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How to Know That You Know Nothing
If there’s one thing we might regret at the end of life, it’s that we missed out on moments that mattered—not because we weren’t physically there, but because our mind wandered off to some unknown place. In this episode of How to Build a Happy Life, we explore why it’s uniquely challenging to “live in the moment,” how we limit our own curiosity by assuming that we know best, and why the illusion of stability pulls us from living every day fully, and in the moment. A conversation with the Harvard University psychology professor Dr. Ellen Langer helps us think through a daily struggle: How do I stay present? ...
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Natural Disasters Bring Married Couples Closer, at Least for Awhile
That’s according to a first-of-its-kind study that looked at couples in the Houston area before and after Hurricane Harvey. The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, has implications for how best to help families as they navigate different types of stressors. Researchers had already surveyed 231 newly married couples about their relationship satisfaction shortly before Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast in August 2017, devastating much of the Houston area. With the advent of the hurricane, researchers saw a unique opportunity to track relationship dynamics through the aftermath of a natural disaster.
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New Content From Perspectives on Psychological Science
A sample of articles on childhood adversity, habit formation and mental illness, implicit bias, teleological reasoning, article length, choice and losses, and psychological science in the wake of COVID-19.
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The Science Behind Ouija Boards
Maybe you’re at a sleepover, or a Halloween party. Maybe it’s night, it’s probably night. You sit before a board with the alphabet printed on it, a little sun and moon, the words “yes” and “no” and “goodbye.” You rest the tips of your fingers on a heart-shaped plastic platform and ask a question. You’re not moving it, you swear, and your friend says they’re not moving it either, but the platform glides across the board, from one letter to the next, spelling out a name, an answer to a question it couldn’t possibly know. What’s really happening? For over 130 years, Ouija boards have amazed, entertained, and even frightened people with mysterious messages from the beyond.
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Why We’re Obsessed with Halloween Haunted Houses, According to a Psychologist
Many Halloween fans love that the holiday is an excuse to dress up and eat orange-ified versions of their favorite candy. I’m obsessed with Halloween for a different reason. Every year, I make a list of the best, most frightening haunted house attractions in Southern California and try to hit as many as my calendar allows. I’m kind of a scaredy-cat in most other areas of my life (like, you’re never going to catch me lingering on top of a tall building), yet when it comes to paying people to scare me by wearing clown masks and wielding fake chainsaws, I’m like, yes, please take my money.
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Reinventing Yourself in Retirement Sounds Great. But It Isn’t So Easy.
Kathleen Kostrzewa knew when she retired from her job as an IT and business-development executive at Avon Products Inc. in 2015 that she wanted to pivot to a nonprofit where she could “do good work and give back.” An outplacement counselor she consulted told her she’d likely go through “multiple tries and not get it right at first,” she says. The advice helped Ms. Kostrzewa, who is now 71, to experiment and accept that changing courses later in life is less a sprint than a slow jog with a lot of stumbles and retries along the way. She volunteered at a charter school, but soon quit because she spent more time waiting to be assigned students than helping anyone.
