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Bring Fun Back Into Your Friendships—Despite the Covid Pandemic
Dear Ask Bonds, I miss my friends. Social distancing makes it hard—and not that fun—to get together. And it’s not even an option to see friends who live far away—no one can travel because of the pandemic. But there’s another problem: Everyone is so stressed and overwhelmed these days that we can’t find time to talk on the phone. Weeks go by without contact! And when we talk, all we do is share our worries. The lack of connection with the friends I love is really getting me down. What can I do? —Cut Off in PA Dear Cut Off, You’re not the only one!
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You’re Waiting for Election Results. It’s Agony. Here’s What to Do.
Right now you probably feel like a spring that’s been tightly compressed under enormous weight. From the outside, it appears still. Inside it is coursing with intense potential (anxious!) energy just dying for release. All elections elicit this feeling to some degree. But the 2020 contest has raised the stakes, adding looming threats of disinformation and interference, contested results and a president who has repeatedly antagonized a deeply polarized electorate. It is an extremely stressful moment. The best description I’ve seen of our collective anxiety was from Mother Jones editor in chief Clara Jeffery: “The entire country is awaiting a biopsy result.” ...
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Positive Outlook Predicts Less Memory Decline
The happier we feel, the less likely we are to experience memory decline.
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The Psychology of Fact-Checking
APS Fellow/Author: Stephen J. Ceci Distortions and outright lies by politicians and pundits have become so common that major news outlets like the Associated Press, CNN, BBC, Fox News,and Washington Post routinely assign journalists and fact-checkers to verify claims made during stump speeches and press briefings. The motivation to uncover falsehoods and misleading statements taken out of context is laudable. But when it comes to real-world complexities, the trouble is that people often see different things when looking at the same event, a phenomenon repeatedly documented by psychologists.
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What If Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life?
... In the past few decades, Americans have broadened their image of what constitutes a legitimate romantic relationship: Courthouses now issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Americans are getting married later in life than ever before, and more and more young adults are opting to share a home rather than a marriage license with a partner. Despite these transformations, what hasn’t shifted much is the expectation that a monogamous romantic relationship is the planet around which all other relationships should orbit. ... A few decades after the erosion of romantic friendship began, Americans’ conception of marriage shifted.
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Forget Halloween. Children Are Frightening Year-Round.
Some parents don’t need spooky stories or horror movies. The real terror already lives within the walls of their homes. To be clear, I’m talking about little children. Kids can be incredibly eerie. They seem innocent but sometimes appear highly sophisticated. And when they communicate, it’s often in such a simple, uninhibited way that many adults find it unnerving. Especially when their children are talking about something unpleasant. ...
