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How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy
The New Yorker: No one joins Facebook to be sad and lonely. But a new study from the University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross argues that that’s exactly how it makes us feel. Over two weeks, Kross and his colleagues sent text messages to eighty-two Ann Arbor residents five times per day. The researchers wanted to know a few things: how their subjects felt overall, how worried and lonely they were, how much they had used Facebook, and how often they had had direct interaction with others since the previous text message.
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Turns Out Your Kids Really Did Love That Music You Played
NPR: Way back in the 1980s, were you the one playing "When Doves Cry" over and over? Well, don't be surprised if your kids wind up doing the same thing. Young adults have strong positive memories of the music their parents loved when they were the same age, a study finds. That flies in the face of the cultural stereotype that children reject their parents' taste in music. Participants in a study on musical memory didn't just say they remembered and loved the music that was popular in the early '80s, when their parents were young. They also loved the music of the '60s, which their grandparents may have been blasting while changing Mom's diapers.
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A Spouse’s Voice Rings Loudest in a Crowded Room
ABC News: You're at a crowded party, and two voices are competing for your attention: one from your spouse, the other from a stranger. Who are you most likely to hear? Your spouse, according to new research. So which voice are you most likely to ignore? Your spouse, but that depends on how long you have been married. If you are middle-aged, your spouse's voice is easier to hear, and easier to ignore. But the ability to ignore declines with age. That seemingly odd finding makes sense to Canadian researchers at Queen's University who put 23 married couples, ages 44 to 79, through 600 trials to explore how familiarity affects the human auditory system.
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‘Everyday Sadists’ Among Us
The New York Times: Try this quick word association: Sadist. And you respond… Hannibal Lecter? The Marquis de Sade? Actually, you didn’t need to come up with representatives of extreme criminal behavior or sexual torture. You might just as well have considered the colleague two cubicles over. The one who spends lunch hour splattering the brains of video game characters. Those who enjoy inflicting at least moderate pain on others, directly or vicariously, mingle with us daily. Think mean girls, taunting a classmate to commit suicide. Or the professor who grills a squirming, clueless student, lips curled in a small, savage smile. Delroy L.
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New report finds that effects of child abuse and neglect, if untreated, can last a lifetime
The Washington Post: In the first major study of child abuse and neglect in 20 years, researchers with the National Academy of Sciences reported Thursday that the damaging consequences of abuse can not only reshape a child’s brain but also last a lifetime. Untreated, the effects of child abuse and neglect, the researchers found, can profoundly influence victims’ physical and mental health, their ability to control emotions and impulses, their achievement in school, and the relationships they form as children and as adults. ...
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Seal Any Deal
Prevention: If you find yourself sealing any negotiation deal with a very sweaty handshake, don’t be embarrassed—be proud! A new study in Psychological Science found sweaty palms and a racing heart actually help your negotiate the best deal. Researchers from MIT made participants walk on a treadmill—some fast, some slow—while negotiating the price of a used car. Read the whole story: Prevention
