I recently read an article in the magazine Psychology Today  that discusses a phenomenon in social perception called the Doppelgänger Bias .  For starters, a doppelgänger is a non-biologically related look-alike or double of a living person. In books and movies, it is sometimes portrayed as a ghostly or paranormal apparition and usually deemed a harbinger of bad luck. Our prior knowledge of a person -- whether he/she has treated you well or poorly -- determines how you act toward that individual in the future. But research suggests that a person's track record may also affect how you treat people who look like the person in question. In studies headed by Brown University neuroscientist Oriel FeldmanHall, participants played a money-sharing game with several "male partners" whose headshots appeared onscreen. (Players were lead to believe they were dealing with actual people, but the partners were virtual.) As the study participants played, they discovered these ...

A pregnant mother enrolled in college courses wasn't going to let labor get in the way of taking a college exam. Tommitrise Collins went into labor on November 12, and her sister posted a photo on her Facebook page showing Tommitrise in a hospital bed with her laptop open in front of her. Apparently, her contractions were three minutes apart, but that did little to deter her from completing the test. The post has been shared more than 14,000 times. Shortly after finishing the exam, Tommitrise delivered a healthy baby girl, weighing 7 lbs, 10 oz. Without a doubt, this woman's dedication to her studies is commendable. But some people assert that pictures of people in labor have no place on Facebook. They feel such content is personal in nature and should be kept out of the public eye. I think some people go great lengths to keep people apprised of everything going on in their lives -- and sometimes they may step over the line a bit. What was Collins' sister motiva...