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Political Motivations May Have Evolutionary Links to Physical Strength
Men’s upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The principal investigators of the research -- psychological scientists Michael Bang Petersen of Aarhus University, Denmark and Daniel Sznycer of University of California, Santa Barbara -- believe that the link may reflect psychological traits that evolved in response to our early ancestral environments and continue to influence behavior today. “While many think of politics as a modern phenomenon, it has -- in a sense -- always been with our species,” says Petersen.
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A Good Meal: The Science of Savoring
The Huffington Post: There's nothing I like more than sharing a good meal with friends and family. I like everything about it -- the shopping for fresh ingredients, the chopping and cooking, and most of all, the mindful savoring and good conversation at the table. If I have time. Which I don't many days, and I confess that on those days, dinner is often as not a salad or sandwich on my lap, as I watch NCIS reruns. I know this is a bad habit, but it's just easier not to fuss. A lot of people are opting out of traditional meals in this way. Indeed, one study says that more than half of Americans' meals are now eaten in a room with the TV on.
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When Helping Hurts
The New York Times: AMERICAN parents are more involved in our children’s lives than ever: we schedule play dates, assist with homework and even choose college courses. We know that all of this assistance has costs — depleted bank balances, constricted social lives — but we endure them happily, believing we are doing what is best for our children. What if, however, the costs included harming our children? That unsettling possibility is suggested by a paper published in February in the American Sociological Review. The study, led by the sociologist Laura T.
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Happiness is the best medicine
Salon: We’ve all experienced downward spirals, in which dark emotions lead to destructive behavior that damages our health, strains our relationships, and leaves us feeling even worse than when we started. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an uplifting equivalent to that destructive chain of events? Newly published research suggests there is. What’s more, this delightful dynamic helps explain the well-documented link between joy, appreciation, and good health.
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The Childhood Age That Predicts Future Success
LiveScience: If you want to see which kids will grow up to be the most successful adults, visit their second-grade classroom, new research suggests. A study by researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland discovered that math and reading ability at age 7 are linked with socioeconomic status several decades later. The researchers found that such childhood abilities predict socioeconomic status in adulthood over and above associations with intelligence, education and socioeconomic status in childhood. ...
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Your Brain on Laughter
TIME: Are they laughing at you or laughing with you? Your brain can tell the difference. Curious about how different types of laughter — mocking, joyful or ticklish — are understood, researchers led by Dirk Wildgruber, professor of neuropsychiatry at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in Germany decided to explore what these different expressions of hilarity looked like in the brain. In contrast, seeing facial expressions (even if you are just imagining them when you are listening to laughter) might be more important in recognizing joy.
