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Could The Grand Canyon Cure Your Depression?
Business Insider: Yes. Might be time to visit the Grand Canyon or take in an amazing sunset. Via Wray Herbert: Psychological scientists think so, too, and indeed there has been burgeoning interest in this powerful but neglected emotion. One team of scientists—Melanie Rudd and Jennifer Aaker of Stanford and Kathleen Vohs of Minnesota—have come to believe that experiencing awe may have all sorts of tonic effects, including a better sense of perspective on time and priorities, more patience and charity toward others, and generally more satisfaction with life. Read the whole story: Business Insider
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Preschools Get Disadvantaged Children Ready for the Rigors of Kindergarten
Preschools help children prepare for the rigors of grade school—especially children who come from a minority family, a poor family, or whose parents don’t provide high-quality interactions. The results of a new study of over 1,000 identical and fraternal twins, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, confirm that preschool programs are a good idea. Of course, many children from poor families excel in school. But it’s no secret that many do not. People used to think this had to do with the lower-quality schools in poor neighborhoods, but it has become clear that many poor children start first day of kindergarten playing catch-up.
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More fatal accidents among older drivers, report finds
Washington Post: Older drivers are much more likely to die in intersection crashes, and with each passing year the task of making a left turn becomes more challenging, according to a report released Wednesday. The exhaustive compilation of years of research underscores a dispiriting bottom line: The first baby boomers began turning 65 last year, and as more members join the ranks of elderly, their inability to navigate traffic is forecast to result in more highway deaths. Read the whole story: Washington Post
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Happiness: surely that’s not all there is to the meaning of life
The Sydney Morning Herald: How about the meaning of life? People forget relationships are the core of our wellbeing. FED up with all the wrangling and speculation over who should be leading the Labor Party? Want something more substantial? How about the meaning of life? The question has been an object of contemplation by clerics and philosophers throughout the ages, of course, but in more recent times many psychologists and even a few economists have taken to studying it. For at least the past 30 years some psychologists and economists have been researching the nature of happiness. A spate of books has been written on the subject (including one by yours truly).
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Updating the Psychology of Self-Control
The Wall Street Journal: An influential theory of self-control holds that willpower is like a muscle — it is depleted through exertion, and it can be replenished by ingesting simple carbohydrates. There’s a book out now that explains this so-called “energy model” of willpower, at length — co-written by Roy Baumeister, one of its main academic proponents. But some academic psychologists are now challenging the prevailing model of self-discipline. In one experiment, as Wray Herbert explains, in his Huffington Post column, test subjects whose willpower was stressed, and waning, got a boost by simply washing their mouths out with a sugar solution.
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Eyes have power to make us feel connected
Journal and Courier: As a student at Purdue University, Olivia Maple spends about 40 minutes a day walking back and forth to class on campus. Although she sees passersby, she tries not to make eye contact. "It's kind of awkward," said the 21-year-old senior. "I don't want them to think I was staring at them for no reason. I just kind of stare off, not looking at anyone in particular." In our busy, tech-saturated world, making eye contact can seem like an uncomfortable task, but new research from Purdue shows that even the slightest glance from a stranger can make a person feel more connected. However, being looked through -- even by a stranger -- makes someone feel more disconnected.
