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Why Waiting Actually Makes You Happy
TIME: Want to know the secret to happiness? Wait for it. No, really. Wait for it. As long as the “it” is an experience, according to a series of new studies published in the journal Psychological Science. We already know that experiences make you way happier than things do. Studies have shown that spending money on experiences as opposed to goods is more meaningful, makes you less likely to compare yourself to others, and encourages more social engagement. (Vacations trump solo shopping sprees, in other words.) You get those same pleasurable effects long before you even make the purchase and now, researchers have found, waiting to buy those experiences is a lot more fun, too.
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You’re reminiscing wrong
The Washington Post: Nostalgia is a funny thing, and you may be missing out on some of your best opportunities for reminiscing. While you're likely to expect notable events - like holidays and unusual activities - to be more fun to think back on in the future, it turns out that the most mundane experiences can give you just as much pleasure. In a study published in Psychological Science, Harvard Business School psychologists had students create time capsules full of songs they were listening to, papers they'd written, social events they'd attended, and records of conversations they'd had.
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13 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Laughing
Real Simple: Contrary to popular belief, the number one catalyst for laughter isn’t a joke: It’s interacting with another person. That’s because the modern-day ha-ha! probably evolved as a form of communication. Our primate ancestors used a similar sound—a sort of pant-pant—to reassure one another that their rough-and-tumble play was all in good fun and not an attack, says Robert R. Provine, a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the author of Curious Behavior, and one of the foremost experts on laughter. Read the whole story: Real Simple
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Kids And Screen Time: What Does The Research Say?
NPR: Kids are spending more time than ever in front of screens, and it may be inhibiting their ability to recognize emotions, according to new research out of the University of California, Los Angeles. The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, found that sixth-graders who went five days without exposure to technology were significantly better at reading human emotions than kids who had regular access to phones, televisions and computers. The UCLA researchers studied two groups of sixth-graders from a Southern California public school.
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The Science of Truthiness
Slate: A bumper sticker was popular in the city where I went to college. It was yellow, with large black print that read: “Mopeds are dangerous.” Beneath the text was the blocky silhouette of a moped and nothing else. The sticker didn’t illustrate the claim that mopeds were dangerous—it didn’t show a moped crumpled against a tree or running someone over—but it was eye-catching, the yellow contrasting sharply with the black, and on message. I believed that bumper sticker, and still do, for all that I’ve rarely encountered a moped or read about a moped accident or even really grasped the difference between a moped and a Segway.
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Adverts on the road could be a distraction for drivers
The Conversation: People have to take in a lot of information when driving, including the locations of other road users, lane markings, signals, speed limits, directions and the dashboard display. It only takes a second to be distracted, so what if drivers now have to contend with adverts on the actual road surface? Councillors in Parramatta, New South Wales, recently approved a plan to allow just that – painted advertisements on the surfaces of roadways. Who could deny the appeal of the potential influx of funds that could be channelled back into the local community?
