-
Revisiting the Marshmallow Test
Remember the marshmallow test? Stanford University researchers in the early 1960s offered young children a choice between one sweet treat they could immediately eat, or two they could enjoy after a short wait. They found those who took the second option ultimately got higher test scores, and generally had more successful lives. That ability to delay gratification is usually described as an internal trait, perhaps enhanced by proper parenting. But new research suggests another element is also at play. It reports kids faced with this now-or-later dilemma are strongly influenced by their peers' pattern of behavior.
-
The Powerful Motivation of Paying Upfront
Dear Dan, I know that you’ve often written about money as a motivator. This semester, I would like to join a yoga class that requires a substantial one-time registration fee. Will paying this amount in advance motivate me to attend regularly to make up for the money I’ve spent? —Jeff Yes, we’re much more likely to do things when we commit to them in advance and have sunk costs. One challenge with this approach is that, over time, you might forget that you have paid that large initial fee. I would recommend that you print the receipt from your one-time registration fee, laminate it and attach it to the door of your refrigerator.
-
What Americans Can Learn About Happiness From Denmark
Research shows "hygge," or intentional intimacy, is the driving force behind the Danes' generally positive attitude, something largely absent in the U.S. The new World Happiness Report again ranks Denmark among the top three happiest of 155 countries surveyed—a distinction that the country has earned for seven consecutive years. The United States, on the other hand, ranked 18th in this year's World Happiness Report, a four-spot drop from last year's report. Denmark's place among the world's happiest countries is consistent with many other national surveys of happiness (or, as psychologists call it, "subjective well-being"). Scientists like to study and argue about how to measure things.
-
Can you improve your emotional intelligence?
You might think you're fairly intelligent, but are you emotionally intelligent? It's our emotional intelligence that gives us the ability to read our instinctive feelings and those of others. It also allows us to understand and label emotions as well as express and regulate them, according to Yale University's Marc Brackett. Most of us would probably like to think that we can do all of the above. We spot and understand emotions in ourselves and others and label them accurately in order to guide our thoughts and actions.
-
People hate small talk so much that some hosts have started banning it from their parties
We'd just left a crowded birthday party when a friend told me he admired the way I made small talk. It's painful for him, he said, to do the idle chit-chat thing with every new and old acquaintance he meets. Well, thanks, I wanted to respond. I've been watching the Weather Channel all week? I should have been more sympathetic to his plight. The prospect of making small talk is paralyzing for many people — which is why parties outright banning it are sprouting up across the globe. The inspiration in many cases appears to be a 2016 article in Wired, in which behavioral scientists Kristen Berman and Dan Ariely write about a dinner party they hosted in this vein.
-
Imagining a Positive Outcome Biases Subsequent Memories
Results from two studies suggest that imagining an upcoming event may ‘color’ memory for that event after the fact.
