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How Music Can Fight Prejudice
The outpouring of hostility toward immigrants and refugees has reminded us that ethnocentrism remains a fact of life in both Europe and the United States. Combating it will require teaching a new generation to view members of different cultures as potential friends rather than threatening outsiders. But what mode of communication has the power to stimulate such a shift? New research from Portugal suggests the answer may be music. It reports schoolchildren around age 11 who learned about the music and culture of a faraway land expressed warmer feelings toward immigrants from that country than those who did not.
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Why women need mid-career mentors
You probably have a mental picture of the usual mentor-mentee relationship: a college-aged ingenue sitting at lunch with an industry veteran. But for some women, that picture isn't accurate. For an older woman looking for mentorship through a career transition, creative stagnation or the second half of her career, there are increasingly few places to turn: there's no alumni network or old boys' club to step in and help. That's a problem for both women and employers since sponsorship and mentorship can be key to retaining female talent. Where can women turn if they're looking for guidance at later stages of their career?
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Can You Teach Happiness?
As head of Silliman College at Yale University, Laurie Santos interacts closely with students. Over the past few years, she's grown more concerned about their mental health. “I came to realize that college students were more depressed, anxious and overwhelmed than students realize,” says Santos, who is also a professor of psychology. “I was really worried about what I was seeing.” So she designed a new class, called the Science of Well-Being, that teaches students, in essence, how to be happier. Launched in January, the class has quickly become one of the most popular courses at the college.
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Hey Boss, You Don’t Want Your Employees to Meditate
Mindfulness meditation, a Buddhism-inspired practice in which you focus your mind entirely on the current moment, has been widely embraced for its instrumental benefits — especially in the business world. Companies like Apple, Google and Nike provide meditation rooms that encourage brief sessions during the workday. Chief executives publicly extol its benefits. And no wonder: The practical payoff of mindfulness is backed by dozens of studies linking it to job satisfaction, rational thinking and emotional resilience. But on the face of it, mindfulness might seem counterproductive in a workplace setting.
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America is a nation of narcissists, according to two new studies
Is America a narcissistic country? On a day when America gathers together to celebrate itself, this seems a fair question. The answer is a resounding yes, according to new research — but some states are more narcissistic than others. In a study published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers asked more than 2,800 residents how much their home state contributed to the history of the United States. Residents of Delaware believed on average that their state helped create 33 percent of the nation’s history. Georgians believed their state played almost as central a role, with 28 percent.
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Replication Study Shows No Evidence That Small Talk Harms Well-Being
People who engage in more substantive conversations tend to be happier but idle small talk isn’t necessarily negatively related to well-being, researchers find.
