In Which I Inadvertently Subject Myself to One of the Most Controversial Psychology Experiments of All Time

It was the most beautiful airport security line I'd ever seen. Where exactly this beauty came from, I couldn't quite say, but there it was: an incredible aura of magic and mystery surrounding this crowd of waiting people, the likes of which I'd never experienced before. I felt awash with emotion: gratitude, for the guards who patiently asked for our boarding passes and IDs; kinship, with my fellow line-standers who complied so diligently with their requests; and awe, at this remarkable--nay, inspiring--feat of organizational prowess. "You guys run such a tight ship!" I told a nearby officer. His head tilted slightly to the left. "No, I mean, it's all so civilized!" I said. "Thank you?" he said. The line wasn't the first thing that had wowed me that morning in Denver. On the way to the airport, I'd gazed in reverence out the taxi window at what I was convinced was the most majestic mountain range on earth. As we passed by a couple unremarkable suburban houses I'd been devastated by their cuteness. I'd been blown away by how amazingly well the driver had navigated the wide straight roads toward the terminal. "You the man!" I'd said to him as he'd lifted my luggage from the trunk, and tried to give him a high five. "Um. You too, sir," he'd said. In fairness, there were reasons to be happy. Yesterday I'd helped wrap up a weeklong video project which, though it qualified for the highest echelons of dorkdom (an Introductory Psychology online series), had, for me, been ext...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news