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Mindfulness and loss: The past is the past
Imagine this scenario. You’ve purchased tickets for an outdoor music festival, featuring several of your favorite bands. The tickets are pricey—$400—but it will be an experience to remember. Then, on the morning of the festival, a major storm moves into the region, and a hard, cold rain begins to fall. It shows no sign of stopping, and you are faced with a dilemma. You could go anyway—put on your slicker and grit your teeth and suffer through a miserable day. Or you could bag it, and eat the cost. Some say the hell with it, my bad luck, but many go, and spend a dismal day being cold and resentful—just so they don’t squander the $400. But that’s irrational. Think about it.
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How ‘Power Poses’ Can Help Your Career
The Wall Street Journal: Can how you stand or sit affect your success? New research shows posture has a bigger impact on body and mind than previously believed. Striking a powerful, expansive pose actually changes a person's hormones and behavior, just as if he or she had real power. Merely practicing a "power pose" for a few minutes in private—such as standing tall and leaning slightly forward with hands at one's side, or leaning forward over a desk with hands planted firmly on its surface—led to higher levels of testosterone and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in study participants.
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Childhood bullying may lead to social, health issues in adulthood
CBS: Being bullied as a child may have long-lasting repercussions that can follow into adulthood. A new study published in Psychological Science on Aug. 19 shows that being bullied as a youth was linked to more struggles to hold a regular job, more health problems and poor social relationships when the victim became an adult. "We cannot continue to dismiss bullying as a harmless, almost inevitable, part of growing up," Dieter Wolke, a professor in the department of psychology at the University of Warwick in the U.K., said in a press release.
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Engaging in a Brief Cultural Activity Can Reduce Implicit Prejudice
A small cue of social connection to someone from another group — such as a shared interest — can help reduce prejudice immediately and up to six months later.
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“Precisely Right. No Doubt. Trust Me.”
The Huffington Post: As a general rule, we tend to value confidence in other people, especially in the "experts" who help us with important decisions in life. Who wants a financial advisor who hesitates in his judgments, or a physician who waffles on every diagnosis and prescription? I want my lawyer to look me in the eye and speak with certainty about the law, and I look for consistency and self-assurance in politicians and leaders. Our decisions in these realms can have profound consequences, so we don't want to take our cues from the wishy-washy. Fortunately, these experts are all people, and people offer us cues.
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Lust, monkeys and the science of human desire
The Washington Post: Her unruly red-blond hair tufting atop her head, Deidrah sat beside Oppenheim. She lipped his ear. She mouthed his chest. She kissed his belly over and over, lips lingering with each kiss. After a while, he pulled himself up and strolled away from her attentions, glancing back over his shoulder to see if she was following. She was. Deidrah, probably the most reserved female monkey in the compound, started in again on his white-haired torso as they sat together on a concrete curb.
