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Mindful of Marshmallows
The Wall Street Journal: First developed by psychologist Walter Mischel, the now-famous "marshmallow test" found large differences in how long 4-year-olds could wait before consuming a treat—with self-control strongly linked to higher SAT scores and other positive outcomes later in life. Other studies have suggested an inborn ability to delay gratification, but a new paper points to a role for nurture as well. In the study, 28 3- to 5-year-olds were promised art supplies and stickers, only to have this promise broken. The other group of kids got the promised items. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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Waiting longer to have sex tied to more wealth, education and relationship happiness
CBS News: Here's some more reasons why teens should wait to have sex: A recent study shows that people who were over the age of 19 when they first had sexual intercourse were more likely to have higher educational levels and higher household income. In addition, out of those who had gotten married or were living with a partner by the end of the study, the people who had sex later in life reported less unhappiness in their relationship than their peers who had sex earlier. Read the whole story: CBS News
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Daydreaming Boosts Creativity, Study Suggests
The Huffington Post: Permission to daydream, granted. A new study in the journal Psychological Science shows that allowing your mind to wander might actually be good for your creative prowess. Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, found an association between daydreaming and creative problem-solving. Their study involved having participants first conduct an "unusual use task" -- where they had to try to come up with as many weird ways to use an object as they could.
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Carbohydrates don’t boost self-control
United Press International: U.S. researchers say sugar does not appear to have a metabolic boost for self-control. Psychological scientist Daniel C. Molden of Northwestern University in Chicago and colleagues said many had thought self-control relied on carbohydrate metabolism -- people deplete their carbohydrate stores as they exert self-control, making it more difficult to exert self-control until the stores are built up again. Read the whole story: United Press International
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Romney, Obama and the New Culture War over Fairness
TIME: Remember when the culture war was about obscenity in rap music, protecting the flag from match-wielding protesters and spanking in schools? Not all so-called cultural issues have faded away — gay marriage and abortion are still quite divisive — but after the 2008 financial collapse and the rise of the libertarian-influenced Tea Party, both armies in the American culture war shifted their crack brigades over to the so-called economic issues of taxes and entitlement spending. The front line in this new culture war is fairness. Both sides claim to own the territory, yet they draw the map of American morality differently.
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Understanding the Zombie Teen’s Body Clock
The Wall Street Journal: Many parents know the scene: The groggy, sleep-deprived teenager stumbles through breakfast and falls asleep over afternoon homework, only to spring to life, wide-eyed and alert, at 10 p.m.—just as Mom and Dad are nodding off. Fortunately for parents, science has gotten more sophisticated at explaining why, starting at puberty, a teen's internal sleep-wake clock seems to go off the rails. Researchers are also connecting the dots between the resulting sleep loss and behavior long chalked up to just "being a teenager." This includes more risk-taking, less self-control, a drop in school performance and a rise in the incidence of depression.
