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Why We Grow Numb To Staggering Statistics — And What We Can Do About It
COVID-19 has now killed more than 148,000 people in the U.S. On a typical day in the past week, more than 1,000 people died. But the deluge of grim statistics can dull our collective sense of outrage. And part of that has to do with how humans are built to perceive the world. "With any kind of consistent danger, people get used to situations like that," says Elke Weber, a professor of psychology and of energy and the environment at Princeton University. "When you live in a war zone, after a while, everyday risk becomes just baseline. Our neurons are wired in such a way that we only respond to change.
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How Lockdown May Have Changed Your Personality
There wasn’t just one lockdown – we all had our own experience. Some people were forced into months of unbroken solitude, others trapped for weeks on end with an estranged spouse. Some saw it as a positive experience – a welcome opportunity to slow down, go for walks and relax with a loving partner, or enjoy quality time with the children. Whichever way the lockdown played out, there has been one near universal aspect to the past months – it abruptly disrupted our daily routines and living arrangements in ways that would not normally occur. Will this strange time have left its mark on us, not just superficially, but deep down?
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Creativity And Diversity: How Exposure To Different People Affects Our Thinking
There is great comfort in the familiar. It's one reason humans often flock to other people who share the same interests, laugh at the same jokes, hold the same political views. But familiar ground may not be the best place to cultivate creativity. Social scientist Adam Galinsky has found that people who have deep relationships with someone from another country become more creative and score higher on routine creativity tests. "There's something about deeply understanding and learning about another culture that's transformative," Adam says. In one study, Adam and his colleagues tracked business school students during a 10-month MBA program.
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It’s Hard Being A Highly Sensitive Person Living In This Cruel World
Let’s be honest, right now, things suck. U.S. coronavirus cases are spiking. Unemployment levels are still high, with experts warning that our economy is about to sleepwalk off a massive cliff. Despite inspiring the largest movement in U.S. history, the tragic killing of George Floyd has done little to actually change brutal police policies. Adding tension to the chaos, many Americans are still stuck in their homes, squirrely, anxious and isolated.
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A Growing Push to Treat Racism’s Impact on Mental Health
There’s an accelerating push by psychologists and psychiatrists to identify stress and trauma caused by racism—and develop interventions to address it. The move comes out of a growing recognition that the impact of racism on the mental health of Black people has often been ignored. This has led many patients to be undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or not adequately treated for their distress, doctors and therapists say. The most recent efforts are being led by a new generation of Black psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health advocates. Research has found a link between racism and psychological distress, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among Black people.
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Is There Really a Covid Mental Health Crisis?
Back in the middle of March, I was pretty stressed out. Funnily enough it was the handwashing that got me; this was a few days before lockdown, and the real public health message had been wash your hands. So I washed them, dozens of times a day. My hands were raw and cracked, sometimes to the point of bleeding. They itched — burned — constantly. I was at every moment aware of this burning sensation, and it was an ever-present, unignorable reminder of how the world had changed. My six-year-old son’s hands were red and raw too, from his conscientious efforts at washing his hands at school.
