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Rx for happiness: Tax the rich?
msn: Discussions about taxes tend to cause otherwise reasonable people to go from zero to apoplexy in 3.5 seconds. So I groaned inwardly when my editor suggested I write about a study of 54 countries showing that the more progressive a nation's tax system, the happier its citizens are. Oh, great. I thought. I could see the headline: Soak the rich and you'll feel better. Then I read the study, which also concluded happiness was not enhanced by higher government spending. In fact, bigger government outlays were associated with less happiness. Which made me feel better about this assignment. At least the study was an equal opportunity offender. Read the whole story: msn
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For a Growing Number of College Students, Wikipedia Is Homework
GOOD Magazine: Wikipedia doesn't have a stellar reputation for scholarly accuracy, but its staggering collection of 20 million articles in 283 languages has nonetheless made it the go-to reference for the world's students—it's even the most plagiarized source on college campuses. Now, a growing number of professors are bucking the anti-Wikipedia trend and assigning a new kind of homework: editing the site's articles. According to the Wikimedia Foundation blog, professors from nine nations are participating in the two-year-old Wikipedia Education Program, which allows them to assign articles to their students. In the United States, about 50 classes are participating in the editing effort.
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Droitier vs gaucher : des décisions influencées
Yahoo: Si les scientifiques ont déjà élucidé de nombreuses différences dans le fonctionnement du cerveau chez les droitiers et les gauchers, ils sont encore loin d'avoir tout dévoilé. Une nouvelle étude publiée dans la revue Current Directions in Psychological Science révèle ainsi que les individus ont tendance à préférer les choses qu'ils rencontrent sur le côté de leur main dominante. Pour cela, les chercheurs menés par Daniel Casasanto, de la New School for Social Research, à New York ont réalisé une expérience basée sur le choix des personnes. Concrètement, ils ont présenté aux participants deux produits à acheter ou deux créatures extraterrestres à embaucher.
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Could The Grand Canyon Cure Your Depression?
Business Insider: Yes. Might be time to visit the Grand Canyon or take in an amazing sunset. Via Wray Herbert: Psychological scientists think so, too, and indeed there has been burgeoning interest in this powerful but neglected emotion. One team of scientists—Melanie Rudd and Jennifer Aaker of Stanford and Kathleen Vohs of Minnesota—have come to believe that experiencing awe may have all sorts of tonic effects, including a better sense of perspective on time and priorities, more patience and charity toward others, and generally more satisfaction with life. Read the whole story: Business Insider
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Preschools Get Disadvantaged Children Ready for the Rigors of Kindergarten
Preschools help children prepare for the rigors of grade school—especially children who come from a minority family, a poor family, or whose parents don’t provide high-quality interactions. The results of a new study of over 1,000 identical and fraternal twins, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, confirm that preschool programs are a good idea. Of course, many children from poor families excel in school. But it’s no secret that many do not. People used to think this had to do with the lower-quality schools in poor neighborhoods, but it has become clear that many poor children start first day of kindergarten playing catch-up.
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More fatal accidents among older drivers, report finds
Washington Post: Older drivers are much more likely to die in intersection crashes, and with each passing year the task of making a left turn becomes more challenging, according to a report released Wednesday. The exhaustive compilation of years of research underscores a dispiriting bottom line: The first baby boomers began turning 65 last year, and as more members join the ranks of elderly, their inability to navigate traffic is forecast to result in more highway deaths. Read the whole story: Washington Post
