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If you’re beautiful, you may be very average, study finds
The Globe and Mail: Call it the Beauty Pageant Paradox. A new article titled “Calling Miss Congeniality – Do Attractive People Have Attractive Traits and Values?” published in Psychological Science suggests that beauty and character are more mutually exclusive than we make them out to be. Researchers Lihi Segal-Caspi and Sonia Roccas of the Open University in Britain and Lilach Sagiv of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem set out to explore how the notion that “what is beautiful is good” plays out in reality.
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Millions on Pet Halloween Costumes? Why We Spend More and More on Pets
TIME: American consumers are expected to collectively spend $370 million on pet costumes this Halloween. That’s $70 million more than last year, and a whopping 40% increase compared to 2010. And how’s this for perspective: Americans will spend barely three times more on costumes for children than they will for pets. The estimated 15% of Americans who will buy pet costumes aren’t likely to just throw a bandana on their dog and be done with it. Not only are more people purchasing Halloween costumes for their dogs—there’s been a 24% increase since 2010—but they’re spending much, much more per costume, with a rise of 40% in overall spending in two years.
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Is it actually less stressful to be in charge?
The Washington Post: Think your job is more stressful than your employees’? Think again. A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and featured on the news service HealthDay Monday found that people in leadership positions suffer from less stress, surprisingly, than those in less powerful positions. The researchers, in what they say is the largest of such studies, asked 148 leaders and 65 non-leaders attending a leadership program at Harvard University about their stress (many of whom worked in government jobs).
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Good Versus Effective Leadership
The New York Times: The Lance Armstrong case is like many other instances involving the evaluation of leaders. The key problem is that we equate leader effectiveness with being a good leader. It isn’t enough for someone in a leadership position (and by virtue of his position as a role model and a “leader” in his sport, Lance Armstrong qualifies) to simply get things done. A successful leader is one who accomplishes goals, but who also has good character. Here’s what distinguishes a “good” leader from merely an effective one: Doing the Right Things vs.
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Solitude in a wired world: More people, even employers are setting aside tech-free time
The Washington Post: When was the last time you were alone, and unwired? Really, truly by yourself. Just you and your thoughts — no cellphone, no tablet, no laptop. Many of us crave that kind of solitude, though in an increasingly wired world, it’s a rare commodity. We check texts and emails, and update our online status, at any hour — when we’re lying in bed or sitting at stop lights or on trains. Sometimes, we even do so when we’re on the toilet. We feel obligated, yes.
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Facebook has a stronger draw than sex for some, study finds
The Toronto Star: Well, it may not have come to that (as of yet) but a new study suggests social media activity, such as checking tweets and email, trumps sex — as well as smoking and alcohol — in terms of sheer irresistibility. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, operating in Germany, used smartphone-based surveys to check the desires of 205 men and women, most of whom were college aged, ABC News reported. For one week the phones buzzed seven times daily alerting the students to take a survey on the type, strength and timing of their desires (for sex and/or using social media) and their ability to resist them.
