-
When Being Alone Turns Into Loneliness, There Are Ways to Fight Back
The Wall Street Journal: I spend a fair amount of time by myself. One recent day, I worked, read, cleaned my desk, took a walk, made soup and chatted with my best friend on the phone. By evening, I felt productive and content. Then, for the first time in hours, I checked my phone. There was not one new text, call or email—not even from Groupon. Wasn’t anyone thinking of me? It got me thinking: How does being alone turn into being lonely? Some people crave time alone, but experts say occasional feelings of loneliness are a near-universal experience.
-
Does your dog wag left or right? It matters.
The Washington Post: Tail wagging could convey more meaning among dogs than previously thought. Dogs have different emotional responses to their peers depending on the direction of a tail wag, a new study found. Seeing a fellow dog swing its tail to the right keeps canines relaxed, while a wag to the left seems to induce stress, the researchers say. For their study, a group of researchers recruited 43 pet dogs of various breeds. The animals were outfitted with vests that monitored their heart rate, and they were shown videos of other dogs wagging their tails either to the left or to the right. ...
-
Yes, I’m an Ethical Person–Before Lunch, Anyway
Pacific Standard: When was the last time you engaged in unethical behavior? Be honest, now, and be specific: What time of day was it when you cheated on that test, lied to your spouse, or stole that item from the company break room? If it was late afternoon or evening, you don’t have an excuse, exactly, but you certainly have company. A newly published paper entitled The Morning Morality Effect suggests we’re more likely to act unethically later in the day. It provides further evidence that self-control is a finite resource that gradually gets depleted, and can’t be easily accessed when our reserves are low.
-
Tip-of-the-tongue moments not tied to memory decline
Fox News: Did you ever want to say something, but the word or name gets "stuck on the tip of your tongue?" Don't worry. Those lapses may not be a sign of dementia - just age, suggests a new study. Researchers found those tip-of-the-tongue experiences become more common as people age, but are not related to worsening memory overall. "Our major finding is that they seem to be independent," Timothy Salthouse, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health. Salthouse is the Brown-Forman Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Studies had found that tip-of-the-tongue experiences are more common among older people.
-
Why I Gossip at Work (And You Should Too)
LinkedIn: Ask people to generate a list of social sins, and sooner or later, gossip is bound to come up. Sure, it pales in comparison to coveting thy neighbor, but the Bible does warn us that we should “not go about spreading slander.” And if your mother is like mine, she probably told you that if you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t say it at all. But what if our moms were wrong? In a series of new studies, social scientists have introduced a form of gossip that actually makes people better off. Imagine that you’re given $10. You can pass as much of the money as you want to Joe. The amount that you give him will be tripled, and he can then share as much as he wants with you.
-
Secret to helping brain age well? Painting and other mental challenges
The Boston Globe: I recently took a painting class with friends during which I learned that my lack of brush-stroke skills compounded my dearth of innate visual talents. Clearly, I’m the weakest link among my more artistic friends, which has made me hesitant to take more classes. But I’m rethinking my decision after hearing about a new study, which found that those who truly challenge themselves by learning novel skills get the biggest memory boost as they age. In other words, the instructors who painted such wonderful copies of a Van Gogh still-life likely weren’t working out their brains as hard as I was because painting—with all their practice and training—comes easy for them.
