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Can You Control Your Happiness? New Study Gives A Scientific Backed Answer
Many would agree that happiness is difficult to define and challenging to measure—partly due to its subjective nature. Is it possible to get a scientific handle on such a slippery concept? In happiness surveys, over 80% of people rate their overall life satisfaction as “pretty to very happy,” and comparably 80% also rate their current mood as positive (for example, positive 6–7 on a 10 point scale, where 5 is neutral). A lucky few may even live consistently around a point of 8—although excessively higher scores may actually impede attainment of life success, as measured by wealth, education, or political participation.
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New Content From Current Directions in Psychological Science
A sample of articles on intolerance, social-structure learning, personality change, learned preferences, effects of teachers’ instructional language, and collective emotions.
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All That Performative Environmentalism Adds Up
My newly adopted home state is on fire again: Scorching heat and lightning strikes have sparked dozens of fires across California, burning an area the size of Rhode Island. Iowa is reeling from a deadly derecho. The Mountain West is suffering through a severe drought. Towns and cities all over are experiencing one of the hottest summers on record, if not the hottest. And a hurricane just tore through the Gulf Coast. With climate change making extreme weather events more intense and more common, and Congress continuing to ignore this existential threat, I have tried to do my part. After moving to California, I went on a no-buy streak.
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How Our Brains Numb Us To Covid-19’s Risks — and What We Can Do About It
Back in March, going just about anywhere felt like entering a combat zone. As covid-19 case counts rose across the country, I quaked at the prospect of going to the grocery store. I donned my mask and tried not to inhale as I threaded through the aisles, dousing myself with sanitizer as soon as I got out. But as the pandemic stretched into summer, my vigilance began to flag. Trips to the grocery store started to seem routine again rather than cause for panic. In June, I signed my oldest son up for summer camp — albeit one with campers confined to small groups. And I hope to send both my kids back to the classroom when school officially reopens.
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The Future of EU R&I and the Long-Term EU Budget
ERC President Jean-Pierre Bourguignon speaks about the importance of research and innovation during a hearing at the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee.
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NIH Funding Research on Tobacco Control Policies
Because of the health risks tobacco use continues to pose, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a funding opportunity announcement for research which improves the effectiveness of existing tobacco prevention and control strategies as well as reduces disparities in commercial tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure.
