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A Happy Life May Not Be a Meaningful Life
Scientific American: Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl once wrote, “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” For most people, feeling happy and finding life meaningful are both important and related goals. But do happiness and meaning always go together? It seems unlikely, given that many of the things that we regularly choose to do – from running marathons to raising children – are unlikely to increase our day-to-day happiness. Recent research suggests that while happiness and a sense of meaning often overlap, they also diverge in important and surprising ways. ...
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Expand Pre-K, Not A.D.H.D.
The New York Times: THE writing is on the chalkboard. Over the next few years, America can count on a major expansion of early childhood education. We embrace this trend, but as health policy researchers, we want to raise a major caveat: Unless we’re careful, today’s preschool bandwagon could lead straight to an epidemic of 4- and 5-year-olds wrongfully being told that they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Introducing millions of 3- to 5-year-olds to classrooms and preacademic demands means that many more distracted kids will undoubtedly catch the attention of their teachers.
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Spatial Imagery Improves With Sight
Imagine a square box about the size of a soccer ball. Now imagine turning it over with your hands. It’s a task that’s easy for most people to do -- indeed, we use spatial imagery all the time to handle objects, plan movements, and navigate through various environments. Different sensory modalities, including vision, audition, and touch, provide information about our environment. So how can we figure out the relative importance of each modality in contributing to spatial imagery?
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Marriage Quality May Influence Heart Disease Risk
Chicago Tribune: Ambivalent hearts may be at higher risk for heart disease, according to a new study of married couples with mixed feelings for one another. "The most intriguing finding was that within a couple, only if both of them felt ambivalent towards their partner did you see this elevated (heart disease) risk," said Bert Uchino, a psychologist at the University of Utah and lead author of the study. The health of both spouses "is interdependent - it isn't what one says or does; it's what both do within the relationship that matters" when it comes to heart health, Uchino told Reuters Health.
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Now! Later. No, Right Now! Maybe in a Bit.
The Huffington Post: Procrastination and impulsivity are both bad habits. They cause problems in school, at work, in life. But psychologically, they would seem to have little in common. Impulsivity, after all, is all about now -- wanting and needing something immediately, urgently -- and not waiting for later. Later is the province of procrastinators, who will happily delay until tomorrow what could -- or should -- be done today. Yet these two character traits do coexist, and that has long puzzled psychological scientists.
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Should Obesity Be a ‘Disease’?
The New York Times: IN June 2013, millions of Americans contracted a disease. They developed it not because of some pathogen or illness, but thanks to the American Medical Association’s decision to label obesity a “multi-metabolic and hormonal disease state.” On its surface, this seemed like a good move: Calling obesity a disease provides a clear warning of the significant health risks associated with excessive weight. And the obesity-is-a-disease message sparked attention, funding and research aimed at finding medically driven remedies. We wondered, however, if there also might be psychological ramifications inherent in that message.
