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Stop Putting Off Fun for After You Finish All Your Work
Harvard Business Review: How often have you put off doing something fun, like taking a trip or treating yourself, because you felt that you had too much work to do, and you had to get it all done first? My laboratory has surveyed people from all walks of life about their preferences for ordering work and leisure. Time and time again, we hear the same thing: of course you can’t just leave and have fun before work is done. Work comes first, leisure comes second. This sounds intuitive. No one wants to spoil a pleasurable experience because they’re worrying about their to-do list or feeling guilty for celebrating prematurely.
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The life-extending power of being neurotic
Quartz: Neuroticism won’t make life more enjoyable, but it can help it last longer, according to a four-year study published this month in Psychological Science. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh, University of Southampton, and University College London found that higher neuroticism was associated with a “reduced risk of death from all causes”—but only for one type of neurotic. All 321,456 participants in the study filled in a questionnaire emphasizing two types of neuroticism.
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Neuroticism May Postpone Death for Some
High levels of the trait neuroticism are linked with lower risk of death for people who say they’re in fair or poor health, data from 500,000 UK residents show.
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The Problem with Being a Top Performer
Scientific American: The top performers in their fields—from LeBron James to Oprah Winfrey to Bill Gates—seem to have it all. Through a combination of talent, drive, and hard work, they lead their organizations to the next level. In fact, according to a recent estimate, top performers produce 20 to 30 times more than the average employee in their fields. Many of us aspire to reap the accolades, respect, and influence that come with being one of the very best. But new research demonstrates that performing at high levels can also come with some heavy costs: It can make our peers resent us and try to undermine our good work.
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When Is Speech Violence?
The New York Times: Imagine that a bully threatens to punch you in the face. A week later, he walks up to you and breaks your nose with his fist. Which is more harmful: the punch or the threat? The answer might seem obvious: Physical violence is physically damaging; verbal statements aren’t. “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But scientifically speaking, it’s not that simple. Words can have a powerful effect on your nervous system. Certain types of adversity, even those involving no physical contact, can make you sick, alter your brain — even kill neurons — and shorten your life. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Some scientists hate NIH’s new definition of a clinical trial. Here’s why
Science: Nancy Kanwisher, a cognitive neuroscientist, has spent her career pinning down how the human brain responds to visual inputs such as faces. As part of that work, Kanwisher asks volunteers—usually college students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, where she works—to lie in an MRI machine that records their brain activity while they do a task, such as viewing a photo. Although such studies reveal information that can be relevant to diseases such as autism, they do not test treatments. But a few weeks ago, Kanwisher and colleagues in related behavioral research fields—from cognitive psychology to vision science—were dismayed to learn that the U.S.
