-
Basic Human Nature: Can It Be Changed?
The Wall Street Journal: "You can't change human nature." The old cliché draws support from the persistence of human behavior in new circumstances. Shakespeare's plays reveal that no matter how much language, technology and mores have changed in the past 400 years, human nature is largely undisturbed. Macbeth's ambition, Hamlet's indecision, Iago's jealousy, Kate's feistiness and Juliet's love are all instantly understandable. Recently, however, geneticists have surprised themselves by finding evidence of recent and rapid changes in human genomes in response to the pressures of civilization.
-
Mentoring Works Best When Adults, Kids Share Common Interests
MSN Health & Fitness: Although mentoring programs intended to help children socially, emotionally or academically do offer a number of benefits, these advantages are generally limited and may not be enough for kids facing serious problems, a new report says. The authors of the report, published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest reviewed more than 70 existing evaluations of mentoring programs.
-
On the brink of a mental health revolution
BBC: One in four of us will suffer some form of mental illness during our lifetimes.Historically, many of these conditions have been beyond our understanding, but now scientists believe we are on the verge of a revolution in how mental health problems are approached. Professor Tom Insel, director of the $1.5bn National Institute of Mental Health in the United States, told Newsnight there is a profound change taking place, and science and technology is key to that change: "We are really facing a tipping point here with research in mental illness. We have gone through a revolution in how we can look at the brain.
-
Smile like your happiness depends on it
The Boston Globe: Smile, you’re on Candid Camera! That seems to be the lesson of a new study by psychologists at the University of Virginia. They found that both male and female freshmen who smiled more intensely in their Facebook profile photos were not only more satisfied with their lives as freshmen, but also more satisfied with their lives several years later as seniors, even controlling for freshman-year life satisfaction and extroversion. The connection between smiling and subsequent life satisfaction appeared to be at least partly explained by the quality of one’s social relationships. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
-
Understanding Mindfulness Meditation
MSN News: 現在人工作壓力大，需要更多的紓壓管道，於是有越來越多人開始學習冥想、靜坐等古老的方法。一項發表在《心理科學》（Psychological Science）期刊的研究發現，透過冥想或是靜坐等方式，可以對我們的身體有相當大的助益，其中最重要的就是可以改變免疫系統，降低血壓，並且增強認知 功能。（圖片翻攝自Daily Mail網站） 在東方的宗教或是靈性修練當中，靜坐或是冥想 都是不可或缺的一環，而且逐漸在世界各地蔚為風潮，被很多人用來紓解龐大的生活壓力。哈佛大學跟久斯塔斯李比 希大學（Justus Liebig Univeristy）的研究人員發現，冥想除了可以幫助提升免疫系統外，還可以讓心理健康，證明冥想不是一個空泛的方法，而是一個有效的技巧。 主導這項研究的布麗塔（Britta Hazel）博士表示，之 Read the whole story: MSN News
-
Which Way You Lean—Physically—Affects Your Decision-Making
We’re not always aware of how we are making a decision. Unconscious feelings or perceptions may influence us. Another important source of information—even if we’re unaware of it—is the body itself. “Decision making, like other cognitive processes, is an integration of multiple sources of information—memory, visual imagery, and bodily information, like posture,” says Anita Eerland, a psychologist at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. In a new study, Eerland and colleagues Tulio Guadalupe and Rolf Zwaan found that surreptitiously manipulating the tilt of the body influences people’s estimates of quantities, such as sizes, numbers, or percentages.
