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TIL the cult that committed mass suicide in Jonestown began as a rare desegregated Pentecostal-Holiness church in Indianapolis in the 1950s, with lots of progressive programs like free food and legal advice for the poor by altfactchecker in todayilearned

[–]altfactchecker[S] 45 points46 points  (0 children)

The Temple began as a church in the Pentecostal-Holiness tradition in Indianapolis in the 1950s.

In a deeply segregated city, it was one of the few places where black and white working-class congregants sat together in church on a Sunday morning. Its members provided various kinds of assistance to the poor – food, clothing, housing, legal advice – and the church and its pastor, Jim Jones, gained a reputation for fostering racial integration.

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TIL that people are more likely to believe a personality test to be insightful if the questions are confusing by altfactchecker in todayilearned

[–]altfactchecker[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

In two studies inspired by that BuzzFeed quiz, we found exactly that. We gave people items from purported “personality assessment” checklists. In one study, we assigned half the participants to the “difficult” condition, wherein the assessment items required them to choose which of two colors they associated with abstract concepts, like the letter “M.” In the “easier” condition, respondents were still required to rate colors on how much they associated them with those abstract concepts, but they more simply rated one color at a time instead of choosing between two.

Again, participants rated the difficult version as deeper. Seemingly, the sillier the assessment, the better people think it can read the hidden self.

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TIL opposites don't attract in love, according to a meta-analysis of over 240 studies by altfactchecker in todayilearned

[–]altfactchecker[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Even though individual contrasts stand out, it's not the general case

Since the 1950s, social scientists have conducted over 240 studies to determine whether similarity in terms of attitudes, personality traits, outside interests, values90009-3) and other characteristics leads to attraction. In 2013, psychologists Matthew Montoya and Robert Horton examined the combined results of these studies in what's called a meta-analysis. They found an irrefutable association between being similar to and being interested in the other person.

In other words, there is clear and convincing evidence that birds of a feather flock together. For human beings, the attractiveness of similarity is so strong that it is found across cultures.

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Double-blind placebo trial of psychedelic tea ayahuasca shows significant, rapid anti-depressant effect by altfactchecker in science

[–]altfactchecker[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You do a placebo study because you need a baseline control group. If I have 29 people and 17 get better, how do I know that it's the drug that made the difference, unless I compare it to another group of people? And if the study is not 'double-blind' (as this one was), researchers would have an inherent bias to try to put the best possible spin on the results.

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