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Recycled Emotions
The Wall Street Journal: Rage, I've discovered, encourages writing. A couple of years ago I wrote a column about collecting trash along my road upstate. Or rather I wrote a column where I tried, unsuccessfully, to decipher the mentality of those who habitually toss trash from their cars. Since then my annoyance with these reprobates has only grown—prompting a follow-up story. ... I decided to call Wesley Schultz, a professor of psychology at California State University at San Marcos, for added perspective. He's an expert on littering and those who do so. "You might think littering by pedestrians would be unintentional," said Prof.
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Chi non sa controllare i propri impulsi sceglie amici con i nervi saldi (Those with little self-control choose strong-willed friends)
La Stampa: Le persone che hanno difficoltà a mantenere l’autocontrollo tendono a preferire partner e amici dotati di un forte e radicato self-control. La propensione genera relazioni adattative che permettono di colmare all’esterno la carenza di controllo individuale. Lo dimostra una nuova ricerca condotta da Catherine Shea della Duke University che ha analizzato i comportamenti delle persone prive di autocontrollo in diversi contesti in cui era necessario riuscire a trattenersi dallo svolgere un dato compito. Read the whole story: La Stampa
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The Science Behind the Heroism in Boston
The onsite response to the Boston Marathon bombings — bystanders bravely running toward the gruesome scene to help the wounded — exemplifies a growing body of psychological research on compassionate behavior. The classic research on the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility suggests that in the tragedy on Boylston Street, the vast number of onlookers would be more likely than not to avoid providing help — largely because each person assumes there are plenty of others nearby who will do so.
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This is your brain on music
CNN: Whether you are rocking out to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in your car or reading with Bach in your bedroom, music has a special ability to pump us up or calm us down. Scientists are still trying to figure out what's going on in our brains when we listen to music and how it produces such potent effects on the psyche. "We're using music to better understand brain function in general," said Daniel Levitin, a prominent psychologist who studies the neuroscience of music at McGill University in Montreal. Three studies published this month explore how the brain responds to music.
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How to improve decision-making and keep from getting sidetracked
Minnesota Public Radio - The Daily Circuit: The McMaster's DeGroote School of Business study shows that companies with women on their boards get better results. The cooperative form of decision-making that women leaders engage in is key to the success of these businesses, the study found. But there are other keys to use as well. Francesca Gino, author of "Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We can Stick to the Plan," and Rick Wartzman from the The Drucker Institute joined The Daily Circuit to discuss the power of decision-making and how to be better at it. Read the whole story: Minnesota Public Radio - The Daily Circuit
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How Social Media After the Boston Bombing Can Be a Recipe for PTSD
The Atlantic: Monday's horrific events at the Boston Marathon produced horrific images which in the age of social media news means an inescapable constant, unsolicited bombardment of the gruesome aftermath of a gruesome event. While Twitter offered the fastest, most up-to-date, and accurate information, it also served as an unfiltered chronicle of the most distressing imagery, which can have lasting mental and physical effects. "It's hard to know what might be the news value in any of this," Roxane Cohen Silver, a UC Irvine professor, told The Atlantic Wire.
