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Lingering Negative Responses to Stress Linked With Health a Decade Later
People who respond to stress with negative emotions that carry over from one day to the next report more health problems 10 years later compared with peers who are able to “let it go.”
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Homework Therapists’ Job: Help Solve Math Problems, and Emotional Ones
On a recent Sunday, Bari Hillman, who works during the week as a clinical psychologist at a New York mental health clinic, was perched at a clear, plastic desk inside a 16-year-old’s Manhattan bedroom, her shoeless feet resting on a fluffy white rug. Dr. Hillman was helping a private school sophomore manage her outsize worry over a long-term writing project. The student had taped the project outline on the wall above the desk, at Dr. Hillman’s prodding. It was designed to serve both as a reminder that the project was due, and an empowering indicator of progress. Dr.
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People can’t be educated into vaccinations, but behavioral nudges help, study finds
Vaccines were one of the great inventions of modern history. They helped stop America’s polio epidemic in the 1950s, when it was paralyzing thousands and killing at least 3,000 a year. They have prevented the deaths of millions worldwide from diseases such as diphtheria, smallpox, measles and tetanus. And yet many people are reluctant to get their shots or vaccinate their children. A study published Wednesday concludes that using education campaigns, and simply trying to persuade people to get the shots, is far less effective than using indirect behavioral nudges.
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Why Do Some People Get Sick Less Often?
You know who you are: the person who had perfect attendance, the one who never gets the nasty cold going around the office. Some people seem to be immune to whatever’s taking hold of their friends and neighbors, while others move from one bout of cold to another with little reprieve. Two experts, Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and Robert Atmar, a professor of medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, explain how your family’s home ownership during early childhood may come into play and why loners may fare worse.
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How babies learn – and why robots can’t compete
Deb Roy and Rupal Patel pulled into their driveway on a fine July day in 2005 with the beaming smiles and sleep-deprived glow common to all first-time parents. Pausing in the hallway of their Boston home for Grandpa to snap a photo, they chattered happily over the precious newborn son swaddled between them. This normal-looking suburban couple weren’t exactly like other parents. Roy was an AI and robotics expert at MIT, Patel an eminent speech and language specialist at nearby Northeastern University. For years, they had been planning to amass the most extensive home-video collection ever. From the ceiling in the hallway blinked two discreet black dots, each the size of a coin.
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Spot Fake News By Making It
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Sander van der Linden of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab about his online game which tries to teach players about fake news by making them produce it. LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: Here's a novel way to fight the spread of fake news. Try spreading it yourself - not in real life, though - but an online game called "Bad News" where you play the role of a fake news creator trying to get as many followers as you can by disseminating misinformation. Sander van der Linden is the director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab. He's one of the brains behind the game. And thank you for joining us. SANDER VAN DER LINDEN: Pleasure to be on the show.
