In the gift exchange game there are n players and n wrapped gifts. When a player’s number is called, that person can either choose one of the remaining wrapped gifts, or can “steal” a gift from someone who has already unwrapped it, subject to the restriction that no gift can be stolen more than a total of σ times. The problem is to determine the number of ways that the game can be played out, f...

The Poggendorff illusion refers to the phenomenon that the human brain misperceives a diagonal line as being apparently misaligned once the diagonal line is interrupted by two parallel edges, and the size of illusion is negatively correlated with the angle of interception of the oblique, i.e. the sharper the oblique angle, the larger the illusion. This optical illusion can be produced by both r...

la question de l’interaction entre le lecteur et le personnage est cruciale en toute étude en littérature fictionnelle. pourtant, malgré l’intérêt que les chercheurs portent depuis longtemps à l’examen de cette relation, celle-ci n’a été que rarement l’objet d’une étude méthodique. c’est pour combler ce manque que vincent jouve propose sa théorisation sur « l’effet-personnage ». le modèle prése...

This study explored one of the less studied types conspiracy theories, namely those concerned with business, organisations and industry. In all, 400 participants completed a 60-item questionnaire which covered number areas such as dishonest advertising, bribery corruption. Given opportunity to respond “don’t know”, large (>25%) responded that way very specific questions. Overall, it seemed cons...

We report a novel fat face illusion that when two identical images of the same face are aligned vertically, the face at the bottom appears 'fatter'. This illusion emerged when the faces were shown upright, but not inverted, with the size of the illusion being 4%. When the faces were presented upside down, the illusion did not emerge. Also, when upright clocks were shown in the same vertically a...

Why do people volunteer? What makes people give their time for others? Is volunteering really for those who are in need or volunteers themselves? While the idea of the gift and gift exchange is often used by practitioners of volunteering, it is also one of the research areas to which anthropology has largely contributed over decades. Gift exchange is a significant social phenomenon which reflec...