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Choice May Sometimes Be A Cognitive Illusion
We may believe that we’re making decisions consciously when the decisions have actually already been made, results from two studies show.
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When does the future begin? A study in maximising motivation
aeon: The answer to the question ‘When does the future begin?’ – which, by the way, is not right now – matters because humans are attuned to focus on the ‘right now’ situation. This is not a flaw. Failure to focus on the opportunities and obstacles in the moment can be dangerous. From an evolutionary perspective, humans around today all descended from ancestors who paid attention in the moment, and hence, didn’t become meals for any predator straying into their path while pondering future goals. Read the whole story: aeon
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4 Telltale Signs You’re A Workplace Ambivert
Forbes: Are you an introvert or extrovert? Not so fast, there is a third category. Consider your office mates. ... In a 2013 research paper in Psychological Science, Adam Grant of The Wharton School deconstructs the traditional belief that extroverts have a natural advantage in sales. Over a three-month study, Grant discovered that ambiverts produced 32% more revenue than extroverts. Read the whole story: Forbes
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Why You Just Helped That Stranger
The Wall Street Journal: As you wait to fly out of a strange town with no plan to return, a local at the airport drops his knapsack in front of you, spilling its contents. Odds are that you will then do something that would astound a meerkat, lion or vampire bat: You will help the stranger pick up his things. ... Human beings have spent 99% of their history living in small hunter-gatherer bands. Such cultures rarely have a deity who pays attention to humans, let alone one who monitors and judges their morality, meting out rewards and punishments. When do religions tend to invent such moralizing gods? A number of researchers—such as Carlos A. Botero of Washington University in St.
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Should You Hug Your Dog?
The New York Times: The next time you want to hug a dog, consider this: You could be making the pooch miserable, an expert says. To the average dog lover, the animals’ floppy ears and pudgy paws are simply cute. But there is actual science behind their design: They are cursorial animals, which means that they have adapted to run as their first line of defense, said Stanley Coren, a psychology professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and a dog-training expert. So when a human, however well-meaning or needy, moves in for a full-body embrace, it immobilizes the dog and increases the animal’s stress level, he wrote in a Psychology Today blog post this month.
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Ha ha HA Haha. The Sound Of Laughter Tells More Than You Think
NPR: Hear it in Rio, Kathmandu or Timbuktu — it doesn't matter. A hearty, belly laugh means the same thing on every continent: joy. But when we laugh with someone else, our chuckles may divulge more than we realize. Scientists have found that people around the world can tell whether folks are friends or strangers by listening to them laughing together. And the ability transcends culture and language. ... But the results were consistent across all the societies studied. That's a big deal, says Robert Provine, a psychologist and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who wasn't involved with the study.
