Can gossip be a good thing?
finitely. It helps police bad behavior in a social network and relieves stress. Via Eurekalert: For centuries, gossip has been dismissed as salacious, idle chatter that can damage reputations and erode trust. But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests rumor-mongering can have positive outcomes such as helping us police bad behavior, prevent exploitation and lower stress. "Gossip gets a bad rap, but we're finding evidence that it plays a critical role in the maintenance of social…
1 min read
This Is What Your Relationships Are Worth In Dollars:
ving a better social life can be worth as much as an additional $131,232 a year in terms of life satisfaction: There is substantial evidence in the psychology and sociology literature that social relationships promote happiness for the individual. Yet the size of their impacts remains largely unknown. This paper explores the use of shadow pricing method to estimate the monetary values of the satisfaction with life gained by an increase in the frequency of interaction with friends, relatives, and…
3 minutes
Why do grandmom’s cookies taste better than anyone else’s?
tentions change how we experience things. Kindness does soothe pain and increase pleasure. Via Eurekalert: A nurse's tender loving care really does ease the pain of a medical procedure, and grandma's cookies really do taste better, if we perceive them to be made with love - suggests newly published research by a University of Maryland psychologist. The findings have many real-world applications, including in medicine, relationships, parenting and business. "The way we read another persons intentions changes our physical experience…
1 min read
5 Ways You Can Make A Great First Impression
me-dropping doesn't work. Flattery and mimicry do. Trying to seem smart makes you seem stupid. What you say about others says more about you. Mistrust is self-fulfilling. Expect that others will like you and they probably will. Join over 135,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: How To Make Your Life Better By Sending Five Simple Emails How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way…
1 min read
Do you end up liking what your Facebook friends like?
. The exact opposite seems more likely to be true -- we look at our friends tastes to figure out what not to like. Via Boston Globe: One of the great things about our new, socially networked world is that it expands out tastes -- supposedly. In theory, seeing what our friends like should help us discover new music, movies, and books. In reality, it doesn't work that way: A new study from Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society…
2 minutes
What’s the best thing to have after a heart attack?
happy marriage. Married people were 2.5 times more likely to be alive 15 years after a coronary bypass. Happily married people were 3.2 times as likely to still be around: Objective: To examine the effects of marital status and marital satisfaction on survival after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods: Participants were 225 people who had CABG between 1987 and 1990. Marital status at the time of surgery and marital satisfaction 1 year after surgery were used to predict…
2 minutes
What personality trait should you seek in a spouse?
nscientiousness was the trait most associated with long, happy marriages: In this study of 125 heterosexual long-wed couples, we examined both spouses' personality traits and relative differences in partner perceptions of personality as predictors of marital satisfaction, simultaneously for both husbands and wives. As hypothesized, each of the Big Five personality traits emerged as significantly associated with marital satisfaction though significant between-trait and between-sex differences were observed. Most notably, trait levels predicted marital satisfaction less consistently than positive reporting discrepancies…
1 min read
These Are The Factors Associated With Sexual Satisfaction
at was associated with sexual satisfaction? young age a sexually unreserved and a nonreligious childhood home early start of sexual life high education sexual assertiveness considering sexuality important in life reciprocal feeling of love use of sex materials frequent intercourse many-sided (versatile) sexual technique frequent orgasm Also interesting: women who started having sex at younger ages enjoyed it more. (Hat tip: Andy McKenzie): Comparisons of nationally representative survey data of the population ages 18–54 years in 1971 (N = 2252)…
2 minutes
