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Experts say psychological effects of Sandy likely to grow
Chicago Tribune: The devastating winds and catastrophic flooding of Superstorm Sandy may have subsided, but psychological distress from the disaster and its patchy recovery is likely to be growing, trauma experts say. Those most vulnerable to long-term emotional fallout from the storm are people who lost loved ones or whose homes were destroyed. But the disruption to normal life could well affect millions of others, experts say. From New York City to commuter towns to Atlantic Ocean seaside resorts, daily routines have been turned upside down by power outages, fuel shortages, blocked roads, closed schools and canceled trains and buses. Read the whole story: Chicago Tribune
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Humans can smell fear, and it’s contagious
CBS: Humans can smell fear and disgust, and the emotions are contagious, according to a new study. The findings, published Nov. 5 in the journal Psychological Science, suggest that humans communicate via smell just like other animals. "These findings are contrary to the commonly accepted assumption that human communication runs exclusively via language or visual channels," write Gun Semin and colleagues from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Most animals communicate using smell, but because humans lack the same odor-sensing organs, scientists thought we had long ago lost our ability to smell fear or other emotions.
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“It was a dark and stormy divorce . . .”
About 2 million men and women go through marital separation every year, and many of those separations end in divorce. These stressful and painful events are known to cause all sorts of problems later on, including serious depression and deteriorating health. Despite this, very little is known about what really works to promote healing after a difficult breakup. One promising intervention is what’s known as “expressive writing,” which involves disclosing one’s deepest thoughts and feelings through daily writing exercises.
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Exploring the Financial Costs of Sadness
Your emotions can certainly impact your decisions, but you might be surprised by the extent to which your emotions affect your pocketbook. New research from psychological scientist Jennifer Lerner of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and colleagues Ye Li and Elke U. Weber of Columbia University explores how impatience brought on by sadness can in turn produce substantial financial loss. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Sandy coverage may cause PTSD in anxious children
CBS: The current media coverage on natural disasters like superstorm Sandy can show some devastating and frightening images, especially for young children. A new study shows that children who have anxiety may be more susceptible to developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) just by watching disaster coverage on TV. Previous research has suggested that there is a link between watching traumatic events on TV like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina and PTSD. PTSD symptoms can include hyperarousal, feeling tense, anxious worrying that the significant event will happen again, re-experiencing the event and being "keyed-up" tense. Read the whole story: CBS
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Stop bickering and look out for the asteroids! An interview with Jonathan Haidt
The Washington Post: Voters are already casting early ballots. The candidates have been crisscrossing the country, dodging megastorm Sandy (although they halted campaign activities Tuesday in the wake of the storm). Both parties are practically turning swing states, such as Ohio and Florida, upside-down in an effort to shake out every last vote. Campaign ads seem to be everywhere, plaguing cord cutters and cable and satellite subscribers alike. It’s the homestretch of a tight race, and as the candidates continually remind the electorate, the stakes could not be higher, so why take a risk and vote for the other guy?
