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Scales of Justice: Guilt and Pain
If guilt is tearing you up inside, try inflicting some pain on yourself. It sounds weird, but research suggests it’ll make you feel better. A study published in Psychological Science found that people’s feelings of guilt are reduced after they experience pain. Volunteers were either asked to write about a time they had ostracized someone, to prime their feelings of guilt, or a routine event in their lives. They were then asked to stick their hand in a bucket of water and to keep it there as long as they could; the bucket contained ice water for some and soothing warm water for others. Afterwards, all volunteers rated their experienced pain and feelings of guilt.
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How to spot a fake smile: It’s all in the eyes
MSNBC: We all know that smiling faces sometimes tell lies, even without the Motown song there to remind us. But now there’s proof that those fake smiles may not be worth as much as the genuine article. In a study conducted at Bangor University in Wales, researchers had 36 undergrads play a game in which they won money from four opponents, each of whom would indicate the participants’ wins by displaying either a genuine or a polite smile. In a later phase of the game, participants chose which opponent they wanted to play.
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Women’s depression can erode their intimate relationships
Sify: Israeli researchers have found that a woman's depression can bring her relationship down. A depressed person can be withdrawn, needy, or hostile-and give little back. But there's another way that depression isolates partners from each other. It chips away at the ability to perceive the others' thoughts and feelings. It impairs what psychologists call "empathic accuracy" -and that can exacerbate alienation, depression, and the cycle by which they feed each other. Reuma Gadassi and Nilly Mor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Eshkol Rafaeli at Bar-Ilan University wanted to understand better these dynamics in relationships, particularly the role of gender.
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Watch Your Language! Of Course–But How Do We Actually Do That?
Nothing seems more automatic than speech. We produce an estimated 150 words a minute, and make a mistake only about once every 1,000 words. We stay on track, saying what we intend to, even when other words distract us—from the radio, say, or a road sign we pass while driving. An upcoming study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows for the first time why we so rarely speak those irrelevant words: We have a “verbal self-monitor” between the mental production of speech and the actual uttering of words that catches any irrelevant items coming from outside of the speaker.
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Can Tylenol cure a broken heart?
The Boston Globe: I was intrigued by a new study published this week, which found that getting romantically rejected hurts, like "a jab in the arm with a red-hot poker," as Melissa Healy writes in this Los Angeles Times article article. Turns out, those going through a bad breakup can activate brain regions that sense physical pain simply by looking at a photo of their ex, according to the research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But does getting jilted really feel like a poker stab? And where does it hurt exactly -- in the big toe? The heart itself? Well, not exactly, says lead author Ethan Kross, a psychologist at the University of Michigan.
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Make a clean online break with pests
CNN: Fact: In this crazy game called life, you will encounter people with whom you won't want to engage. Some of these people will not realize they annoy you, and as you do your best to avoid them in social situations and eradicate their existence from your hippocampus, they will loom ever larger in your life. People are cowards. We don't like to deliver bad news or be the instigator of others' negative feelings -- even if, in shrinking back and twiddling our thumbs, we hurt others more in the process.