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Uncommon knowledge
Boston Globe: DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS may or may not supplement one’s health, but they can have at least one serious side effect: bad behavior. Researchers offered people either a multivitamin or a pill that they were told was a placebo - although both pills were actually placebos. Those in the multivitamin group reported feeling more invulnerable and, in turn, reported more interest in hedonistic activities and less interest in healthy eating and exercise. Indeed, in an actual walking task, they ended up walking a lot less. Read more: Boston Globe
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The Other Side of the Mirror
Forbes: I’ve posted previously about the power of mirroring – that gentle mimicry that acts as a kind of “social glue” in business relationships. Mirroring signals rapport, trust, and cohesion. Two people who like and agree with one another will often unknowingly place their bodies in mirror images of one another and even unconsciously move in synchrony. And this “limbic symmetry” strengthens their bond. When done with intent, mirroring can be a useful leadership technique in sales, negotiations, job interviews, collaboration and team building.
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Political Negotiations Also Shaped By Human Psychology
NPR: We all know congressional negotiators are trying to balance party and ideology, principle and pragmatism. But negotiators are people, too, and psychology has some useful things to say about the ongoing debt-ceiling standoff. Here are some key ideas to keep in mind. CHOICES: Behavioral economists find that people tend to make much better decisions about their future selves, rather than their present selves. Ask the alcoholic whether he is ready to give up booze next year and he'll find it easy to say yes. Ask him right now to walk by the bar and he'll balk. The same phenomenon shows up all the time for people who aren't alcoholics. Read more: NPR
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Monkey See, Monkey Do? The Role of Mirror Neurons in Human Behavior
We are all familiar with the phrase “monkey see, monkey do” – but have we actually thought about what it means? Over the last two decades, neuroscience research has been investigating whether this popular saying has a real basis in human behavior. Over twenty years ago, a team of scientists, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti at the University of Parma, discovered special brain cells, called mirror neurons, in monkeys. These cells appeared to be activated both when the monkey did something itself and when the monkey simply watched another monkey do the same thing. The function of such mirror neurons in humans has since become a hot topic.
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Fatty foods enhance mood regardless of taste
The Independent: A new study sheds light on why we reach for fatty foods like burgers and fries when feeling blue - and it may have little to do with the pleasure principle. While exposed to sad or neutral music and images, researchers injected 12 non-obese, healthy subjects with fatty-acid solutions and saline infusions via gastric feeding tubes. When injected with the fat solution, the subjects reported feeling less sad than those who were administered with a saline infusion. Subjects also underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans so that researchers could chart their brain activity during the experiments.
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The Dark Side of Oxytocin
For a hormone, oxytocin is pretty famous. It’s the “cuddle chemical”—the hormone that helps mothers bond with their babies. Salespeople can buy oxytocin spray on the internet, to make their clients trust them. It’s known for promoting positive feelings, but more recent research has found that oxytocin can promote negative emotions, too. The authors of a new review article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, takes a look at what oxytocin is really doing. Oxytocin’s positive effects are well known.
