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Just alike: Twins separated at birth
CBS: Identical twins are as close to being JUST ALIKE as genetics will allow. And for researchers, those similarities are providing very important insights. Here’s Erin Moriarty of “48 Hours”: On a recent afternoon at London’s Heathrow Airport, 11-year-old Evie Hanlon-Moores stood impatiently alongside her mother. She was waiting for someone she hadn’t seen for nearly a year. “Are you nervous at all?” Moriarty asked. “Maybe,” Evie replied. Despite the long separation she had no trouble recognizing her. ...
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In Choosing a Job, Focus on the Fun
The New York Times: If you don’t like your job, you aren’t alone. In fact, two out of three working Americans do not feel engaged at work, according to a Gallup survey. And many of these people spend more of their waking time working than doing anything else. As a psychology professor at a business school, I have chatted with many unhappy employees. I have found that one big reason people are unhappy at work is that when they choose a job or a project, they are not aware of what will truly matter to them once they are in the midst of it. People send résumés and go to interviews thinking that they care only about salaries and promotions. These are important, yes, but they are not enough.
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Sunday Sports Lead to Monday Flops
When study participants were dissatisfied with their team’s performance on Sunday, they also reported a more negative mood on Monday, which was linked with lower engagement and productivity at work.
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Synesthesia: A Disorder That Blurs the Senses
The Wall Street Journal: For Sean A. Day, drinking coffee causes him to see a pool of dark, green oily fluid. The smell of fresh cut grass produces a dark, purple color. And when he hears a piano he sees a big cloud of sky blue mist with tiny drops of liquid plastic. Dr. Day, an anthropology instructor at Trident Technical College in Charleston, S.C., has three types of synesthesia, a rare trait or condition in which there is a merging of sensations that are normally experienced separately. “Diet cola produces a color that’s very unpleasant, a sweat-stained yellow,” said Dr. Day, 55-years-old. “So I never drink diet cola.” ...
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Raising a Transgender Child
The New York Times: In September 2015, Vanessa and JR Ford sent a group email to announce that their 4-year-old, whom their family and friends knew as their son, would be starting prekindergarten that year as “her true self” — a girl named Ellie. The Fords’ decision to help Ellie transition socially from boy to girl was not something they did on a whim. Starting well before age 4, Ellie showed countless signs of being unhappy as a boy: being sullen; drawing self-portraits as a stick-figure girl; pretending to be female superheroes; dressing up in princess costumes. ...
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We Don’t Gradually Glide Into Corrupt Behavior—We Jump Head First
Pacific Standard: So it’s a good time to take a step back and ask: What leads people to make dishonest, self-serving decisions? ... A research team led by psychologist Nils Kobis provide evidence of this dynamic in the journal Psychological Science. The first of their four experiments featured a five-round auction game “in which one of the two players gets the option to circumvent the fair-bidding process by bribing the allocator.” Read the whole story: Pacific Standard
