-
A Spirit of Gratitude Is Healthy for Society
Greetings as we approach the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving celebration. The Pilgrims in 1621 had much to be thankful for. They had arrived a year earlier with “no friends to wellcome them, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their weatherbeaten bodys, no houses or much less townes to repaire too, to seeke for succoure,” in the words of their leader, William Bradford. The Wampanoags, hoping the white settlers would help them fight other tribes, helped them survive the harsh winter. The wary allies celebrated that fall with a feast of turkeys, ducks and venison, although probably not cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie.
-
New Content From Perspectives on Psychological Science
A sample of articles on sharing and withholding information and social cohesion, the importance of language analysis, the neuroscience of social learning, how diversity matters for knowledge, regional variation in personality, interventions to help minoritized students in college transitions, and individual differences in structure building and their impact on learning.
-
How Certain Gestures Help You Learn New Words
When learning a foreign language, most people fall back on traditional methods: reading, writing, listening and repeating. But if you also gesture with your arms while studying, you can remember the vocabulary better, even months later. Linking a word to brain areas responsible for movement strengthens the memory of its meaning. This is the conclusion a research team reached after using magnetic pulses to deliberately disrupt these areas in language learners.
-
How to Live When You’re in Pain
Arthur C. Brooks: When you teach happiness, like I do, one of the biggest questions that people have initially: What is it? I mean, we all think we know what happiness is until you think about it. A lot of people, they assume that happiness is a feeling. A better definition of happiness is: It’s like a meal with three macronutrients. Just as a meal has macronutrients—or protein, carbohydrates, and fat—happiness is a feast with three macronutrients, and they are: enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose. I want to focus right now on that third macronutrient, on purpose.
-
A Surprising Reason Why You Should Attend Live Theater
Could attending live theater make you a more empathetic person? Researchers recently found that after one live performance, theatergoers were more empathetic toward the issues and people portrayed in a play. And that empathy made them more likely to donate to charity. “Attending theater could be a vital way to build psychological skills, especially empathy,” says Steve Rathje, a Ph.D. student in psychology at Cambridge University and co-author of the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology in July.
-
Economic Field Experiments Complement Understanding of Judgment Bias
Field experiments in economics can serve an invaluable intellectual role alongside traditional laboratory research.
