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Look at Your Body to Reduce Pain
When you’re getting a flu shot or touching a thorny rose stem, simply looking at your body can actually reduce the pain, researchers have discovered.
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Personal Well-Being Is Linked to National Satisfaction, Especially When Times Are Tough
The country where you live can have a big impact on your life. A new study of people from 128 countries finds that the more satisfied people are with their country, the better they feel about their lives—especially people who have low incomes or live in relatively poor countries. The study, published in the latest issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, is based on a Gallup World Poll that reached about 1,000 people in each of 128 countries, obtaining a total of more than 130,000 responses.
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Thoughts of Hopes, Opportunities Keep People From Clinging to Failing Investments
It's a common problem in the business world—throwing good money after bad. People cling to bad investments, hoping that more time, effort, and money will rescue their turkey of a project. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that changing people's mindsets can make them more likely to abandon a failing investment. "These situations happen all the time," says Assistant Professor Daniel C. Molden, of Northwestern University, who conducted the study with his graduate student Chin Ming Hui.
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‘He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not…’: Women Are More Attracted to Men Whose Feelings Are Unclear
Are you still looking for a date for Valentine’s Day? Here’s some dating advice straight from the laboratory: It turns out there may be something to "playing hard to get." A study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that a woman is more attracted to a man when she is uncertain about how much he likes her. On the one hand, a lot of psychological research has found that person A usually likes person B about as much as they think person B likes them. "If we want to know how much Sarah likes Bob, a good predictor is how much she thinks Bob likes her," write the authors of the paper, Erin R. Whitchurch and Timothy D.
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Intelligence and Personality May Predict Illness and Death
Do smarter people live longer and better lives? Are certain personality types more prone to premature death than are others? As our population continues to age in dramatic numbers, these questions become increasingly relevant. A new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, provides an overview of research on possible associations between intelligence and personality traits and various health outcomes. Although there is not much evidence to date that links intelligence with cancer, low intelligence has been shown to be related to increased risk of hospital admission and death due to cardiovascular disease.
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Younger Immigrants Adjust to a New Culture Faster Than Do Older Immigrants
Moving to a new country is difficult—learning the cultural rules and meanings of your new home is especially challenging. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that this process is easier for children, but quickly becomes more difficult after about the age of 15. Psychological scientists have found that many aspects of learning and development have a critical window—if a developmental event doesn't happen by a particular age, it never will.
