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A New Tool for Creative Thinking: Mind-Body Dissonance
Scientific American: Did you ever get the giggles during a religious service or some other serious occasion? Did you ever have to smile politely when you felt like screaming? In these situations, the emotions that we are required to express differ from the ones we are feeling inside. That can be stressful, unpleasant, and exhausting. Normally our minds and our bodies are in harmony. When facial expressions or posture depart from how we feel, we experience what two psychologists at Northwestern University, Li Huang and Adam Galinsky, call mind–body dissonance. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Parents in Denial When It Comes to Child Costs
Discovery News: New research suggests that people may exaggerate the perks of being parents to rationalize the financial costs of raising children. Two studies, featured in the journal Psychological Science, measured more than 140 parents' feelings after being presented with information regarding the hefty bill of raising a child. In the Northeast, raising one child to the age of 18 costs nearly $193,000, according to the research. Read the whole story: Discovery News
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Cleansing the Soul by Hurting the Flesh: The Guilt-Reducing Effect of Pain
Lent in the Christian tradition is a time of sacrifice and penance. It also is a period of purification and enlightenment. Pain purifies. It atones for sin and cleanses the soul. Or at least that’s the idea. Theological questions aside, can self-inflicted pain really alleviate the guilt associated with immoral acts? A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, explores the psychological consequences of experiencing bodily pain.
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Why are overheard mobile chats so annoying?
The Irish Times: It’s often the prelude to a loud, mundane and frankly irritating half-conversation that commuters within earshot have to witness. Whether it’s the minutae of the person’s oh-so-interesting day, blow-by-blow details of some argument being rehashed with dramatic effect or just other inane waffle, it’s the kind of anti-social annoyance that can turn a pleasant journey into an endurance test. Read the whole story: The Irish Times
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Does Your Partner Hold Grudges? Blame It on His Mother
TIME: All couples fight, and how you recover from a tiff has a lot to do with the health of your relationship. It also has a lot to do with Mom: those partners who are able to bounce back quickest are likely to have had more secure relationships with their caregivers as infants, according to new research in the journal Psychological Science. Researchers at the University of Minnesota zeroed in on a group of people they've been tracking since before they were born in the mid-1970s.
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Teaching Psychology Through Film, Video
You've been working your fingers to the bone all semester and it is time for a break. So, you come up with the great idea to show a film. One of your colleagues has recommended one highly. You plan to dim the lights, hit the play button, and quietly sit in the back of the classroom wishing for some popcorn. Sounds great - what could go wrong? The film starts and before you know it you find yourself wondering - how does this fit with the material I've been presenting? This question is reinforced when one of your better (and braver!) students asks the same question as the lights go up.