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When Do Babies Start Making Jokes?
New York Magazine: A devious infant is the protagonist of a recent viral video that was posted to Facebook earlier this month and has since racked up more than 26 million views. The basic plot line: Every time her dad goes to cut her fingernails, she cries out and makes a pained face — then quickly dissolves into baby giggles, clearly pleased with herself and her little joke. ... When you think about it, a joke is a pretty complicated thing, especially for a human so tiny as our little prankster here.
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Barbie Wants to Get to Know Your Child
The New York Times: It looked like a child’s playroom: toys in cubbies, a little desk for doing homework, a whimsical painting of a tree on the wall. A woman and a girl entered and sat down in plump papasan chairs, facing a low table that was partly covered by a pink tarp. The wall opposite them was mirrored from floor to ceiling, and behind it, unseen in a darkened room, a half-dozen employees of the toy company Mattel sat watching through one-way glass. The girl, who looked about 7, wore a turquoise sweatshirt and had her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail.
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Warm Memories Can Dampen Hatred of Outsiders
Pacific Standard: At a time when "deport the immigrants" is an increasingly popular position, it's clear that animosity toward perceived outsiders remains a powerful driver of political attitudes. If you step back and identify the underlying emotional foundation of this problematic mindset, the answer is obvious: fear and insecurity. "Those people" are perceived as a threat to "my people." But not everyone is equally fearful and insecure. As psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth pointed out decades ago, healthy emotional functioning depends in large part on the presence of a loving, supportive figure one can depend upon.
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Should Parents Play Videogames With Their Children?
The Wall Street Journal: About twice a month the Davis family microwaves a bag of popcorn and sprawls around a large flat-screen TV for the night. But they don’t stream Netflix. They fire up a Nintendo Wii U and play “Mario Kart,” the gravity-defying racing game. “It’s not just pressing buttons,” said Gary Davis, 53, of Webster, N.Y. “There’s a lot of joking going on.” Despite the fact that “Mario Kart” involves neither senseless slaughter nor barbaric hedonism, his sons are into it. “It’s cool to see my parents interested in things I’m interested in also,” said Will, 14. ...
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The Mixed Blessing of Workplace Friendships
A group of psychological scientists led by Jessica Methot of Rutgers University took a closer look at the benefits — as well as the potential tradeoffs — of friends at work.
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To Get a Job in Your 50s, Maintain Friendships in Your 40s
The New York Times: We hear it all the time: People who are over 50 take longer to find jobs than younger people. Connie Wanberg, a professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, had long heard gloom-and-doom stories to that effect, but she wondered how strong the data was to support them. Very, as it turned out. According to a study by Professor Wanberg and others, job seekers over 50 were unemployed 5.8 weeks longer than those from the ages of 30 to 49. That number rose to 10.6 weeks when the comparison group was from 20 to 29. Professor Wanberg and three other researchers — Darla J.
