Can a promotion at work save your life?
omotions reduce the chance of developing heart disease: The positive relationship between SES and health is well documented but limited evidence exists regarding the effect of an exogenous manipulation of SES on health. This article estimates the effect of promotions on heart disease using data on British civil servants from the Whitehall II study. Differences in promotion rates across departments and cohorts generate plausibly exogenous variation in promotion opportunities. The results suggest that promotions may reduce the probability of developing…
1 min read
Is bad truly stronger than good?
b Sutton, professor at Stanford's MBA school and author of Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst reviews a very interesting study, "Bad is stronger than good." Sutton chooses some excellent excerpts worth highlighting: Let us briefly summarize the evidence. In everyday life, bad events have stronger and more lasting consequences than comparable good events. Close relationships are more deeply and conclusively affected by destructive actions than by constructive ones, by negative communications than…
2 minutes
Can writing speed physical healing?
s. Psychological stress impairs the healing of wounds. Writing about your problems can reduce stress and speed recovery. OBJECTIVES: Psychological stress is believed to impair wound healing via a down-regulation of the immune system. Since previous research suggests that disclosure of traumatic experiences can result in an up-regulation of immune function, the present study aimed to investigate the impact of a disclosure intervention on the progress of wound healing. DESIGN: The study used a prospective, longitudinal design with random assignment…
2 minutes
Does reading fiction make us nicer?
s. Reading fiction makes us more likely to do kind things for others: Theorists from diverse disciplines purport narrative fiction serves to foster empathic development and growth. In two studies, participants’ subjective, behavioral, and perceptual responses were observed after reading a short fictional story. In study 1, participants who were more transported into the story exhibited higher affective empathy and were more likely to engage in prosocial behavior. In study 2, reading-induced affective empathy was related to greater bias toward…
1 min read
Are ethical people happier?
om Miller-McCune: “The just man is happy, and the unjust man is miserable,” Plato declares in The Republic. A noble thought, to be sure, but Socrates’ most famous student didn’t have data to back up his belief. Harvey James, on the other hand, does. The University of Missouri economist finds a relationship between life satisfaction and low tolerance for unethical conduct. And: “What I found is, generally, people who believe that these particular ethical scenarios are not acceptable also tend to indicate…
1 min read
Rude People Have Higher Credit Scores
ople who rate low on agreeableness have higher credit scores. From Science Daily: "With regards to personality and credit -- it makes sense that conscientiousness is related to good credit, but what was really interesting was that agreeableness was negatively related to your credit score," said Jeremy Bernerth, assistant professor in LSU's E. J. Ourso College of Business Rucks Department of Management. "That suggests easy-going individuals actually have worse credit scores than disagreeable and rude individuals. This suggests that agreeable…
1 min read
Comedy Is Good For You
om the Washington Post: There is a growing body of research indicating that a good guffaw may improve immune function, help lower blood pressure, boost mood and reduce stress and depression. And despite a dearth of more rigorous, long-term studies, the sum of these findings is compelling, says cardiologist Michael Miller, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who has researched the topic. “We don’t have any clinical outcome evidence to show that laughter will reduce heart attacks or improve overall survival. However, we do…
1 min read
3 Ways Bubble Gum Can Dramatically Improve Your Life
Yes, gum can make you smarter: Recent reports suggest that enhancement of memory performance while chewing gum is a fairly robust phenomenon. The processes underlying the effect are not known, but may involve glucose delivery, context-dependent effects and arousal mechanisms amongst others.This brief commentary outlines the main findings from these studies and raises some issues regarding interpretation, methodology and future research directions. Source: "Chewing gum and cognitive performance: a case of a functional food with function but no food?" from Appetite 43 (2004)…
3 minutes
