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Intelligence Means Having More Than Just Raw Brainpower
Business Insider: These situational factors exert their influence in so many ways, but today, inspired by a recent research finding, I want to focus on one in particular: how a mastery of situation can actually make us smarter as we get older. In the current issue of the journal Psychological Science, researchers report that older people (over 65) showedless variability in their cognitive performance across 100 days of testing than did younger people aged 20 to 31. Why?
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Summer fun can build kids’ brains
The Washington Post: Summertime is fun time, when kids can make and sell lemonade, read for fun, catch and release fireflies at twilight, and daydream. These last few weeks of the best time of the year can provide your child with rich opportunities to grow their brains while enjoying the traditional pastimes of the season.
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Impactful Distraction
ScienceNews: “Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel.” The late rock and roll singer Jim Morrison was not a poster boy for public safety — and was no authority on safe driving. After all, later in “Roadhouse Blues,” he has beer for breakfast. But the opening line of that Doors’ song still resonates as sound guidance. ... This distracted state should be familiar to everyone. “That’s why you can drive home and not remember having driven home,” says Daniel Simons, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Just because you look at something doesn’t mean you see it.” Read the whole story: ScienceNews
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Is psychology a “real” science? Does it really matter?
Scientific American: Fellow Scientific American blogger Melanie Tannenbaum is flustered by allegations that psychology is not a science and I can see where she is coming from. In this case the stimulus was a piece by Alex Berezow, a microbiologist, who in a short and provocative piece in the LA times argued the case that psychology is not a real science. I think he’s right. I also think that he misses the point. Berezow’s definition of science is not off the mark, but it’s also incomplete and too narrow.
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Two-Faced Facebook: We Like It, but It Doesn’t Make Us Happy
TIME: The more we use Facebook, the worse we feel. That’s what social psychologists at the University of Michigan report after tracking how 82 young adults used their Facebook accounts over a two-week period. When the participants started the study, they rated how satisfied they were with their lives. During the following two weeks, the researchers texted them at two-hour intervals five times a day to ask about how they felt about themselves, as well as how much time they had spent on Facebook since the last time they were texted. The more time people spent on Facebook during a single two-hour period, the worse they reported feeling. ...
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When it comes to weight loss, bad habits die hard
Los Angeles Times: On a recent doctor's visit, a compelling health video was looping in the reception room. It incorporated many of the accepted rules for achieving a healthy weight. The motivational video, tailored to the doctor's clientele, illustrated simple ways to eat more fruits and vegetables and get exercise. It was striking, however, that many of the nursing staff, who must have heard this video a thousand times, didn't seem to have taken it to heart. Nurses, as a national study revealed, are just as likely to overeat as the rest of the population.
