What keeps friendships alive?
aying in touch every two weeks. Via New York Times: In search for the keys to enduring friendships, a physicist and sociologist from Notre Dame examined more than 8 million phone calls between 2 million people. Their answer, as the science news site PhysOrg admits, may not surprise you: “the leading cause of persistent relationships is reciprocity — returning a friend’s call.” Further, they said friends ’til the end tend to touch base at least once every 15 days. Join…
1 min read
Can depression be a good thing?
least in adolescents, depression can help people drop unattainable goals and move on which promotes quality of life in the longer term: Propositions derived from evolutionary biology and personality psychology suggest that depressive symptoms may serve adaptive functions by enabling people to adjust to unattainable goals, which in turn promotes quality of life. The authors tested this hypothesis in a longitudinal study of adolescent girls involving 4 waves of data collected over approximately 19 months. The authors expected that…
1 min read
Is what we eat determined by who we eat it with?
you're a woman, yes. Women consume notably less calories when eating with a man. In groups, women eat less the more men that are present. New diet, ladies: only eat with guys: If you are a woman who dines with a man, chances are you choose food with fewer calories than if you dine with a woman. That is one of the findings in a study conducted by researchers at McMaster University. And: By observing students in naturalistic settings…
1 min read
Could orange juice be an aphrodisiac?
's probably not an aphrodisiac per se, but people given high doses of vitamin C reported having sex more frequently: BACKGROUND: Ascorbic acid (AA) modulates catecholaminergic activity, decreases stress reactivity, approach anxiety and prolactin release, improves vascular function, and increases oxytocin release. These processes are relevant to sexual behavior and mood. METHODS: In this randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled 14 day trial of sustained-release AA (42 healthy young adults; 3000 mg/day Cetebe) and placebo (39 healthy young adults), subjects with partners recorded…
1 min read
What activities can actually make you smarter?
yBlog has a piece breaking down the research behind the various activities touted as brain-improving. What's the final verdict? Brain-training software/games: Verdict: Evidence for the benefits of cognitive training for everyday functioning is still very limited. Brain training software currently available is mostly 'inspired by science' rather than based on it. Treat marketers' claims with extreme scepticism. Side-effects are probably limited to repetitive strain injury and a depleted wallet. Drugs: Verdict: Amongst the chemical cognitive enhancers Modafinil is currently fashionable…
2 minutes
What music will we probably enjoy for the rest of our lives?
a Rob Brooks' interesting book Sex, Genes & Rock 'n' Roll: How Evolution Has Shaped the Modern World: A recent study by Steve Janssen at the University of Amsterdam shows that the bands and songs people remember most clearly and fondly in middle age are the ones they came to love between the ages of 16 and 21 -- late adolescence and early adulthood. By contrast, when asked to name favourite books and movies, people favour more recent works. The…
1 min read
What do we know about very materialistic people?
ey're probably very unhappy with their lives: Previous research has shown that materialism relates negatively to satisfaction with many life domains. The present study broadens this body of research by examining the relationship between three dimensions of materialism and eight quality of life (QOL) domains in a large, diverse sample of U.S. respondents. Two hypotheses were tested: First, overall measures of materialism and satisfaction with QOL were thought to be inversely related. Second, the three dimensions of materialism and QOL…
1 min read
How does gender affect teamwork at the office?
ams with men and women performed better: We investigate whether the gender composition of teams affect their economic performance. We study a large business game, played in groups of three, where each group takes the role of a general manager. There are two parallel competitions, one involving undergraduates and the other involving MBAs. Our analysis shows that teams formed by three women are significantly outperformed by any other gender combination, both at the undergraduate and MBA levels. Looking across the…
2 minutes
