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More Reasons to Be Nice: It’s Less Work for Everyone
A polite act shows respect. But a new study of a common etiquette—holding a door for someone—suggests that courtesy may have a more practical, though unconscious, shared motivation: to reduce the work for those involved. The research, by Joseph P. Santamaria and David A. Rosenbaum of Pennsylvania State University, is the first to combine two fields of study ordinarily considered unrelated: altruism and motor control. It is to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Roots of Self-Sabotage: Seduced By the ‘Devil We Know’
The human mind is irrational, and this irrationality can be quirky and entertaining. But all too often our quirkiness crosses the line into perversion. We make self-destructive decisions when we should know better, and choose options that are (seemingly) designed to sabotage our hopes and end up in failure and unhappiness. Why would we do this? There are obviously many and complex reasons for bad decisions, but in recent years, psychological scientists have been focusing on human thinking—flawed human thinking—as one source of self-sabotage.
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On Ash Wednesday, it’s good to feel the pain
The Los Angeles Times: Ash Wednesday marks a day of sacrifice and penance for Christians in order to atone for their sins. The theology of the idea coincides nicely with psychology. Feeling pain, it seems, really cleanses the mind of guilty burdens, according to a new study. Australian researchers tested the idea of whether pain and sacrifice ease guilt. They recruited 62 young men and women under the guise that they were part of a study on mental and physical activity. Read the whole story: The Los Angeles Times
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Ash Wednesday Idea: Beat Guilt This Lent — Literally
Politics Daily: In an age when boosting self-esteem is seen as the answer to every problem, the idea of physically punishing oneself to expiate guilt is a notion that borders on the medieval. But just in time for Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season of penance, new research shows that some form of "mortification of the flesh"-- the old-fashioned term for inflicting physical discomfort for spiritual growth -- can in fact alleviate feelings of guilt. Read the whole story: Politics Daily
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A New Tool for Creative Thinking: Mind-Body Dissonance
Scientific American: Did you ever get the giggles during a religious service or some other serious occasion? Did you ever have to smile politely when you felt like screaming? In these situations, the emotions that we are required to express differ from the ones we are feeling inside. That can be stressful, unpleasant, and exhausting. Normally our minds and our bodies are in harmony. When facial expressions or posture depart from how we feel, we experience what two psychologists at Northwestern University, Li Huang and Adam Galinsky, call mind–body dissonance. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Parents in Denial When It Comes to Child Costs
Discovery News: New research suggests that people may exaggerate the perks of being parents to rationalize the financial costs of raising children. Two studies, featured in the journal Psychological Science, measured more than 140 parents' feelings after being presented with information regarding the hefty bill of raising a child. In the Northeast, raising one child to the age of 18 costs nearly $193,000, according to the research. Read the whole story: Discovery News
