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People believe they are `investing in Karma` by doing good deeds
Asian News International: Waiting for an important, uncontrollable outcome in life may lead people to do good deeds with the implicit expectation that the universe will return the favour, a phenomenon they refer to as "investing in karma," a new research suggests. For so many important outcomes in life - applying for jobs, waiting for medical test results - there comes a point when you just have to sit back and hope for the best. But that doesn't mean we always behave that way. The new research suggested that even when an outcome is out of our control we often act as though we can still get on the good side of fate by doing good deeds.
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Why Americans and Europeans Give Directions Differently
The Atlantic - Cities: One of the charms of Europe is the irregular geography of its city streets. Meanwhile across the Atlantic many major American cities follow a fairly rigid (albeit intuitive) grid system. The local differences echo the broader approaches to land division there and here. While many boundaries in the Old World conform to the curves of nature, places in the United States generally follow a rectangular system imposed, in large part, by the Public Land Survey. It stands to reason that these different environments would leave distinct impressions on their respective residents. If the place you live in looks like a map, logic suggests you'll start to discuss it like one.
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So leicht lassen wir uns manipulieren (How easily we can manipulate ourselves)
Suddeutsche Zeitung: Warum wechselt Serena Williams ihre Socken nicht, so lange sie ein Turnier spielt? Zumindest erzählte die Wimbledon-Siegerin einmal, dass sie diese Marotte pflege. Die Frage könnte aber auch lauten: Warum zieht der Golfer Tiger Woods bei Turnieren sonntags am liebsten ein rotes Hemd an? Und weshalb trug der Basketball-Superstar Michael Jordan unter seinem Trikot immer seine alten Shorts aus Uni-Zeiten? Ganz einfach: Diese Marotten verleihen den Sportlern Sicherheit. Aus irgendeinem Grund betrachten sie die Kleidungsstücke als Erfolgsgaranten - und tatsächlich beeinflussen Stinkesocken mitunter die Leistung von Spitzensportlern.
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Giving Time Can Give You Time
We all know that our objective amount of time can’t be increased, but a new study suggests that volunteering our limited time—giving it away— may actually increase our sense of unhurried leisure.
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Board Member Lisa Feldman Barrett Receives Highest Canadian Scholarly Award
APS Board Member Lisa Feldman Barrett was recently elected to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC): The Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada. Barrett, who is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, received her PhD from the University of Waterloo. Her laboratory, the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory, investigates the nature of emotion and the brain’s creation of the mind. Experiential, behavioral, psychophysiology, and brain-imaging methods are all used in her research. The Society consists of elected Canadian citizens or residents who have made outstanding contributions to the arts, humanities, sciences, and Canadian public life.
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It really IS happy hour, study finds
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: They didn’t exactly raise the bar on alcohol-related fact-finding. University of Pittsburgh researchers recently released a study concluding that moderate amounts of booze, consumed while socializing, increases the likelihood of people feeling pleasant and bonding with others. In short, the analysis concluded that drinking in a group is a more positive experience than drinking alone. If those findings sound familiar, it’s because they almost mirror those of generations of folks who conducted research and found that having cocktails with chums is fun.
