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New psychology research identifies exactly where most people fail when setting big personal goals
Quartz: We all got the memo about how to create effective goals. Keep it real, the productivity experts tell us. Our objectives should be specific, measurable, and attainable. When we make resolutions before a new year, most people abide by these rules of thumb. Unfortunately, our minds also exploit a loophole in their ability to imagine the future: People are terrible at recognizing that the constraints that exist today are the same constraints that will exist tomorrow, next week and beyond. In the future, you’ll face the same deadlines at work that interfere with yoga or CrossFit. Your friends will still insist that you socialize over drinks, not cold-pressed juice.
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Why Naming A Precise Figure During Negotiations Could Backfire
The Huffington Post: In negotiating, is a more precise opening offer always better? It might be — but it depends on the experience level of the person with whom you’re negotiating, a recent study from Germany found. In the study, researchers showed that increasing the precision of an opening offer improved a person’s negotiations with amateurs, but could actually backfire on negotiations with experts. In most situations, precision can influence social perceptions during a negotiation, suggesting more confidence and competence, the researchers wrote in their study, which was published in October in the journal Psychological Science.
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How After-Hours Emails Might Hurt Your Health
Technology has allowed many workers to enjoy greater flexibility with where and when they work, but it also means that the boundaries between work and leisure can become blurred.
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Researchers confirm that Americans who always say that they’re “busy” are actually seen as more important
Quartz: “How are you?” “Oh, you know, busy, busy.” So goes a very common conversation in the US. But why, wondered researchers at Columbia and Harvard universities, is everyone suddenly humble-bragging about how busy they are? Just 100 years ago, bragging about leisure, not about how much you work, was a signal of importance and wealth. ... In a series of experiments, the results of which will be published in an upcoming paper, researchers tested whether signaling “busyness” changes people’s social status. Read the whole story: Quartz
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Being Mom To A Middle Schooler Can Be The Toughest Gig Of All
NPR: Although her oldest child, Ben, is 10 years old, Andrea Scher, 44, feels like a new mom again. Scher suffered from maternal depression after Ben was born, eventually recovering with the help of antidepressants and psychotherapy. She was understandably relieved that her depression didn't return after the birth of her second son. But now she's struggling again. Once more, Scher is having anxiety attacks and it's difficult for her to sleep through the night. "At 3 a.m., an electric current of fear shoots through my body, because I worry about my kids and how I am doing as a mom. My nervous system is in overdrive. I can't believe I'm feeling this way all over again," she says.
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How Praise Became a Consolation Prize
The Atlantic: As a young researcher, Carol Dweck was fascinated by how some children faced challenges and failures with aplomb while others shrunk back. Dweck, now a psychologist at Stanford University, eventually identified two core mindsets, or beliefs, about one’s own traits that shape how people approach challenges: fixed mindset, the belief that one’s abilities were carved in stone and predetermined at birth, and growth mindset, the belief that one’s skills and qualities could be cultivated through effort and perseverance.
