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Happy People Steal More
Scientific American Mind: Who stole the office stapler? A study in April's Psychological Science argues it's more likely to have been your happiest colleague than your grumpiest. Observing that happier people are more mentally flexible, psychologists at Cornell University wondered whether they might be more morally flexible as well. To find out, the team showed 90 undergraduates either a cheerful video of a cartoon duck showering or a neutral screensaver. Read the whole story: Scientific American Mind
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Are You Okay? You Smell Like Cytokines.
The Huffington Post: Nurses and hospice workers say they can smell the final approach of death. Not with sudden death, but with the slow march toward the grave, the body's systems begin to shut down and metabolism changes, so that breath and skin and fluids give off a distinctive odor that signals the end is near. This is not surprising. In fact it's more perplexing that deadly diseases don't announce their presence earlier. From an evolutionary perspective, it would be more advantageous if we could all detect early warning signals, olfactory cues that the immune system is gearing up to ward off a new and threatening disease.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: The Stability of Intelligence From Age 11 to Age 90 Years: The Lothian Birth Cohort of 1921 Ian J. Deary, Alison Pattie, and John M. Starr How stable is intelligence over the lifespan? Participants completed the Moray House Test No. 12 (MHT) -- a paper-and-pencil test of general mental ability -- at ages 11 and 90. MHT scores at age 11 and at age 90 were significantly correlated. MHT performance at age 90 was also significantly correlated with performance on other commonly used assessments of cognitive functioning at age 90, indicating that intelligence has moderately high stability across the lifespan.
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A Friendly Face Might Mask Ill Intent
Oxytocin, sometimes called the “trust hormone” might actually inhibit our skill in detecting hidden intentions in others’ faces, a study suggests. Visit Page
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Why We Are Wired to Connect
Scientific American: When we experience social pain — a snub, a cruel word — the feeling is as real as physical pain. That finding is among those in a new book, Social, and it is part of scientist Matthew Lieberman’s case that our need to connect is as fundamental as our need for food and water. He answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook. You argue that our need to connect socially is “powerful.” But just how powerful is it?
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Pessimists may be genetically predisposed to see the world darkly: new UBC study
National Post: Some people are genetically predisposed to seeing the world darkly, according to a new Canadian study that adds to a recent raft of research acknowledging biology’s role in shaping a person’s perspective, positive or negative. The study found a particular gene variant can cause some people to see emotional events — especially negative ones — more vividly than peers who don’t carry the gene. According to the lead author, University of British Columbia psychology professor Rebecca Todd, it’s the first study to find this genetic variation deeply affects how people see and experience their world. It was published in the current issue of Psychological Science.
