste) to students “… attending a general psychology course at a large, public university in the Midwest United States” (possibly Western Illinois University?)
The clip highlighted lead character Devine engaging in behaviour featuring (an) extremely bad taste. In general, most of the students did report feeling simultaneously amused and disgusted – and further analysis of the results found that…

Valentine’s Day always brings the question “Can you catch a cold by kissing?” A 1984 experiment gave this answer: “Casual social encounters or kisses between infected and susceptible individuals are probably unlikely to result in the transmission of rhinoviruses.”

Here’s kissing data from the experiment. The citation and further quotations appear below it.

From New Scientist’s Feedback column:

HAVE you wondered why manufacturers have taken to adding scents to more and more consumer products – including car tyres (28 March 2009)? If so, a study in the US Journal of Consumer Research, has this answer: “Product scent may be particularly effective at enhancing memory for product information as a function of its ability to enhance a product’s distinctiveness within its surrounding context.”

Shorn of its clunky language, what this means is that if products have a smell you’re likely to remember them better. That makes sense to us. We always make a point of remembering which products are scented so we’ll be sure never to buy them again.

This month’s Bow-Tie-Wearing Science Book Reviewer of the Month is: Fred Bortz.

Karaoke-triggered killings and fights remind us why the Ig Nobel peace prize was awarded to the inventor of karaoke. The New York Times reports:

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

In 2004 the Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Daisuke Inoue of Hyogo, Japan, for inventing karaoke, thereby providing an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other.

Meena Kadri looks at the psychology of tile placement:

Disrupting Urination Norms
In Mumbai someone kindly explained to me the custom of putting wall tiles of gods from different religions along street facades. They’re positioned at pissing height – and act as a perfect deterrent in a reverent nation.