How to quickly and easily become a better person
end more time out in nature: Four studies examined the effects of nature on valuing intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations. Intrinsic aspirations reflected prosocial and other-focused value orientations, and extrinsic aspirations predicted self-focused value orientations. Participants immersed in natural environments reported higher valuing of intrinsic aspirations and lower valuing of extrinsic aspirations, whereas those immersed in non-natural environments reported increased valuing of extrinsic aspirations and no change of intrinsic aspirations. Three studies explored experiences of nature relatedness and autonomy as underlying…
1 min read
Here’s How The Season Of Your Birth Affects Your Future Health And Success
, I'm not talking about astrology. (If you're a regular reader of this blog you can guess what my feelings on astrology might be.) This connection is indirect and has to do with who has babies when: Research has found that season of birth is associated with later health and professional outcomes; what drives this association remains unclear. In this paper we consider a new explanation: that children born at different times in the year are conceived by women with…
3 minutes
Is retirement lethal?
eviously I've posted on how retirement is correlated with cognitive decline. The proof keeps on rolling in: We investigate the relationship between aging, cognitive abilities and retirement using the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a longitudinal survey that offers the possibility of comparing several European countries using nationally representative samples of the population aged 50+. We use a version of the model proposed by Grossman (1972) as a guide for our empirical specification of the age-profile…
3 minutes
How To Stress Out Less And Reduce Worrying
body likes stressing and worrying. And, no, even if you think it keeps you sharp it's not good for you. It can cause all sorts of health problems over time, including messing up your memory and ability to pay attention: The authors report the first direct assessment of working memory capacity when people engage in worry. High and low worriers performed a random key-press task while thinking about a current worry or a positive personally relevant topic. High (but not…
3 minutes
How to make yourself happier in just a few seconds:
agine an important positive event in your life (like meeting your spouse) never happened. Mentally subtracting cherished moments from your life makes you appreciate them more, makes you grateful and makes you happier: The authors hypothesized that thinking about the absence of a positive event from one's life would improve affective states more than thinking about the presence of a positive event but that people would not predict this when making affective forecasts. In Studies 1 and 2, college students…
1 min read
Will you be able to cope when tragedy strikes?
, I'm not selling insurance. You may wonder about your ability to deal with extreme adversity -- or even extremely positive events. Turns out we can usually anticipate major events and quickly adapt. Chances are, you'll be fine: This paper addresses the question of when and to what extent individuals are affected by major positive and negative life events, including changes in financial situation, marital status, death of child or spouse and being a victim of crime. The key advantage…
1 min read
Things you didn’t know about happiness:
w to make yourself happier in just a few seconds Does giving really make us happier than receiving? Are women getting unhappier? Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce and happiness (Video) Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert discusses the science of happiness United States Gross National Happiness, measured via Facebook Status Updates Is happiness contagious? Happiness expert Martin Seligman on positive psychology (Video) Are the chronically ill happier if they give up hope? Can working on something frustrating make us happier? Are hourly…
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Can living like you’re young prevent aging?
some point we all wish we could turn back the clock. But is it as easy as merely acting as if you were still younger? To a good degree, the answer may be yes. Via BBC: Prof Langer recruited a group of elderly men all in their late 70s or 80s for what she described as a "week of reminiscence". They were not told they were taking part in a study into ageing, an experiment that would transport them…
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