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It Literally Pays to Have a Reliable Spouse
New York Magazine: Conscientiousness is not really up there among the sexiest qualities a person can have, but maybe it should be. New research in Psychological Science found that people who have careful, reliable partners tend to do better at work; they make more money, get more promotions, and are happier at their jobs. Marry a put-together person, in other words, and their put-together-ness will spill over into your own life, even into your workplace. Suddenly, put-together-ness seems very sexy. The researchers gathered their data via an annual survey in Australia that collects economic and social information.
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The Case Against Sharing Your Epic Vacation Photos on Social Media
Entrepreneur: We all have at least one of those friends (some of us are those friends), the kind whose Facebook/Instagram/Twitter feed is used exclusively to post photos and captions documenting how insanely epic life is: Here I am waltzing on a beach in St. Tropez! Here I am eating truffle shavings at a five-star restaurant in Tuscany! Wait, here I am right after getting a major promotion! Psychologically, it makes sense that many of us use social media to broadcast all the awesome stuff going on in our lives.
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Simple tweak could nearly double the amount you give to charity
Science Magazine: A representative from a charitable organization stops you on the sidewalk and asks for $100 to feed people starving in the developing world. And a large donor has agreed to match your donation. Still, you hesitate, because you wonder how much of that money will be sucked up by the salary of the charity's CEO or the costs of yet more fundraising.
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That Devil on Your Shoulder Likes to Sleep In
The New York Times: It is often asked why good people do bad things. Perhaps the question should be when. More likely, it’s in the afternoon or evening. Much less so in the morning. That’s the finding of research, published in the journal Psychological Science, which concludes that a person’s ability to self-regulate declines as the day wears on, increasing the likelihood of cheating, lying or committing fraud. This so-called morning morality effect results from “cognitive tiredness,” said Isaac H.
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Extraordinary Experiences Are Socially Isolating (So Next Time, Take a Friend)
Big Think: Think twice before motorbiking across India or seeking out other extraordinary experiences, say a team of Ph.D. students studying the effects of great experience on conversation. Having a much more interesting time with life than your peers is a recipe for social isolation, according to their report published in Psychological Science. In an experiment which supported the group's conclusion, individuals given a very interesting video to watch later felt excluded when the majority of the group had watched a far more boring video. Contrary to what the people who watched the interesting video expected, conversation seems to thrive on the mundane. Read the whole story: Big Think
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Can You Learn Self-Control?
The New York Times: Walter Mischel conducted one of the most famous experiments in 20th-century psychology. In the late 1960s, he oversaw a test at Stanford University using a group of preschoolers. These studies gave him access to children whom he subsequently tracked for decades, collecting data on each child’s education, health and other factors. Now, more than 40 years later, he’s published a book, “The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self Control,” about the experiments. In the marshmallow test, Mr.
