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Anorexia May Be Habit, Not Willpower, Study Finds
The New York Times: Women who suffer from anorexia are often thought of as having an extraordinary degree of self-control, even if that discipline is used self-destructively. But a new study suggests that the extreme dieting characteristic of anorexia may instead be well-entrenched habit — behavior governed by brain processes that, once set in motion, are inflexible and slow to change. The study’s findings may help explain why the eating disorder, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, is so stubbornly difficult to treat.
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Anxious About Math? Count an Elephant’s Toenails
Science Friday: A new study in the journal Science finds that an iPad app that prompts parents and kids to solve nightly number problems together greatly improves student achievement in math. The app, Bedtime Math (featured on Science Friday before), creates a kind of math storytime. One example of the kinds of problems the app can provide is a question about elephants. Read the whole story: Science Friday
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Feeling Like a Fraud on the Job
Ferdinand Demara is one of history’s most infamous impostors. After serving in the US Army during World War II, Demara masqueraded as a monk, a surgeon, a prison warden, a cancer researcher, a teacher, a civil engineer, a hospital orderly, a sheriff’s deputy, a psychologist, and a minister—faking his credentials at every turn.
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Stuff Happens, And The Way We Talk About It Matters
NPR: When discussing the Oregon shooting at Umpqua Community College last week, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush explained that "stuff happens," suggesting that such events can't be prevented and, by implication, that legislators — and gun control laws — are not responsible.
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Telecommuting Isn’t Always a Win-Win Situation
HealthDay: Many people dream of giving up their daily commute and padding to work in their pajamas and slippers. But telecommuting has to be carefully thought out and implemented to be successful, new research says. A growing number of companies offer work-from-home options even though there is conflicting evidence about the effectiveness of this approach, the study authors said. ... "Our intent is to provide a balanced picture of what we know and do not know based on the scientific findings.
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Can We End the Meditation Madness?
The New York Times: I AM being stalked by meditation evangelists. They approach with the fervor of a football fan attacking a keg at a tailgate party. “Which method of meditation do you use?” I admit that I don’t meditate, and they are incredulous. It’s as if I’ve just announced that the Earth is flat. “How could you not meditate?!” I have nothing against it. I just happen to find it dreadfully boring. ... After spending the past four decades studying mindfulness without meditation, the Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer has identified plenty of other techniques for raising our conscious awareness of the present.
