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Workers Worried About Job Loss Forego Support Programs
It’s been five years since the end of the recession was declared, but economists report that levels of unemployment in many states still haven’t fully recovered to their pre-recession levels. The sluggish economic recovery has kept many workers worried about the potential for layoffs and the risk of long-term unemployment. Although organizations offer programs meant to help employees cope with workplace stress, a recent study finds that employees who are stressed and anxious about their job prospects are hesitant to make use of these programs. Psychological scientists Wendy R. Boswell, Julie B. Olson-Buchanan, and T.
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Nervous Laughter, Tears of Joy
In Stanley Milgram’s famous obedience experiments, the subjects, called “teachers,” were instructed to shock the “learners” for every wrong answer. The learners, confederates in the study, were not actually shocked, of course, but the teachers believed they were—and they even heard faked cries of pain to add authenticity. Most of the subjects showed signs of distress, as one would expect, and some were extremely agitated. But it’s said that some of the subjects laughed when they heard the screams. We call this nervous laughter—incongruous emotional displays like chuckling uncontrollably at a funeral or some other somber or upsetting event.
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Nel cervello c’è una “centralina” per le calorie del cibo (In the brain there is a “controller” for the calories of the food)
La Stampa: Il cervello è naturalmente dotato di una “centralina” per calcolare le calorie degli alimenti che elabora insieme ai dati nutrizionali, secondo uno studio basato su immagini di risonanza magnetica. La ricerca, realizzata dall’équipe guidata da Alain Dagher dell’Istituto neurologico di Montreal, è pubblicata su Psychological Science. Gli studiosi hanno presentato a 29 volontari immagini di una cinquantina di alimenti differenti, conosciuti da tutti i partecipanti. E hanno chiesto loro di classificarli su una scala con 20 “gradini”, a secondo della voglia di mangiarli. E di stimarne, poi, il tenore calorico.
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Let the Body Rest, for the Sake of the Brain
The Atlantic: I’m sure a lot of subway riders are skilled nappers, but this car seemed to be particularly talented. Going over the Brooklyn Bridge on a recent morning, just as the sun was coming up, a row of men in nearly identical black suits held on to the straps with their eyes closed. Their necks were bent at the slightest of angles, like a row of daisies in a breeze, and as the car clanged over the tracks and the sun pierced through the grimy train windows, it finally dawned on me they were all sound asleep. Not even the bumps and the light could stop them from sneaking in 15 more minutes of shut-eye before work.
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The subliminal fountain of youth
The Boston Globe: How can Medicare boost the health of the elderly? Maybe it should consider cutting a deal with the FCC to broadcast subliminal ads, given new research out of Yale University. Once a week for several weeks, elderly individuals viewed positive-age-stereotype words that were flashed subliminally on a screen. In subsequent weeks, these individuals reported more positive stereotypes and self-perceptions of aging—and, even more amazingly, they exhibited improved physical function—compared to those who viewed subliminally flashed neutral words.
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There’s a surprisingly strong link between climate change and violence
The Washington Post: Earlier this year, when a study came out suggesting global warming will increase the rates of violent crimes in the United States -- producing "an additional 22,ooo murders, 180,000 cases of rape," and many other crime increases by the year 2099 -- it drew widespread criticism. "This ... is what people who are losing the argument look like," noted the conservative publication National Review. One study may seem easy to dismiss. But the combined results of 56 of them? Not so much.
