-
Why Delayed Gratification in the Marshmallow Test Doesn’t Equal Success
If you give a kid a marshmallow, she’s going to ask for a graham cracker. And maybe some milk. Eventually, she’ll want another marshmallow. (Or so the popular children’s book goes.) But if you ask a kid to wait 15 minutes before eating that marshmallow, promising a second if she holds out, she’s going to have a hard time complying. This dilemma, commonly known as the marshmallow test, has dominated research on children’s willpower since 1990, when Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel and his colleagues published their groundbreaking study on the topic.
-
Feeling Burned Out? Here Are 3 Things That Can Help
Here’s a confession: For the last week or so I’ve felt a little drained. Low energy, low motivation, a sense that something is a little off. It’s nothing serious, but one of those passing phases we’re all familiar with when things feel overwhelming. As an old editor of mine used to put it: My mojo is a little off. There are countless reasons we get in these funks, ranging from tough deadlines and scheduling conflicts to problems with co-workers or new stressors at home. Sometimes there isn’t even a reason and you’re just having one of those weeks. It’s normal to go through these phases. According to a recent study, one in five highly engaged employees is at risk of burnout.
-
Bad Vibes? Heavy Marijuana Users Hold on to Negative Feelings
Many people tend to look back on the past with rose-colored glasses, remembering the good times and the good feelings, while forgetting the bad. But a new study suggests that heavy marijuana users may have some trouble letting go of negative emotions tied to memories — a phenomenon that's also seen in people with depression. Earlier research has also linked marijuana use with depression. Although the new results are very preliminary, the findings, presented here Friday (May 25) at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, may offer clues about the link between marijuana use and depression.
-
How competition fuels inequality and conflict
Inequality is one of the best predictors of conflict ever found. Except when it isn’t. Consider homicide in the United States. In 1990 and again in 2010, there was an impressive correlation between income inequality and the homicide rate. Among the states where inequality was high, so was homicide; and where inequality was low, homicide was too. But over those same 20 years, inequality grew while homicides fell — the opposite of what you would expect. Call it the inequality paradox: The effect of inequality on conflict depends profoundly on the way it’s measured. --- With the help of a colleague, I tested this idea in an experiment just published in the journal Psychological Science.
-
Put a Ring on It? Millennial Couples Are in No Hurry
The millennial generation’s breezy approach to sexual intimacy helped give rise to apps like Tinder and made phrases like “hooking up” and “friends with benefits” part of the lexicon. But when it comes to serious lifelong relationships, new research suggests, millennials proceed with caution. --- “People are not postponing marriage because they care about marriage less, but because they care about marriage more,” said Benjamin Karney, a professor of social psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
-
Let’s hear it for Memorial Day weekend at the beach. Oh, but the litter …
Every Memorial Day weekend, it seems, the sea of red cups, beer cans and cigarette butts scattered across North Avenue Beach is a warm-weather reminder that for some, the world is their trash can. And during this, the start of road trip season, the detritus scattered along some highways and byways can be jarring. The costs are evident: The Chicago Park District alone spends about $4.7 million cleaning up the 26 miles of lakefront as well as parks across the city, and wildlife and aquatic life pay their own price when they consume littered plastic. In an age when recycling has become the norm and cleanup campaigns are common — including the Sweden-to-U.S.
