Do happier people live longer?
s. People who reported the best moods throughout the day lived longer. From USA Today: ...new research says happy lives are longer — by 35%. The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that those who reported feeling happiest had a 35% reduced risk of dying compared with those who reported feeling least happy. And: "The fact that positive emotions in one day predicted survival is pretty amazing," says Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University…
1 min read
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
Do many small pleasures beat fewer larger ones?
om another great research review by Psyblog: Here's a perplexing study. Nelson & Meyvis (2008) had participants massaged for 3 minutes. However one group had a 20 second break in the middle while the others had a continuous massage. Who enjoyed it more? People predicted it would be the continuous massage, but they were wrong. People enjoyed the massage with the break more because the break stopped them becoming acclimatised to the massage. The enemy of happiness is adaptation. Unfortunately we get used…
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)…
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