How will your personality change as you age?
eople show increased self-confidence, warmth, self-control, and emotional stability with age." Recent longitudinal and cross-sectional aging research has shown that personality traits continue to change in adulthood. In this article, we review the evidence for mean-level change in personality traits, as well as for individual differences in change across the life span. In terms of mean-level change, people show increased self-confidence, warmth, self-control, and emotional stability with age. These changes predominate in young adulthood (age 20–40). Moreover, mean-level change in…
1 min read
Does thinking quickly make life risky?
ster thinking made people more likely to take risks: In two experiments, we tested for a causal link between thought speed and risk taking. In Experiment 1, we manipulated thought speed by presenting neutral-content text at either a fast or a slow pace and having participants read the text aloud. In Experiment 2, we manipulated thought speed by presenting fast-, medium-, or slow-paced movie clips that contained similar content. Participants who were induced to think more quickly took more risks…
1 min read
What can we learn about self-control from successful dieters?
ep a reward in mind to resist temptation and stick to your goals: From Charles Duhigg's excellent book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business: When researchers affiliated with the National Weight Control Registry— a project involving more than six thousand people who have lost more than thirty pounds— looked at the habits of successful dieters, they found that 78 percent of them ate breakfast every morning, a meal cued by a time…
1 min read
How much of the day do we spend on autopilot – not thinking about what we’re doing?
om Charles Duhigg's excellent book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business: One paper published by a Duke University researcher in 2006 found that more than 40 percent of the actions people performed each day weren’t actual decisions, but habits. Join over 135,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: 5 ways to easily increase self-control What should you think about to immediately increase self-control? Is not doing something the…
1 min read
Can procrastination increase innovation?
a Harvard Business Review: ...in analyzing what I thought were merely stall tactics, I've come to realize that the anxiety caused by procrastination is actually a critical component to innovation. Research supports this. Anxiety, in the right quantities, can propel us forward. According to the Journal of Management, NASA scientists and engineers found that performance increases as deadlines shorten, but when the deadlines became too short, performance declined. Dr. Ellen F. Weber, award-winning founder of Mita Brain Center, states: "while…
1 min read
Is pink the absolute worst color to represent breast cancer?
nder cues (like the color pink) make women less likely to think they will get breast cancer and less likely to donate to the cause. Via Harvard Business Review: The finding: Seeing the color pink makes women less likely to think they’ll get breast cancer and less likely to donate to cancer research. The research: Stefano Puntoni ran a battery of experiments in which he primed women with gender cues by, for example, showing them ads dominated by the color…
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What 2 easy negotiating tricks can save you hundreds on your next car? What can save you thousands?
nd out what the dealer pays for the car and visit two dealerships. Just doing those two things saves most people $230. If you can do those two plus you enjoy bargaining and are willing to do research you can save $800. Via Eurekalert: Through surveying more than 1,400 car buyers, Silva-Risso and his co-authors, Fiona Scott Morton, of Yale University, and Florian Zettelmeyer, of Northwestern University, found buyers could save about $800 if they find out what a dealer…
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10 quick ways to improve your life, distilled from tons of research:
bsp; Richard Wiseman's excellent book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute ends with a top ten list of quick, research-based advice. Here are some highlights: Develop the Gratitude Attitude. "Having people list three things that they are grateful for in life or three events that have gone especially well over the past week can significantly increase their level of happiness for about a month." Be a Giver. "People become much happier after even the smallest acts of kindness."…
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