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Finding happiness in being unhappy
Deccan Herald: Recent research suggests that happiness may not be bliss; people who strive for happiness may end up being worse off. Says June Gruber of Yale University, who published the research findings on Perspectives on Psychological Science: “Doing things with the expectation that these ought to make you happy can lead to disappointment and decreased happiness.” Conversely, being unhappy shouldn’t be thought of as a universally bad thing.Should such research gain wide credence, happiness therapists and reams of literature on ‘being happy’ would become redundant.
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How to Recognize a Psychopath
Huffington Post: Hannibal Lecter is arguably the world's most famous psychopath. I know -- he's not real. Still, the anti-hero of "The Silence of the Lambs" embodies the chilling constellation of traits generally associated with this rare mental disorder. A highly-intelligent physician and psychiatrist, Lecter is superficially charming, even urbane -- at least when he's not cannibalizing his innocent victims. He is rarely emotional, and despite the brutality of his crimes, he shows absolutely no evidence of empathy or a guilty conscience. That's what makes psychopaths so mysterious and incomprehensible -- the lack of normal human feeling.
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Mental approach can cut prejudice
Yahoo! UK & Ireland: Mental simulation can help reduce prejudice and discrimination by promoting tolerance among different social groups, according to psychologists. Research of mental simulation has found a long tradition of it achieving changes in all sorts of behaviour, such as in athletes who have boosted performances by imagining themselves running faster. It is also said to be responsible for helping students gain better results in the classroom, by imagining themselves working harder and for longer when they study. According to psychologists at the University of Kent, mental simulation can also be adopted for use in organisations to promote greater tolerance for social diversity.
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¡Cuidado con las madres lactantes!
Univision: Las madres lactantes protegen a sus bebés y a sí mismas más agresivamente que las madres que alimentan a sus bebés con biberón o las mujeres que no tienen hijos, afirman investigadores. El estudio, en que participaron 18 madres lactantes, 17 mujeres que alimentaban a sus hijos con biberón y 20 mujeres que no eran madres, halló que la agresión en las madres lactantes se asocia con una presión arterial reducida.
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Meer belasting betalen maakt ons gelukkiger
MSN Nederland: Regelmatig gaan in ons land stemmen op om een vlaktaks in te voeren, vooral de rechtse partijen zijn hier voorstander van. Bij een vlaktaks betaalt iedereen hetzelfde percentage belasting over zijn inkomen. In Nederland kennen we juist een progressief belastingstelsel waarbij het relatieve tarief hoger wordt naarmate het inkomen stijgt. Nu zou je verwachten dat een vlaktaks, waarbij iedereen relatief hetzelfde bijdraagt, zou leiden tot gelukkiger mensen. Maar het tegendeel blijkt waar. Uit een nieuwe studie van verschillende Amerikaanse universiteiten blijkt dat het vlakker maken van belastingen ook het sociale welbevinden afvlakt.
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9/11: What else it taught us
Boston Globe: Sept. 11 transformed the world of American ideas in many ways—fueling sharp debates about America’s role in world affairs, about the clash of religions, about freedom and security. Money flowed into counter-terrorism research. Universities hired experts on Islam and the Middle East; students flocked to courses on any subject they thought might help them understand what had happened. The attacks also began to reshape our knowledge in ways that didn’t make headlines, revealing gaps in our knowledge of terrorism, of the costs of security, of the human response to trauma.
