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Playing With Puzzles and Blocks Could Build Children’s Spatial Skills
Play may seem like fun and games, but new research shows that specific kinds of play are actually associated with development of particular cognitive skills. Data from a nationally representative study show that children who play frequently with puzzles, blocks, and board games tend to have better spatial reasoning ability. The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Our findings show that spatial play specifically is related to children's spatial reasoning skills,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Jamie Jirout of Rhodes College.
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Why a Messy Workspace Undermines Your Persistence
Harvard Business Review: The disorganized accumulation of papers and coffee cups scattered across your desk may help you project the impression that you’re working at full throttle, but in fact it’s probably dragging you down. We’ve found that people sitting at messy desks are less efficient, less persistent, and more frustrated and weary than those at neat desks. But wait, you may say. No one who has worked in a busy office for more than a week can possibly keep a neat desk — the work comes at you too fast. Or you may say that you like your mess, that it’s as comforting as a little nest. To which we say yes, it can be challenging to keep a desk neat.
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The Week Your New Year’s Resolution to Exercise Dies
The Wall Street Journal: People with the noble New Year’s resolution to work out or work out more should mark their calendars: That resolve starts to waver in the third week in January, data shows. The pattern shows how difficult it is to make a new habit stick. Attendance is a delicate part of a gym’s business. Gyms need new members but face regulars who complain about crowds, waits and the poor etiquette of January newcomers. Check-ins on Facebook to facilities with “gym” or “fitness” in the name drop 10% in February, according to two years of Facebook data. The decline starts as early as the third week in January, Facebook researchers say.
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Your Spouse’s Personality Can Help You Get Ahead at Work
Smithsonian Magazine: Your chance at workplace success certainly depends in part on your personality. Your coworker’s personalities come into play as well—introverts tend to give extroverts poor performance reviews, and supportive supervisors can help women get over gender divides, for example. But apparently, even personalities outside the workplace can affect what goes on inside. A new study shows that spouses’ influence can seep into their partner’s job success. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, looked at 4,544 married, heterosexual couples, reports Cindi May for Scientific American.
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Feeling Fat Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
New York Magazine: Self-perception can sometimes work as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, according to an upcoming paper in Psychological Science: Namely, believing that you are fat may result in actually becoming fat. Sixteen-year-olds who were at a normal weight but misperceived themselves to be overweight had a 40 percent greater risk of becoming obese before they turned 30, reports Angelina R. Sutin of the Florida State University College of Medicine.
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People Who Are Great at Reading Social Cues Are Also Great With the Internet
Slate: Some people are better at navigating cocktail parties, family gatherings, and office meetings. And, as it turns out, they are better at the Internet, too. That’s the word from Anita Woolley, a professor of organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon University. She’s been studying what it takes for groups to make smart decisions online, and her latest research unearthed a surprising discovery: People who were good at reading emotional cues face-to-face also happened to be pretty good at reading these cues in online discussions. Even without seeing the other person’s face, they were able to read other’s mental states online, where misunderstanding can easily occur.
