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How Your Beliefs Shape Reality
As you move through the world, it’s inevitable that your way of seeing things won’t always align with the people around you. Maybe you disagree with the way your neighbor raises her kids, or find your brother’s politics to be troubling. But you may not realize how much your core beliefs shape your perception of the world. This week, we talk with psychologist Jer Clifton about how our beliefs shape our reality — and how we can use this knowledge to live happier and more harmonious lives.As you move through the world, it’s inevitable that your way of seeing things won’t always align with the people around you.
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Psychologist Daniel Levitin dissects Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’
LEILA FADEL, HOST: Here's an enduring legacy. Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side Of The Moon" was released 50 years ago today, and it's still on the Billboard charts. It's the longest charting album in history. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRAIN DAMAGE") PINK FLOYD: (Singing) And if the dam breaks open many years too soon, and if there is no room upon the hill. FADEL: "Dark Side Of The Moon" can be enjoyed for its far-out sonic landscapes or its inventive production. You can also study the lyrics. Much of Roger Waters' writing was inspired by a former member of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett. He was forced to leave the band he created when his behavior became too erratic. Some say it was a psychotic break.
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Science of forgetting: Why we’re already losing our pandemic memories
How much do you remember about the past three years of pandemic life? How much have you already forgotten? A lot has happened since the “Before Times.” Canceled proms, toilet paper shortages, nightly applause for health workers, new vaccines, waitlists for getting the first jab, and more. Covid disrupted everyone’s lives, but it was truly life-changing for only a sizable subset of people: those who lost someone to covid, health-care workers, the immunocompromised or those who developed long covid, among others. ...
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There’s a Psychological ‘Vaccine’ against Misinformation
Misinformation can feel inescapable. Last summer a survey from the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies found that 62 percent of people regularly notice false or misleading information online. And in a 2019 poll, almost nine in 10 people admitted to having fallen for fake news. Social psychologist Sander van der Linden of the University of Cambridge studies how and why people share such information and how it can be stopped. He spoke with Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas to discuss this work and his new book, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity, which offers research-backed solutions to stem this spread.
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New research helps explain how Trump successfully muddied the water on Ukraine and impeachment
People who are repeatedly exposed to the same false information, even if they’re initially told that it is false, feel fewer qualms sharing it on social media after each additional time they see it. In five experiments involving more than 2,500 Americans, Daniel Effron, who teaches organizational behavior at the London Business School, and Medha Raj, a PhD student at the University of Southern California, documented how seeing a fake headline just once leads individuals to temper their disapproval of the misinformation when they see it a second, third or fourth time.
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The Wisdom Your Body Knows
This has been a golden age for brain research. We now have amazing brain scans that show which networks in the brain ramp up during different activities. But this emphasis on the brain has subtly fed the illusion that thinking happens only from the neck up. It’s fed the illusion that the advanced parts of our thinking are the “rational” parts up top that try to control the more “primitive” parts down below. ... One of the leaders in this field is Stephen W. Porges of Indiana University. When you enter a new situation, Porges argues, your body reacts. Your heart rate may go up. Your blood pressure may change. Signals go up to the brain, which records the “autonomic state” you are in. ...
