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Self-Promoters Tend to Misjudge How Annoying They Are to Others
Bragging to coworkers about a recent promotion, or posting a photo of your brand new car on Facebook, may seem like harmless ways to share good news. But new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows that self-promotion or a “humblebrag” often backfires. Researchers Irene Scopelliti, George Loewenstein, and Joachim Vosgerau wanted to find out why so many people frequently get the trade-off between self-promotion and modesty wrong. They found that self-promoters overestimate how much their self-promotion elicits positive emotions and underestimate how much it elicits negative emotions.
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4 tips to seeing if an educational app will actually help your child learn
Mashable: Imagine someone telling you that a new technology would be available in five years that has the potential to revolutionize childhood and early education. But the downside is that you will have to choose from among 80,000 possible options. This is the problem currently facing many parents. Following the invention of the iPad in 2010, by January 2015 there were 80,000 apps marketed as "educational" in the Apple App Store alone. We recently published a large-scale review of more than 200 articles on the question of how we can put the education back in educational apps.
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It’s Not a ‘Stream’ of Consciousness
The New York Times: IN 1890, the American psychologist William James famously likened our conscious experience to the flow of a stream. “A ‘river’ or a ‘stream’ are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described,” he wrote. “In talking of it hereafter, let’s call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or subjective life.” While there is no disputing the aptness of this metaphor in capturing our subjective experience of the world, recent research has shown that the “stream” of consciousness is, in fact, an illusion. We actually perceive the world in rhythmic pulses rather than as a continuous flow. ...
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QUIZ SCORES GO UP WHEN STUDENTS FEEL PHYSICS
Futurity: Students who physically experience scientific concepts understand them more deeply and score better on science tests, according to a new study. Brain scans showed that students who took a hands-on approach to learning had activation in sensory and motor-related parts of the brain when they later thought about concepts such as angular momentum and torque. Activation of these brain areas was associated with better quiz performance by college physics students who participated in the research. ...
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Narrow Misses Can Propel Us Toward Other Rewards and Goals
Whether it’s being outbid at the last second in an online auction or missing the winning lottery number by one digit, we often come so close to something we can “almost taste it” only to lose out in the end. These “near wins” may actually boost our motivation to achieve other wins, leading us to pursue totally unrelated rewards, according to new research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Our research suggests that at least in some cases, losing has positive power.
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Want to be an optimist? Pick up these positive habits
CNN: Ever notice how some people just seemingly have a bright outlook on life -- even when everything isn't exactly on the sunny side? You know those people: They're the friends who have spilled coffee on their white shirt and still manage to have a nonchalant smile on their face. They're the co-workers who make a big faux pas during a morning presentation and are still in a good mood at lunch. They look at the upside of life but they still live in reality. ... Many of us are often our own worst critics, but positive individuals have learned to embrace themselves exactly as the are. Research shows self-acceptance could be vital to a happier life.
