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Can Meditation Make You a More Compassionate Person?
Scientists have mostly focused on the benefits of meditation for the brain and the body, but research suggests that meditation may also have impacts on interpersonal harmony and compassion.
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The Destructive Influence of Imaginary Peers
The New York Times: We humans irrationally think we’re rational. We think that we decide how to behave by weighing the pros and cons. In reality, the strongest influence on our decisions is the example of the people around us — even, oddly enough, when they are imaginary. Like most universities, Northern Illinois University in DeKalb has a problem with heavy drinking. In the 1980s, the school was trying to cut down on student use of alcohol with the usual strategies. One campaign warned teenagers of the consequences of heavy drinking.
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The Internet ‘Narcissism Epidemic’
The Atlantic: We are in the midst of a "narcissism epidemic," concluded psychologists Jean M. Twnege and W. Keith Campbell in their 2009 book. One study they describe showed that among a group of 37,000 college students, narcissistic personality traits rose just as quickly as obesity from the 1980s to the present. Fortunately for narcissists, the continued explosion of social networking has provided them with productivity tools to continually expand their reach -- the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Foursquare, and occasionally Google Plus. Evidence for the rise in narcissism continues to come up in research and news. A study by psychologist Dr.