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Pounds of Personality
It's November, which means that Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching—and with it the season of temptation. Beginning with the giblet gravy and ending with the New Year’s Eve champagne toast, the weeks ahead will add a pound of weight to the typical American—a pound that will rarely be lost. That means steadily expanding waistlines as we move from young adulthood into middle age and beyond. But some people won’t follow this trend. Some are conscientious and disciplined and know where to draw the line on indulging, while others seem to lack control of their impulses and desires.
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The Ins and Outs of In-Groups and Out-Groups
We humans organize ourselves in myriad kinds of social groups, from scout troops and sports teams to networks of friends, colleagues, or classmates. But how do these social groups work? How do we decide whom to trust and whom to follow? And how do we deal with people that don’t seem to fit the norms of our social groups? New research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, explores these issues by examining various facets of social perception and behavior. The Herding Hormone: Oxytocin Stimulates In-Group Conformity Mirre Stallen, Carsten K. W. De Dreu, Shaul Shalvi, Ale Smidts, and Alan G.
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Solitude in a wired world: More people, even employers are setting aside tech-free time
The Washington Post: When was the last time you were alone, and unwired? Really, truly by yourself. Just you and your thoughts — no cellphone, no tablet, no laptop. Many of us crave that kind of solitude, though in an increasingly wired world, it’s a rare commodity. We check texts and emails, and update our online status, at any hour — when we’re lying in bed or sitting at stop lights or on trains. Sometimes, we even do so when we’re on the toilet. We feel obligated, yes.
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Facebook has a stronger draw than sex for some, study finds
The Toronto Star: Well, it may not have come to that (as of yet) but a new study suggests social media activity, such as checking tweets and email, trumps sex — as well as smoking and alcohol — in terms of sheer irresistibility. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, operating in Germany, used smartphone-based surveys to check the desires of 205 men and women, most of whom were college aged, ABC News reported. For one week the phones buzzed seven times daily alerting the students to take a survey on the type, strength and timing of their desires (for sex and/or using social media) and their ability to resist them.
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That Guy Won? Why We Knew It All Along
The New York Times: The economy, “super PAC” money, debate performances, the candidates’ personalities. Roll it all together, and it’s obvious who’s going to win. Or, uh, it will be. Amid the many uncertainties of next Tuesday’s presidential election lies one sure thing: Many people will feel in their gut that they knew the result all along. Not only felt it coming, but swear they predicted it beforehand — remember? — and probably more than once. These analysts won’t be hard to find. They will most likely include (in addition to news media pundits) neighbors, friends, co-workers and relatives, as well as the person whose reflection appears in the glare of the laptop screen.
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Nothing worse than office peppiness
Chicago Tribune: Every office has a person who has taken a few too many drags on the pep pipe. A manager or co-worker whose sunny disposition can cloud an otherwise delightfully pessimistic day. I'm talking about the patrons of positivity, the bright-siders, the people who see every glass as half full and every mistake as an "error-portunity." You don't have to be like me — a lifelong subscriber to American Cynics Illustrated — to find these folks grating or even to ask whether they are detrimental to the workplace. A recent note from a reader makes a good argument that they are. It described a boss who is an aphorism-spouting optimism addict.
