fast, even “manic” thinking makes us happy, according to emily pronin and daniel wegner of harvard and princeton universities. they conducted a study where they had people read neutral, positive and negative statements at varying speeds. the researchers found that no matter whether these statements were positive, neutral or negative, after reading at a faster… Continue reading speed, mania and depression
Category: psychological research and other things academic
blogging and neuroscience
browsing through the eide neurolearning blog, which i follow because of my interest in learning disabilities (or “alternative learning”), i found a posting on “bloggers’ brains”. here is an excerpt, which i have supplemented with a few links. some of the things mentioned are a bit obvious but i found it interesting to look at… Continue reading blogging and neuroscience
televangelists and gluttony
and now for a bizarre little factlet, from our friends at medicalnews: “America is becoming known as a nation of gluttony and obesity, and churches are a feeding
about expert minds
scientific american has interesting things to say about the expert mind. this is my condensed version: Studies of the mental processes of chess grandmasters have revealed clues to how people become experts in other fields as well. Much of the chess master’s advantage over the novice derives from the first few seconds of thought. This… Continue reading about expert minds
automatic emotional responses
what a coincidence! medline today reports a study that goes quite well with what we discussed yesterday: Irrational behaviour arises as a consequence of emotional reactions evoked when faced with difficult decisions, according to new research at UCL (University College of London) … The UCL study suggests that rational behaviour may stem from an ability… Continue reading automatic emotional responses
“you made me do it” – part 2
more on making people feel things … (continuation from yesterday’s blog) right now, i am reading the tipping point by malcolm gladwell. it turns out that what he talks about is very a propos to our discussion here. in his book, gladwell discusses three different types of people who can make a huge difference in… Continue reading “you made me do it” – part 2
understanding email chain letters
the other day i received an email from a friend. it started with the ominous “please read and pass on”. immediately my antennae went up; in my experience, 95% of such emails turn out to be hoaxes. the friend of mine who passed the email on to me is an ex teacher, has an excellent… Continue reading understanding email chain letters
go ahead, be happy!
the keys to happiness are available to anyone, says this article in lifescience.com today: Money that lifts people out of poverty increases happiness, but after that, the better paychecks stop paying off sense-of-well-being dividends, research shows. One route to more happiness is called
psychopaths
a few weeks ago i had a conversation with someone about psychopaths. since i can’t remember for the life of me who i had this conversation with (hmmmm … should i make my next post about memory?), i thought i’d post here a link to a very interesting article about this topic, and hopefully that… Continue reading psychopaths
children and war
i found this in medicalnews today: How Do Children Understand The Phenomenon Of War? All over the world children are exposed to war, some first-hand, others through media images. However, little is known about how children understand the phenomenon of war, and many parents are unsure how to approach the subjects of war and terrorism… Continue reading children and war