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Does being paid hourly vs. yearly change how you save?
PBS: The majority of all workers in the United States were paid hourly last year. Typically, hourly wage earners have low incomes and are vulnerable to economic shocks. So we wondered, does being paid hourly instead of yearly somehow change the way people view themselves and their work? According to a well-established psychological theory known as “construal theory,” the answer is yes. According to construal theory, people view the distant future much differently than they view today, tomorrow or next week. When we think about long-term plans, we consider intangible factors like goals and desires. When we think about our future retirement, we envision ourselves relaxing on the golf course.
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The War on Stupid People
The Atlantic: As recently as the 1950s, possessing only middling intelligence was not likely to severely limit your life’s trajectory. IQ wasn’t a big factor in whom you married, where you lived, or what others thought of you. The qualifications for a good job, whether on an assembly line or behind a desk, mostly revolved around integrity, work ethic, and a knack for getting along—bosses didn’t routinely expect college degrees, much less ask to see SAT scores.
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How You Fight With Your Spouse May Affect Different Body Parts
The New York Times: Emotions are known to influence health, especially when they are negative or intensely felt. Chronically angry, sad, frustrated or fearful people tend to become chronically unwell, though which emotions go with which conditions has not received much scrutiny in recent years. A new look at old research from a long-term study of married couples, however, has found some striking correlations, according to an article that appeared in the journal Emotion in May. ... “We just pushed the right buttons,” says Robert Levenson, a professor of psychology at Berkeley and the senior author of the new study. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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How We Explain Things Shapes What We Think Is Right
New research focuses on a fundamental human habit: When trying to explain something (why people give roses for Valentine’s Day, for example), we often focus on the traits of the thing itself (roses are pretty) and not its context (advertisers promote roses). In a new study, researchers found that people who tend to focus on “inherent traits” and ignore context also are more likely to assume that the patterns they see around them are good. The findings are forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Breaking Bad News Doesn’t Have To Be So Bad
In many situations, it's not just what you say, but how you say it that matters. In the 2009 movie Up in the Air, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a full-time corporate "downsizer" known for his finesse in firing people. When Ryan starts training a younger colleague on the art of the layoff, his first piece of advice is to never use the word “fired.” Losing a job is one of the most stressful events that can happen to someone, but does candy-coating the bad news actually help soften the blow? Led by Manuela Richter and Cornelius J.
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Girls Can’t Even Take the SAT Without Getting Stressed Out About Gender Stereotypes
New York Magazine: Ah, the bygone days of high school: long nights gossiping with friends, hanging out behind the supermarket, stress dreams over getting an SAT score that will get you into the college your parents want you to go to. Weren't they fun? While some of us wouldn't be caught dead taking the SAT again, a handful of professional SAT tutors sat down this year to get insight into how the test has changed. Believe it or not: they think parts of it are sexist. Read the whole story: New York Magazine
