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The Bottom Line of Raising Kids: Parents Rationalize the Economic Cost of Children by Exaggerating Their Parental Joy
Any parent can tell you that raising a child is emotionally and intellectually draining. Despite their tales of professional sacrifice, financial hardship, and declines in marital satisfaction, many parents continue to insist that their children are an essential source of happiness and fulfillment in their lives. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that parents create rosy pictures of parental joy as a way to justify the huge investment that kids require.
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Natalie Portman, Oscar Winner, Was Also a Precocious Scientist
The New York Times: The Intel Science Talent Search is considered the nation’s most elite and demanding high school research competition, attracting the crème de la milk-fats-encased-in-a-phospholipid-and-protein-membrane of aspiring young scientists. Victors and near-victors in the 69-year-old contest have gone on to win seven Nobel Prizes in physics or chemistry, two Fields Medals in mathematics, a half-dozen National Medals in science and technology, a long string of MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants — and now, an Academy Award for best actress in a leading role. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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The Partner Paradox: ‘Outsourcing’ Self-discipline
My wife and I go to spinning class a couple mornings a week. It’s something we like to do together, and I feel like I benefit from having a regular workout partner. Some days I’m just lazy, or I don’t want to venture out in the pre-dawn cold, but having a supportive partner motivates me. She bolsters my self-discipline when it flags. Or does she? Is it possible that having a supportive partner might have the opposite and paradoxical effect, actually undermining effort and commitment to health and fitness goals over the long haul?
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What bilingual babies reveal about the brain
MSNBC: One of the most fascinating windows scientists have into the human mind comes from watching babies learn to interact with the world around them. Janet Werker is a psychologist at Vancouver's University of British Columbia who studies how babies learn languages. Some of her recent work was aimed at investigating the claim that growing up bilingual can confuse a baby and make learning to speak more difficult. In fact, Werker and her colleagues found the opposite: Rather than causing any difficulties, learning two languages at once may confer cognitive advantages to babies, including not just special auditory sensitivity, but enhanced visual sensitivity as well.
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If you can hold it, urine for a big payoff: Study
The Vancouver Sun: As unpleasant as that feeling of desperately needing to use the bathroom can be, a new study suggests those awkward moments could be when you make some of your most responsible decisions. A study led by Mirjam Tuk, a researcher at University of Twente in the Netherlands, suggests that when you're exerting effort to contain a full bladder, you're also more likely to control yourself in other ways. Tuk's study, entitled Inhibitory Spillover: Increased Urination Urgency Facilitates Impulse Control in Unrelated Domains, is slated for publication in an upcoming edition of the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: The Vancouver Sun
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People with full bladders ‘make better decisions’, scientists discover
The Telegraph: Researchers discovered the brain’s self-control mechanism provides restraint in all areas at once. They found people with a full bladder were able to better control and “hold off” making important, or expensive, decisions, leading to better judgement. Psychologists from the University of Twente in the Netherlands linked bladder control to the same part of the brain that activates feelings of desire and reward. Read the whole story: The Telegraph
