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Is Modern Dating the Worst?
Science Friday: In 1967, 76 percent of women said they would marry someone they didn’t romantically love. This is a figure that shocked comedian Aziz Ansari while working on his book, Modern Romance. He teamed up with sociologist Eric Klinenberg to understand how romantic expectations and dating have evolved over the years, especially with the advent of mobile technology and online dating. (According to the Pew Research Center, for example, one in five adults in the United States between the ages of 25 and 34 have given online dating a try.) To understand the state of dating today, the two talked with a number of scientists. Read the whole story: Science Friday
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The Downside of Mindfulness
Pacific Standard: Close your eyes. Focus on your breath. Watch, without judgment, as thoughts and feelings arise in your mind, and gradually dissipate. If those instructions sound familiar to you, you are one of the many people—including myself—who have taken up mindfulness meditation. And for good reason: Recent research has found the practice produces a variety of benefits beyond simple stress reduction, including improved test scores, reduced reflexive racial bias, and even helping dieters avoid temptation. But it turns out that even this highly positive practice is not immune from producing unintended consequences.
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The Unexpected Influence of Stories Told at Work
Harvard Business Review: Growing up on a Missouri farm, Walt Disney developed a love for drawing after his neighbor, a retired doctor known as “Doc” Sherwood, paid him to draw pictures of his horse. Disney later became a newspaper cartoonist and commercial artist, where he learned how to make commercials from cutout animations. His fascination with animation inspired him to establish his own cartoon studio and eventually become the face of the golden age of animation. I heard this story during my onboarding process when I worked as a research consultant at Disney Imagineering a few years ago.
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Do Babies Know When They’re Skyping?
The Atlantic: Long before most babies toddle or talk, they begin to make sophisticated inferences about the world around them. By as young as 3 months old, newborns can form expectations based on physical principles like gravity, speed, and momentum. Scientists at several universities told me they now have evidence, to the likely delight of far-flung grandparents everywhere, that infants can also tell the difference between, say, a broadcast of Mister Rogers and a video call with their actual grandfather.
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Brain on Sports Podcast: The athletic payoffs of positive body language
Sports Illustrated: “This is Your Brain on Sports” is a new podcast from Sports Illustrated in which SI executive editor Jon Wertheim and Tufts University psychology professor Sam Sommers explore the intersection of sports and human nature—what the world of sports has to teach us about who we are, what we care about, and the forces that shape our behavior. In this week’s episode, Sommers is joined by Dr. Amy Cuddy, a world-renowned expert in body language, to discuss the subconscious messages the body sends and how those physical messages can shape the mental sharpness of top athletes. Read the whole story: Sports Illustrated
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How helping kids with their math homework can make them worse off
Quartz: It’s understandable that parents worry about their children’s math performance, even at a very young age, and that they try to help. But they may need to start thinking about how they help; according to a new study in Psychological Science, the more that anxious parents try to help their kids with math homework, the more harm they do. “When parents have a poor relation with math and frequently help their children with their homework, their children learn less math,” write the researchers, led by Erin Maloney at the University of Chicago. Read the whole story: Quartz
