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Recycled Emotions
The Wall Street Journal: Rage, I've discovered, encourages writing. A couple of years ago I wrote a column about collecting trash along my road upstate. Or rather I wrote a column where I tried, unsuccessfully, to decipher the mentality of those who habitually toss trash from their cars. Since then my annoyance with these reprobates has only grown—prompting a follow-up story. ... I decided to call Wesley Schultz, a professor of psychology at California State University at San Marcos, for added perspective. He's an expert on littering and those who do so. "You might think littering by pedestrians would be unintentional," said Prof.
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Chi non sa controllare i propri impulsi sceglie amici con i nervi saldi (Those with little self-control choose strong-willed friends)
La Stampa: Le persone che hanno difficoltà a mantenere l’autocontrollo tendono a preferire partner e amici dotati di un forte e radicato self-control. La propensione genera relazioni adattative che permettono di colmare all’esterno la carenza di controllo individuale. Lo dimostra una nuova ricerca condotta da Catherine Shea della Duke University che ha analizzato i comportamenti delle persone prive di autocontrollo in diversi contesti in cui era necessario riuscire a trattenersi dallo svolgere un dato compito. Read the whole story: La Stampa
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How to improve decision-making and keep from getting sidetracked
Minnesota Public Radio - The Daily Circuit: The McMaster's DeGroote School of Business study shows that companies with women on their boards get better results. The cooperative form of decision-making that women leaders engage in is key to the success of these businesses, the study found. But there are other keys to use as well. Francesca Gino, author of "Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We can Stick to the Plan," and Rick Wartzman from the The Drucker Institute joined The Daily Circuit to discuss the power of decision-making and how to be better at it. Read the whole story: Minnesota Public Radio - The Daily Circuit
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How Social Media After the Boston Bombing Can Be a Recipe for PTSD
The Atlantic: Monday's horrific events at the Boston Marathon produced horrific images which in the age of social media news means an inescapable constant, unsolicited bombardment of the gruesome aftermath of a gruesome event. While Twitter offered the fastest, most up-to-date, and accurate information, it also served as an unfiltered chronicle of the most distressing imagery, which can have lasting mental and physical effects. "It's hard to know what might be the news value in any of this," Roxane Cohen Silver, a UC Irvine professor, told The Atlantic Wire.
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Cooperation after a tragedy: When our hearts know better than our minds.
Scientific American: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.” – Fred Rogers The exact details of what happened today on Boylston Street are still being sorted out, but multiple reports are confirming that two bombs were detonated close to the finish line of today’s Boston Marathon, killing at least two people and wounding dozens of others.
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The Two Faces of Attractiveness
Imagine that you’re an early human, trying to make your way in a perilous world. One very useful talent would be reading and reacting to the faces of other early humans—rapidly categorizing them into good and safe, on the one hand, or bad and threatening on the other. This skill would come in handy for everything from selecting mates to identifying friends and enemies. But how do we make these quick judgments? Well, the most obvious rule-of-thumb might be something like this: Is this face familiar or strange? Familiar faces are easy to process and categorize—as a brother or neighbor or member of the tribe.
