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Is Anybody Watching My Do-Gooding?
Slate: Hero means everything and nothing. It encompasses the firefighters who rushed into the burning twin towers, long-distance runners who compete through chronic disease, and the wag on Twitter who makes a point you agree with. The highly specific, armor-bright figure of classical myth has grown a thousand faces. We still want him around (DC Comics recently announced 10 new superhero films to unspool over the next six years, including one about a her: Wonder Woman), but his omnipresence makes him easy to mock.
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Can Tylenol Ease the Pain of a Home Sale?
The Wall Street Journal: Agents to sellers: “Take two Tylenol and call me in the morning.” A new study finds that taking the painkiller acetaminophen, better known by the brand name Tylenol, can reduce the psychological pain of decision-making. That led Spread Sheet to wonder: Could the painkiller compel homeowners to reduce their asking price? The article, “Can Acetaminophen Reduce the Pain of Decision-Making?” to be published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology next year, builds on previous work that shows emotional pain can overlap with the physical kind.
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Gender Fairness Prevails in Most Fields of Academic Science
Women are significantly underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and attempts to understand why have only resulted in disagreement among researchers, the lay public, and policymakers. In a comprehensive new report, an interdisciplinary team of psychological scientists and economists aims to cut through the confusion, synthesizing available research and providing a host of new analyses to identify the factors that drive women's underrepresentation in STEM.
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Experts Offer Steps for Avoiding Public Hysteria, a Different Contagious Threat
The New York Times: As health officials scramble to explain how two nurses in Dallas became infected with Ebola, psychologists are increasingly concerned about another kind of contagion, whose symptoms range from heightened anxiety to avoidance of public places to full-blown hysteria. So far, emergency rooms have not been overwhelmed with people afraid that they have caught the Ebola virus, and no one is hiding in the basement and hoarding food. But there is little doubt that the events of the past week have left the public increasingly worried, particularly the admission by Dr. Thomas R.
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The Problem With Positive Thinking
The New York Times: MANY people think that the key to success is to cultivate and doggedly maintain an optimistic outlook. This belief in the power of positive thinking, expressed with varying degrees of sophistication, informs everything from affirmative pop anthems like Katy Perry’s “Roar” to the Mayo Clinic’s suggestion that you may be able to improve your health by eliminating “negative self-talk.” But the truth is that positive thinking often hinders us. More than two decades ago, I conducted a study in which I presented women enrolled in a weight-reduction program with several short, open-ended scenarios about future events — and asked them to imagine how they would fare in each one.
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The Importance of Sharing Experiences
The Atlantic: Given the choice between going to a bar with Jessica Alba and going to a bar with our same group of friends, most of us would probably pick the date with the onetime “Sexiest Woman in the World” and impresario of eco-friendly baby-products. But perhaps we should rethink that choice and opt for another night of beers with the gang. A recent study in Psychological Science suggests that unusual experiences have a social cost, in that they alienate us from our peers.
