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Tidy or Messy Environment Can Impact Decisions and Behavior, Study Says
ABC News: Here's a toast to the slob in the office, the gal with so much junk on her desk she can't find her telephone. All that clutter may be part of the reason she is so creative. For years, we've been told that piles of personal rubbish have got to be a liability. Now there's a flip side to that theorem. Researchers at the University of Minnesota decided to take a look at a long-established principle of human honesty and productivity -- keep your work area clean and you will be more likely to work your tail off, stay honest, be generous with your coworkers, and on and on. Read the whole story: ABC News
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Risk of Adult Anxiety Seen in Children’s Stomachaches
The New York Times: Children with chronic stomach pains are at high risk for anxiety disorders in adolescence and young adulthood, a new study has found, suggesting that parents may wish to have their children evaluated at some point for anxiety. Researchers at Vanderbilt University tracked 332 children with recurring stomachaches that could not be traced to a physical cause — so-called functional abdominal pain — comparing them as they reached young adulthood with 147 children who had never had such stomachaches. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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How to Avoid the Self-Esteem Trap
Scientific American: I have always assumed that having a strong sense of self-worth was important. I figured it made a person happier, healthier, more successful, and easier to be around. Turns out that these benefits of self-esteem are rather hard to prove. Having high self-esteem has some modest pluses, studies suggest. ... Speaking of learning, this issue of Mind includes a Special Report that highlights learning techniques. In the lead article of this section, John Dunlosky, a psychologist at Kent State and his colleagues explain how they sifted through hundreds of scientific papers to determine what study methods work best (see “Identify the Best Ways to Study”).
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Is Weak Evidence Better Than No Evidence?
NPR: In my post last week, I wrote that "weak evidence is still better than no evidence." The statement prompted some thoughtful comments from readers: I find that weak evidence is often worse than no evidence. (Chris Harlan) Is weak evidence a positive or a negative? Does weak evidence accomplish anything? My glass is half full on this point. (Bobbi Wilson) Weak evidence often does something, but what that something is may be quite destructive, from the invasion of nations to needless surgeries. A lot of damage can be done by a few misplaced assumptions based on something that appears to be there, but isn't.
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Rituals Make Our Food More Flavorful
The New York Times: Do you always fold a New York slice in all its oily glory? Is a whole lobster best relished in this order: legs, claws then succulent tail? Do you eat Oreos middle first? Or dunked in milk? Far from being mere quirks of personality, rituals like these may actually enhance how much people savor what they eat or drink, new research shows. Flavor is intensified. The meal is enjoyed more. It may be one reason why birthday cake is savored more than the stumbled-upon 4 p.m. brownie, because of the singing and candle blowing that precedes it.
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Meditation may help reduce smoking, study says
Los Angeles Times: Meditating just a modest amount may help curb cigarette smoking, even in smokers who don’t intend to quit, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After a few hours of meditation, smokers puffed significantly less and had increased activity in brain regions associated with self-control — without even knowing that their behavior had changed. Researchers from several institutions recruited 60 college students, including 27 smokers. Half the subjects learned a form of meditation called integrative body-mind training, or IBMT, practicing for five hours over a two-week period.
