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Thinking of Requesting a Specific Teacher for Your Child? Think Twice
The New York Times: There are really two questions here, so I will address them in order. First question: How hard should you push to ensure your daughter is assigned to the teacher you feel is best for her? School administrators had much to say on this topic. Most responded that “it never hurts to ask,” and encouraged parents with a preference to let administrators know about their preferences early in the process.
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People in Rich Countries Are More Stressed Out
LiveScience: Although people who live in wealthy countries, including the United States, are generally more satisfied with their lives than people who live in poorer countries, they may experience more worry and anger than residents of poorer countries, according to a new study. The higher stress level that typically comes with living in an affluent country might explain why these negative emotions seem to be more common in people living in richer nations. "Life [in an affluent country] is more fast-paced, and there are just so many things that you have to do," said study author Louis Tay, an assistant professor of psychology at Purdue University. Read the whole story: LiveScience
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Making Tasks More Difficult May Help Overrule Office Distractions
Maybe there’s a guy who likes to yak about last night’s episode of Game of Thrones, or a woman who likes to take phone calls on speaker. Whether you’re in an 80s era “cube farm” or a modern open office, working in the midst of a sea of noisy distractions can prove particularly challenging. So how can you better focus on the task at hand? You might want to make the task a little bit more difficult, according to a new study from Swedish researcher Niklas Halin and colleagues. Previous research has highlighted two distinct factors that influence distractibility: task difficulty and working memory capacity.
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Most Fitness Apps Don’t Use Proven Motivational Techniques
NPR: If you downloaded a fitness app and didn't become a workout ninja, it may be that the app lacked the scientifically tested motivational techniques that would help get you off the couch. Instead, most popular fitness apps focus more on teaching you how to do the exercise, according to researchers at Penn State University who analyzed the 200 top apps. "You need motivational support to turn that knowledge into action," says David Conroy, a kinesiology professor at Penn State who led the study, which was published Tuesday in theAmerican Journal of Preventive Medicine. And that's where most of the 200 apps examined fell flat.
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Doing This And That: Are You A Precrastinator?
This morning, while the coffee was brewing, I walked out my back door, strolled to my mailbox at the curb, and strolled back. Along the way, I picked up not only yesterday’s mail, but also the daily paper, which had been tossed on the lawn, and an empty garbage can. I put the garbage can back where it belongs, near the garage, and brought the mail and paper inside. I did this without a glitch, effortlessly. Or so it seemed. Of course, it was not effortless. I had to lift and walk and carry and lift again, and so forth. I also had to plan. Should I walk all the way to the mailbox, get the mail, then pick up the paper? Or grab the garbage can on the way to the curb?
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The Part of Your Brain That Made You Eat That Doughnut
TIME: If you’re like most people, your brain rarely gets straight A’s when it comes to resisting temptation. We know the dangers of eating too much, of drinking too much, of drugs or gambling or having an extramarital romp. But faced with the food or the drink or the buzz or the fling—faced with the fun, in other words—we too often give in. The problem, it turns out, is not with your brain as a whole, but with a battle for dominance between two parts of it: the nucleus accumbens (where the good times roll) and the inferior frontal gyrus (where the bouncer lives).
