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Do People Like To Think?
NPR: When I was a kid, I used to lie in bed at night listening to Mets games on the transistor radio, or to the top 40. Sunday evenings were hard because there was no baseball and most of the music stations went to talk. As I got older, I came to take comfort in the talk. I learned to love Father Bill Ayers' call-in show late on New York's WPLJ. I thought about my impulse to turn to noise and distraction at an early age when I heard about a paper, published last summer in Science, touting the finding that people would prefer electric shocks to being left alone with their own thoughts.
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Hugs Help Protect Against Colds by Boosting Social Support
We're told to wash our hands, get plenty of rest, and avoid public coughers and sneezers in order to keep the common cold at bay, but new research suggests another line of defense: hugs. A team of researchers, led by Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty University Professor of Psychology in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, tested whether hugs act as a form of social support, protecting stressed people from getting sick. They found that greater social support and more frequent hugs protected people from the increased susceptibility to infection associated with being stressed and resulted in less severe illness symptoms.
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Giving Brings Its Own Rewards
As children, we are often told by our parents that it is better to give than to receive; that we will get more enjoyment, fulfillment, and happiness from giving to others than from taking for ourselves. It turns out our parents were on the right track. In a recent article published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, Elizabeth W. Dunn (University of British Columbia), Lara B. Aknin (Simon Fraser University), and Michael I. Norton (Harvard Business School) reviewed research suggesting that when it comes to money, spending it on others really pays off.
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Yes, Mom and Dad, I Lied Sometimes—But That’s All Your Fault
Pacific Standard: Like most other kids, I was afraid of lying to my parents. As a result, I lied to them often. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that my parents embedded a sense of right and wrong in me. Included in that framework was an understanding of how important it is to always tell the truth. But that wasn’t just because telling the truth is the objectively right thing to do. It’s also because not telling the truth is wrong—and there would be consequences for it. But according to a new study by McGill researchers, punishment is actually an ineffective way to deal with lying kids. It might just make them lie more.
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How to Break Your Bad Work Habits
The Wall Street Journal: Two years after becoming vice president of innovation at VF Corp. , an apparel company based in Greensboro, N.C., Soon Yu was approached by one of his bosses, who quietly suggested that he do a 360-degree evaluation. Some of his co-workers were unhappy with his management style. The extensive review included Mr. Yu’s employees and bosses as well as a self-assessment. “It was a really painful process,” says Mr. Yu, who was told that he could be overly critical and unilateral in his decision-making. “But all of these reviews gave me a better understanding of what was driving my bad behaviors.” After some self-reflection, Mr.
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THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE AND COMMUNICATION
Fast Company: Lots of ink has been spilled about how to motivate your employees—from financial incentives to recognition among peers. But new research suggests it’s not just the message that motivates, but the source that matters. It’s called construal level theory—or the study of how people react to psychological distances. According to Nir Halevy, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University, it factors into helping motivate employees at work. Laura W. Geller, senior editor of strategy + business, a management publication from PwC (formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers), recently interviewed professor Halevy about his research and it’s impact in the workplace.
