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Want To Resist Temptation? A New Study Suggests Thinking Might Not Always Help You
Uh-oh. Here comes temptation—for a dieter, it’s a sweet treat; an alcoholic, a beer; a married man, an attractive, available woman. How to defeat the impulse to gratify desire and stick to your long-term goals of slimness, sobriety, or fidelity? Here’s some advice: Don’t stop and think. Thinking may not help. That is one surprising conclusion of a new study by Loran Nordgren and Eileen Chou at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Nordgren and Chou wanted to make sense of two contradictory bodies of literature.
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A World Series to Remember?
It’s a moment burned into the minds of Red Sox and Yankee fans alike – sitting inches away from the television, fists clenched, tightness in the chest and the unbearable urge to look away… It might have been that very moment in 2003 when the Yankee’s Aaron Boone hit a game ending home run. Or it might have been that very moment in 2004, when Boston’s Pokey Reese threw to first base for the last Yankee out, and the devastation of 2003 began to fade from the memories of so many Red Sox fans. Either way, a new study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, says it is the games our teams win that we remember, not the games our teams lose.
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Mentoring Programs – How Effective Are They?
Whether it’s parents, teachers, coaches, or family friends, there’s no question that adults serve as powerful role models for youth as they transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Mentoring programs across the United States have tried to harness the power of positive role models in the hopes that relationships with an adult mentor will help to support kids’ socioemotional and cognitive development. But are mentoring programs effective? And do all programs have equally positive effects?
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Deliberate Practice: Necessary But Not Sufficient
Psychological scientist Guillermo Campitelli is a good chess player, but not a great one. “I'm not as good as I wanted,” he says. He had an international rating but not any of the titles that chess players get, like Grandmaster and International Master. “A lot of people that practiced much less than me achieved much higher levels.” Some of the players he coached became some of the best players in Argentina. “I always wondered: What's going on? Why did this happen?” Now a researcher at Edith Cowan University in Joondalup, Australia, Campitelli studies practicing.
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Psychologists Defend The Importance Of General Abilities
“What makes a great violinist, physicist, or crossword puzzle solver? Are experts born or made? The question has intrigued psychologists since psychology was born—and the rest of us, too, who may secretly fantasize playing duets with Yo Yo Ma or winning a Nobel Prize in science. It’s no wonder Malcolm Gladwell stayed atop the bestseller lists by popularizing the “10,000-hour rule” of Florida State University psychologist K. Anders Ericsson.
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Why Do Some Athletes Choke Under Pressure?
Athletes know they should just do their thing on the 18th hole, or during the penalty shootout, or when they’re taking a 3-point shot in the last moments of the game. But when that shot
