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Haunted-House Experience Scares Up Interesting Insights on the Body’s Reaction to Threats
Dilated pupils, sweating, and a rapid heartbeat are some of the physiological responses that people experience when faced with a threatening situation. New research used the immersive experience of a haunted house to reveal that these responses differ depending on the social context and other factors.
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Breaking the “Curse of Knowledge”: Older Adults’ Supposedly Reduced Theory of Mind Might Reflect Experimental Demands
Findings indicating a decline in older adults’ theory of mind abilities may have been exaggerated by the cognitive demands of certain experimental designs.
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The Pandemic has Caused Nearly Two Years of Collective Trauma. Many People are Near a Breaking Point.
An airplane passenger is accused of attacking a flight attendant and breaking bones in her face. Three New York City tourists assaulted a restaurant host who asked them for proof of vaccination against the coronavirus, prosecutors say. Eleven people were charged with misdemeanors after they allegedly chanted “No more masks!” and some moved to the front of the room during a Utah school board meeting. Across the United States, an alarming number of people are lashing out in aggressive and often cruel ways in response to policies or behavior they dislike.
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You Can’t Simply Decide to Be a Different Person
When I was a kid, my dad did something on family vacations that perplexes me to this day: He ran. Every day, at least four or five miles, rising before the sun and before anyone else was awake. He wasn’t training for anything. He wasn’t trying to lose weight. There was no specific goal, no endpoint, no particular reason he couldn’t take the week off while in the greater Disney World metropolitan area, which, in July, is hotter than the surface of the sun. He was just running, like he had basically every day since time immemorial. My dad will turn 75 next week, and whenever you’re reading this, he has probably already been out for a run today. ...
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The Pandemic-Fueled Feeling Called ‘Languishing’; Elvis Costello’s New Album
In a The New York Times op-ed, psychologist Adam Grant puts a name to that feeling borne out of the pandemic — showing up for life, but living without purpose and aim. Emory University sociologist Corey Keyes coined that feeling "languishing." We discuss. ...
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Awe: The ‘Little Earthquake’ That Could Free Your Mind
Whenever Ethan Kross finds himself in a mental rut of worrying and negative self-talk, he walks five blocks to his local arboretum and contemplates one of the magnificent trees in front of him, and the astonishing power of nature. If he can’t get to the arboretum, he spends a few moments thinking about the astonishing possibilities of aeroplanes and spacecraft.
