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Psychology: ‘An Owner’s Manual for Your Own Mind’
The Atlantic: Over the last decade, Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert has become a prominent voice in the public sphere. His 2006 book Stumbling on Happiness, translated in over 30 languages, became an international bestseller, triggering a slew of invitations—to give a TED Talk, host the PBS series This Emotional Life, and write for The New York Times and other publications. Gilbert spoke with me about his untraditional path to psychology, how psychology affects (and is affected by) other academic fields, and why the study of happiness is critical for public policy. ... My history is pretty different from the history of most professors. I was a high school dropout.
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The Culture of Meetings
Some of the biggest international mergers of the last 20 years are considered to be textbook cases of corporate failure. The 2006 merger of French telecommunications company Alcatel with New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies, Daimler Benz’s 1998 purchase of American automaker Chrysler, and British Steel’s 1999 marriage with Dutch Royal Hoogovens are all considered examples of cultural mismatches. Many of the clashing business standards and corporate values that plagued these mergers were traced to communications between executives and employees — a collision of American or Anglo-Saxon attitudes with European sensibilities.
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3 Unexpected Productivity Strategies From Wharton Professor Adam Grant
Forbes: Adam Grant, an organizational psychology professor at the Wharton School, is a man in demand. In addition to his teaching duties, he’s a popular author (of the bestselling Give and Take), consultant, and speaker – and after a New York Times profile revealed his predilection to grant favors to almost all comers, he was besieged with 3500 emails in the ensuing weeks. How does he manage the deluge? Quite well, according to the Times, which lauded him as quite possibly “the most efficient and productive… in an academic field that is preoccupied with the study of efficiency and productivity.” Here are three unexpected productivity tips he shared in a recent interview.
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Reducing Anxiety With a Smartphone App
Playing a science-based mobile gaming app for 25 minutes can reduce anxiety in stressed individuals, according to research published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study suggests that “gamifying” a scientifically-supported intervention could offer measurable mental health and behavioral benefits for people with relatively high levels of anxiety. “Millions of people suffering from psychological distress fail to seek or receive mental health services.
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Is It Easier to Keep Resolutions for Lent or New Year’s?
Discovery News: As Christians around the world attend Ash Wednesday services today, many will also mark the 46-day period of Lent by resolving to give something up. While it’s unknown how many Christians successfully make it to Easter without chocolate or wine or forgetting to floss, they probably have an edge up on those who make New Year’s resolutions, experts said. “Everything’s working in your favor for Lent,” said Tim Pychyl, a psychology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
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The Brooding Mind: Making the Worst of Ambiguity
Imagine yourself at your 10-year high school reunion, a long anticipated get-together for you and all your old friends. You haven’t seen many of them since graduation day, and naturally everyone is comparing notes on the lives they have lived since then. This puts you in a reflective mood, but not in a good way. Life has been unkind to you—compared to the lives of your friends, who have all been spared your travails. For days after the reunion, you can’t focus on anything but your difficulties, and the unfairness of it all. If you’re a brooder, that is. Someone else might have the same reunion experience, yet come away with a very different interpretation.
