Can taking a shower make you less moralistic?
eories of moral judgment have long emphasized reasoning and conscious thought while downplaying the role of intuitive and contextual influences. However, recent research has demonstrated that incidental feelings of disgust can influence moral judgments and make them more severe. This study involved two experiments demonstrating that the reverse effect can occur when the notion of physical purity is made salient, thus making moral judgments less severe. After having the cognitive concept of cleanliness activated (Experiment 1) or after physically cleansing…
1 min read
How is it that prayer helps you — even if you’re an atheist?
m not religious, so this is not an attempt to convert anyone. A few months ago I posted from an abstract showing that the act of prayer can be beneficial -- even if you don't believe. Why is that? A new study gives some good insight: Many individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, but scholars know little about how prayer accomplishes this task. Using in-depth interview data from victims of intimate partner violence, I argue that prayer is an imaginary social support…
1 min read
Is there a way to trick yourself into exercising more?
o studies demonstrated that leading individuals to mentally reframe the time required for an exercise program (e.g., 2 hr per week) in terms of the equivalent daily amount (e.g., 17 min per day) reduced the perceived time commitment and increased people's willingness to try the program. Study 2 also identified a cognitive mechanism that mediated the effect of temporal framing on exercise intentions. Consistent with findings in other domains (Gourville, 1998), reframing exercise duration in daily units led participants to retrieve comparison activities…
1 min read
Here’s A Safe, Over-The-Counter Way To Treat Anxiety
a Elsevier Mental Health: Consuming more fish oil seems to significantly ease anxiety and inflammation among healthy young people... Half the students received omega-3 supplements while the other half were given placebo pills. Those receiving the omega-3 showed a 20 percent reduction in anxiety compared to the placebo group. Scientific studies have shown fish oil has a number of positive effects. The type I use is here. Join over 151,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: Read this if you are…
1 min read
What are proven tips that will help you achieve your goals?
rst, here's what doesn't work: By comparing the techniques of successful and unsuccessful resolution makers, he came up with a list of tips for staying the course when making changes in one's life. People who failed tended to dwell on the ''bad things'' that would happen if they did not achieve their goal, said the professor. They were likely to remove temptation from their surroundings, adopt role models, fantasise about being successful, and rely on will power. ''Many of these ideas are frequently…
2 minutes
Is optimism associated with better health?
positive outlook on life might lower your risk of having a stroke, according to new research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. In an observational study, a nationally representative group of 6,044 adults over age 50 rated their optimism levels on a 16-point scale. Each point increase in optimism corresponded to a 9 percent decrease in acute stroke risk over a two-year follow-up period.. "Our work suggests that people who expect the best things in life actively…
1 min read
The Most Wonderful Way To Reduce Your Chance Of Getting Prostate Cancer
ve lots of orgasms: Context Sexual activity has been hypothesized to play a role in the development of prostate cancer, but epidemiological data are virtually limited to case-control studies, which may be prone to bias because recall among individuals with prostate cancer could be distorted as a consequence of prostate malignancy or ongoing therapy. Objective To examine the association between ejaculation frequency, which includes sexual intercourse, nocturnal emission, and masturbation and risk of prostate cancer. Design, Setting, and Participants Prospective study using follow-up…
2 minutes
If you choose not to read this, will I get stupider?
a New Scientist: Rejection can dramatically reduce a person's IQ and their ability to reason analytically, while increasing their aggression, according to new research. And: "These are very big effects - the biggest I've got in 25 years of research," says Baumeister. "This tells us a lot about human nature. People really seem designed to get along with others, and when you're excluded, this has significant effects." Baumeister thinks rejection interferes with a person's self-control. "To live in society, people…
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