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Disharmony in the Land of Nod
The Huffington Post: The most compelling personal memoirs -- Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and others -- are not happy stories. They are recollections of childhood adversity, and rarely are they triumphant survivors' tales. The most honest of these remembrances are accounts of the lingering scars and damage done. And damage is done. Scientists have thoroughly documented the pernicious effects of traumatic childhood events, right down to the cellular level. The young brain is highly vulnerable to all sorts of stress, and study after study has shown that childhood troubles can skew the development of key neural networks involved in emotional stability.
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The yuck factor: The surprising power of disgust
New Scientist: DAVID PIZARRO can change the way you think, and all he needs is a small vial of liquid. You simply have to smell it. The psychologist spent many weeks tracking down the perfect aroma. It had to be just right. "Not too powerful," he explains. "And it had to smell of real farts." It's no joke. Pizarro needed a suitable fart spray for an experiment to investigate whether a whiff of something disgusting can influence people's judgements. His experiment, together with a growing body of research, has revealed the profound power of disgust, showing that this emotion is a much more potent trigger for our behaviour and choices than we ever thought.
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Olympics 2012: Superstition is the way some star athletes keep their winning edge
New York Daily News: U.S. women's judo champ Kayla Harrison wore lucky socks that were a gift from her grandmother when she won Olympic gold. British hockey player Laura Unsworth has banned a teammate from straightening her hair for fear it will cost them a medal. Swimming legend Michael Phelps removes his headphones and swings his arms three times as he's about to step on the starting block and race. The Olympians in London are a competitive bunch who will stop at nothing to give themselves an edge over their rivals, and that includes superstitions and rituals. Read the whole story: New York Daily News
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Dating in a Digital World
Scientific American: Romantic relationships can begin anywhere. When Cupid's arrow strikes, you might be at church or at school, playing chess or softball, flirting with a friend of a friend at a party or minding your own business on the train. Sometimes, however, Cupid goes on vacation, or takes a long nap, or kicks back for a marathon of Lifetime original movies. Instead of waiting for the capricious arrow slinger to get back to work, people are increasingly joining online-dating sites to assert some control over their romantic lives. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Una sonrisa para rebajar el estrés (A smile to lower stress)
ABC: Aunque la sonrisa es síntoma de que nos sentimos bien también puede ser una buena herramienta para mejorar nuestro humor cuando el estrés nos invade. Así lo asegura un estudio de la Universidad de Kansas, que se publicará próximamente en la revista «Psychological Science». Los psicólogos Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman han investigado los potenciales beneficios de sonreír y cómo los diferentes tipos de sonrisa influyen en la capacidad de cada uno para recuperar de episodios estresantes. Los investigadores reclutaron a 169 participantes universitarios para confirmar su hipótesis.
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How to De-Stress—Instantly
Cosmopolitan: Completely stressed out? Take a sec to smile. No, seriously. According to new research from the University of Kansas, grinning helps you relax when you're stressed. In the study, researchers split participants into three groups. Each group was trained to recreate a different facial expression by holding chopsticks in their mouths. One group held their sticks in a way that created a neutral expression, another used them to create a standard smile, and the last group used them to create a genuine smile. Read the whole story: Cosmopolitan
