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Learning the Wrong Lessons
Inside Higher Ed: Here is the lesson people want to learn from the Penn State scandal: There are some smarmy folks out there who, through a combination of mindless groupthink and fear of antagonizing important people, will do unimaginable things, like not reporting child abusers to the police; perhaps there are other "Penn States" out there or possibly there even are people at our own institution who are hiding seriously dirty linen about which we know nothing. The one thing we know for sure is that we never would act the way those people did. That’s the wrong lesson. Here’s why. In the 1960s, the late Stanley Milgram did a series of studies while a faculty member at Yale University.
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Mind games of the victorious
Reuters: For decades after the first sports psychology lab was established in 1920 in Germany, mental coaches have been the water boys of sports science, viewed by their colleagues as not quite good enough to make the first-string team. That has changed. Virtually every top professional team and elite athlete has a psychologist on speed dial for help conquering the yips - when stress makes crucial muscles jerk and ruins, say, an archery shot - marshal the power of visualization, or just muster the confidence that can mean the difference between medaling or just muddling through.
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Helping others can give you free time: study
New Zealand Herald: If you're always feeling there aren't enough hours in the day, the answer could be to do a favour for someone else, say scientists. Despite the fact it involves giving up some of that precious time, devoting a few hours or even just minutes to others can make us feel as if we actually have more free time, a study claims. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania compared the effects of 'chillaxing', or wasting time, and giving time - for example, writing a letter to a sick child. They found that those who did the latter felt they had more time on their hands, reports the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: New Zealand Herald
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How to Find More Time: Give Some Away
LiveScience: Seems there’s never enough time in the day, right? But if you want more time, try giving some away. A new study finds that those who volunteer their time feel they have more of it. “Although it seems counterintuitive to give away any of your time when you feel your time to be scarce, our findings suggest that even spending small pockets of time to help others can make people feel more effective, and like they can do a lot with the limited time they have,” said study leader Cassie Mogilner of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “Giving time makes people feel like they have more time,” Mogilner told LiveScience. Read the whole story: LiveScience
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Olympics: Mind games of the victorious
Otago Daily Times: For decades after the first sports psychology lab was established in 1920 in Germany, mental coaches have been the water boys of sports science, viewed by their colleagues as not quite good enough to make the first-string team. That has changed. Virtually every top professional team and elite athlete has a psychologist on speed dial for help conquering the yips - when stress makes crucial muscles jerk and ruins, say, an archery shot - marshal the power of visualization, or just muster the confidence that can mean the difference between medaling or just muddling through.
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Boost Your Memory By Resting Your Eyes After Learning
Business Insider: A new study suggests that a brief — even just a few minutes — bit of rest after learning something new can greatly improve your ability to remember it. The new study was published in the journal Psychological Science. “Our findings support the view that the formation of new memories is not completed within seconds,” researcher Michaela Dewar said in a statement from the journal. “Indeed our work demonstrates that activities that we are engaged in for the first few minutes after learning new information really affect how well we remember this information after a week.” Read the whole story:
