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Nostalgia for young adulthood? Rethinking the ‘reminiscence bump’
Some years ago, I found myself sitting out a blinding snow storm in a diner on a rural Maryland highway. It was bitterly cold outside, so I ordered soup and coffee and sat on a stool at the counter. I was the only customer for more than an hour, so I struck up a conversation with the fellow working there. He was in his early 40s, I'd guess. He was friendly and did most of the talking, telling me about his high school days. His school was just a couple miles down the road. He had been an All-State linebacker on his championship team, and ran track as well.
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Standing Tall is Key for Success in 2011
Show enthusiasm, ask questions and bring copies of a resume. These are just a handful of the most common interview tips for job seekers, but a person’s posture may also be a deciding factor for whether they land a coveted position – even when the person on the other side of the desk is in a more powerful role. According to new research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, posture plays an important role in determining whether people act as though they are really in charge.
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Gesturing While Talking Helps Change Your Thoughts
Sometimes it's almost impossible to talk without using your hands. These gestures seem to be important to how we think. They provide a visual clue to our thoughts and, a new theory suggests, may even change our thoughts by grounding them in action. University of Chicago psychological scientists Sian Beilock and Susan Goldin-Meadow are bringing together two lines of research: Beilock's work on how action affects thought and Goldin-Meadow's work on gesture.
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Trust Your Gut…but Only Sometimes
When faced with decisions, we often follow our intuition—our self-described “gut feelings”—without understanding why. Our ability to make hunch decisions varies considerably: Intuition can either be a useful ally or it can lead to costly and dangerous mistakes. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that the trustworthiness of our intuition is really influenced by what is happening physically in our bodies. “We often talk about intuition coming from the body—following our gut instincts and trusting our hearts”, says Barnaby D.
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Does an Active Lifestyle Make Good Citizens?
Data suggest that political participation is highest in countries where citizens are the most physically active, independent of citizens’ interest in politics or their economic productivity.
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New Research From Current Directions in Psychological Science
Fact and Fiction in Cognitive Ability Testing for Admissions and Hiring Decisions Nathan R. Kuncel and Sarah A. Hezlett Standardized tests of cognitive abilities are used to predict performance in educational and work settings. Group differences often occur with standardized cognitive tests, and these differences have been falsely attributed to predictive biases inherent to the tests. Although evidence suggests that test-score differences reflect developed-skill differences, it is important for scientists, citizens, and policymakers to critically examine these tests and their uses, due to the important implications they have for school and job placement.
