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Nature, nurture both affect kids’ self-control
Futurity: Being able to delay gratification—often considered a predictor of a child’s future success—is as much a question of environment as innate ability, a new study shows. For the past four decades, the “marshmallow test” has served as a classic experimental measure of children’s self-control: will a preschooler eat one of the fluffy white treats now or hold out for two later? Children who experienced reliable interactions immediately before the marshmallow task waited on average four times longer—12 versus three minutes—than youngsters in similar but unreliable situations. Read the whole story: Futurity
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Matters of Belief
The Sydney Morning Herald: The argument over whether mankind is the sole cause, a contributing factor, or irrelevant to climate change is, to say the least, a vexed one for many Australians. Or, put another way, it's right up there with religion, politics and Star Wars versus Star Trek on the list of ''Things You Really Shouldn't Get into an Argument About, Not if Your Blood Pressure Means Anything to You, Matey Boy''. It is with that in mind that we draw your attention to University of Western Australia cognitive psychologist Stephan Lewandowsky's recent research, soon to be published in the journal Psychological Science.
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Please, make me be selfish
CNN: People are inherently selfish. Research shows we're happier and our lives improve when we focus on ourselves. Makes sense, right? So why does research also show that we often put others first and fail to choose what will make us happy? The problem comes, researcher Jonathan Berman says, when we have to decide between spending the $20 we found on the ground on new shoes and donating it to charity. If you're walking by a shopping center when you pick up the money, you're more likely to freely spend it on yourself. But if you're walking by a homeless shelter, "suddenly spending $20 on yourself feels so different," Berman says. Read the whole story: CNN
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Facebook More Tantalizing Than Sex
Discovery News: I wish I could resurrect some of the great literary libertines -- Baudelaire, Nin, Rimbaud, to name a few -- if anything, just to see their puzzled reactions and responses when they read things like this about contemporary culture: According to a new study, checking Facebook and Twitter may be more tempting than sex and cigarettes. Researchers from the University of Chicago's Booth Business School used BlackBerrys to record participants temptation, will power and desires over the course of a week.
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Phobia about holes is not officially recognized, but U.K. scientists look into it
The Washington Post: During an introductory psychology course at Britain’s University of Essex in 2009, Arnold Wilkins asked his class to participate in a quick experiment. Wilkins projected two images on a wall and asked students to write down whether they found either of them disturbing. One was a photograph of a woody landscape. The other was a close-up of a lotus-flower seedpod — a flat-faced pod pocked with small holes. Most of the students were unmoved, but one, freshman An Le, recalls being both transfixed and revolted by the lotus image. “It felt like I was in shock,” he says. Le is far from alone in his response.
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Healthy Lungs May Keep Brain Running Smoothly
U.S. News & World Report: Good lung health may help you maintain your brain's processing speed and problem-solving abilities as you age, according to a new study. While reduced lung function had a negative effect on these two types of "fluid" cognitive [thinking] abilities, it was not linked with poorer memory or any significant loss of stored knowledge, the researchers said. Changes in thinking function did not affect lung health. For the study, the research team analyzed data from 832 people, aged 50 to 85, in Sweden who were followed for up to 19 years. The findings were published recently of the journal Psychological Science. Read the whole story: U.S. News & World Report
