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Why Having Too Much Free Time Can be as Bad for You as Having Too Little
Have you ever had one of those days — that turned into weeks — when you had approximately 645 things to do and not a single minute for leisure time? Like many of us, Cassie Mogilner Holmes sometimes feels as if she lives in that state. She also — and this will probably sound familiar — has entertained the idea of trading all those obligations for a desert island. Instead, Holmes, a professor of marketing and behavioral decision-making at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, decided to research whether extra free time would actually make her happier. It turns out that reclining alone on a beach all day might not be as ideal as it sounds.
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Make Gratitude A Habit
As we prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving season, turkey and trimmings aside, we should all sit back and reflect on for what, and more importantly, for whom, we are grateful. According to psychologist Daniel J. Levitin, “gratitude is an important and often overlooked emotion and state of mind. Gratitude causes us to focus on what’s good about our lives rather than what’s bad, shifting our outlook toward the positive”. And, those “who practice gratitude simply feel happier.” So, when you sit around the dining room table this Thanksgiving, take a good look at the family and friends around you. Was the last Thanksgiving dinner the last interaction with them you can remember?
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How to Know That You Know Nothing
If there’s one thing we might regret at the end of life, it’s that we missed out on moments that mattered—not because we weren’t physically there, but because our mind wandered off to some unknown place. In this episode of How to Build a Happy Life, we explore why it’s uniquely challenging to “live in the moment,” how we limit our own curiosity by assuming that we know best, and why the illusion of stability pulls us from living every day fully, and in the moment. A conversation with the Harvard University psychology professor Dr. Ellen Langer helps us think through a daily struggle: How do I stay present? ...
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Natural Disasters Bring Married Couples Closer, at Least for Awhile
That’s according to a first-of-its-kind study that looked at couples in the Houston area before and after Hurricane Harvey. The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, has implications for how best to help families as they navigate different types of stressors. Researchers had already surveyed 231 newly married couples about their relationship satisfaction shortly before Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast in August 2017, devastating much of the Houston area. With the advent of the hurricane, researchers saw a unique opportunity to track relationship dynamics through the aftermath of a natural disaster.
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November/December Observer
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New Content From Perspectives on Psychological Science
A sample of articles on childhood adversity, habit formation and mental illness, implicit bias, teleological reasoning, article length, choice and losses, and psychological science in the wake of COVID-19.
