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The Science of Choosing Compassion
Huffington Post: As I walk down bustling Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I often pass homeless people who ask me for spare change. Sometimes I let myself feel compassion for these individuals. But other times I don't want to get emotionally involved, so I look away and keep walking. Maybe you've had a similar experience. Pondering such experiences has led me to systematically explore the factors that influence when people feel compassion for others. The upshot of my research: You can choose to feel more compassion than you might think. There are many cases when we don't feel compassion for others.
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Smiling ‘is good for the heart’
The Telegraph: Researchers found smiling can reduce stress levels and low the heart rate while performing difficult tasks. Writing in Psychological Science, the authors tell how they studied the effects of different types of smiling in difficult situations. Tara Kraft, of the University of Kansas, said: "Age old adages, such as 'grin and bear it' have suggested smiling to be not only an important nonverbal indicator of happiness but also wishfully promotes smiling as a panacea for life's stressful events.
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Thinking About Giving, Not Receiving, Motivates People to Help Others
We’re often told to ‘count our blessings’ and be grateful for what we have. Research suggests that thinking about what we’ve given, rather than what we’ve received, can lead us to be more helpful toward others. Visit Page
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WeSearchTogether Connects Researchers to Study Participants Instantly
Nearly 1 in 4 American adults lives with a mental health disorder, yet less than 2 in 100 participate in mental health research (CISRP, 2012). Researchers in the field struggle to engage enough participants in their work, making it difficult to achieve breakthroughs in the treatment of mood disorders. WeSearchTogether.org is a national online clearinghouse and registry that offers researchers a free opportunity to connect with people living with mood disorders who are thinking about participating in research. WeSearchTogether was launched this summer by the University of Michigan Depression Center and the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).
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Looking For Trouble (And Seeing It)
I’ve known a few troublemakers over the years. These were guys with huge chips on both shoulders, who would gladly pick a fight if you looked at them wrong. And looking at them wrong could really mean doing nothing provocative at all, because they saw signs of hostility and threat where others did not, especially in others’ faces. They were literally looking for trouble. Scientists and clinicians are interested in the dynamic interaction of perception and aggression. Looking for trouble, and seeing it, may be a deep cognitive bias—a negativity bias—that distorts normal emotional processing.
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NIH Funding Opportunity: Research that Helps Cultivate Future Biomedical and Behavioral Scientists
Deadline: October 24, 2012, 5:00 PM (applicant organization’s local time) The National Institutes of Health announced a research project grant on Research to Understand and Inform Interventions that Promote the Research Careers of Students in Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences. This grant, issued by NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), supports research to test assumptions and hypotheses on social and behavioral factors that might aid potential interventions in increasing the number of students who are interested, motivated, and prepared to pursue biomedical and behavioral research careers.
