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How to Be a Better Shopper
Scientific American: The other day an e-mail from Old Navy arrived in my in-box with the subject line “Buy one, get one 50 percent off all activewear. Two days only!” I get these sales e-mails from the store almost weekly, and even though I know exactly what the marketers are doing (trying to get me to spend money I wasn't planning to spend), I usually click—and often end up purchasing—anyway. As a mortgage-owing, self-employed mom with two college funds and a retirement account to think about, I havegot to become a smarter, better shopper. You, too? Here's how consumer psychology and marketing researchers suggest we start.
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Will Retirement Pay You a ‘Happiness Bonus’?
The Wall Street Journal: Life gets better after retirement—despite the financial and physical challenges associated with that time of life.
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Boost Your Immune System with Hugs
Big Think: Hugs may have healing properties (beyond making you feel warm and fuzzy). This flu season add a hug a day to your regimen--it may help lessen your symptoms should you fall ill, according to one study. The find was published in Psychological Science and highlighted in Carnegie Mellon University's news by Shilo Rea. Researchers wanted to assess what social support and hugs had on illness. The study singled-out participants that may be more susceptible to a cold's symptoms because of their heightened level of stress in their lives. The team took 404 adult participants and assessed their perceived level of social support through a questionnaire.
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Even for the Person Who Has Everything, Gifts Matter
The New York Times: R. COURI HAY, a society figure in Manhattan, is not one to think small when it comes to holiday presents. He gave a former partner two Andy Warhol prints of Marilyn Monroe, because by that point in their relationship he had given him every other Monroe-inspired item he could think of, from kitschy items to trips to places linked to her. He once presented Cornelia Guest, a socialite and animal rights activist, with a plate of jewels. He told her she could pick whichever one she wanted but that only one of them was real. (“I knew the real one,” Ms. Guest said.
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Some Early Childhood Experiences Shape Adult Life, But Which Ones?
NPR: Most of us don't remember our first two or three years of life — but our earliest experiences may stick with us for years and continue to influence us well into adulthood. Just how they influence us and how much is a question that researchers are still trying to answer. Two studies look at how parents' behavior in those first years affects life decades later, and how differences in children's temperament play a role. The first study, published Thursday in Child Development, found that the type of emotional support that a child receives during the first three and a half years has an effect on education, social life and romantic relationships even 20 or 30 years later.
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To refresh your own memory, hit save
The Boston Globe: WHEN YOU SAVE a document on your computer, do you find yourself breathing a sigh of relief? In several experiments, researchers asked students to memorize a list of words in one computer file and then memorize a second list of words in another computer file. Those students who were allowed to save the first file for later restudying—as opposed to simply closing it—subsequently did a better job of memorizing the second list of words. In other words, being able to save data made it easier to learn new data. This effect was nullified if participants expected the computer to lose the saved data, or if the list of data was very short (and thus easy to memorize either way).
