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Daydreaming Can Have a Dark Side
While someone is zoning out, their mind isn’t just blank. Instead, people who are daydreaming may be intensely ruminating on their future accomplishments, hopes, and goals. Research on daydreaming and other mind wandering has shown that this can help people generate innovative solutions to problems, an idea that the business world has started catching on to. But research is also showing that daydreaming can have a dark side. Several studies have shown that spontaneous thoughts can be open and expansive, allowing the mind to creatively “wander” through different topics, helping people come up with expected solutions to problems.
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To Spot a Liar, Listen Closely
In an analysis of public remarks by corporate fraudsters, psychological researchers identified certain speech patterns the executives fell into while lying.
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Confident Leaders Inspire Creativity
Confident leaders foster greater creativity among their employees, according to a new study. “Employees are more likely to produce creative outcomes when they are aware that creativity is expected from them and is encouraged by their leaders,” writes study authors Lei Huang (Auburn University), Dina Krasikova (University of Texas at San Antonio), and Dong Liu (Georgia Institute of Technology). In some of the most influential research in the history of psychology, Albert Bandura and colleagues demonstrated that our belief in our own capabilities determines whether or not we succeed.
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When Backup Plans Backfire
Backup plans can change the way that a person pursues a goal, as well as the likelihood of achieving it, even if the backup plans are never even used.
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Obnoxious Sixth-Graders Grow Up to Become High Earners
A new study suggests that the personality traits we possess as middle schoolers may end up having a major impact on our career choices and lifetime earnings as adults. But, after reviewing data spanning 40 years, researchers were surprised to find that obnoxious, rule-defying behavior in childhood was a predictor of career success in adulthood. As one might expect, students who did well in school – i.e., those who got good grades and positive assessments from their teachers – tended to end up with more successful careers as adults.
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Leading While Female: Prepare for Backlash
Women leaders who show dominance may face backlash — but data suggest that implicit forms of dominance, such as body language or facial expressions, may not harm women’s status.
