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Pardon Me! A Fearless Look at Our Bodies’ Mundane Functions
The New York Times: When you go straight to the most shocking piece of information in a book, there’s always a spoiler risk. So let me just say that the strange tale I am about to recount is one of many in this new book. As you may have guessed, I am about to dip into the category listed in the subtitle as “beyond” yawning, laughing and hiccupping. It includes, among other behaviors, itching, crying, and the body’s two ways of expelling digestive gases, belching, and the other one. The author, Robert R. Provine, would not be so reticent in describing the other one. In fact, Dr.
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Psychologist Carol Ryff on Wellbeing and Aging: The FPR Interview
PLOS: Dr. Carol D. Ryff, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, speaks with science writer Karen A. Frenkel about well-being in the United States and Japan, and different attitudes towards aging. She also compares Western and Eastern types of intervention to promote well-being. Since 1995, Dr. Ryff and her Wisconsin team have been studying 7,000 individuals and examining factors that influence health and well-being from middle age through old age. The study is called MIDUS (Mid-Life in the U.S. National Study of Americans). Dr. Ryff is also involved in a parallel study in Japan known as MIDJA (Midlife in Japan).
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Understanding the Psychology of the American Idea of Choice
Scientific American: Choice is a fundamental American value that often lies at the center of heated political discussions. For example, disputes about the Affordable Healthcare Act have hinged on whether buying health insurance should be a personal choice. Recent research suggests that thinking about our lives in terms choices may reduce our support for public policies that promote greater equality in society. By emphasizing free will over the situational factors that shape people’s life experiences, thinking about choice may lead us to view inequality as less bothersome. Read the whole story: Scientific American
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Learning on the Job: Myth vs. Science
Harvard Business Review: if a training session has ever felt to you like a skull-numbing high-school class, new research has confirmed your suspicions. The most depressing part? Over the past thirty years the science of training has improved, but many employers haven't incorporated the findings into their training programs; instead they've continued to rely too much on their intuition. So bad practices continue to spread — lectures, workbooks, tests, videos — even though research has shown that the best training is less a cram session than a hands-on-experience. The biggest problem is that the new skills we’ve been taught usually decay by 90 percent over the course of a year.
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Are Independents Just Partisans In Disguise?
NPR: Independent voters have grown in recent years into a mega voting bloc. By some estimates they outnumber registered Republicans, and even registered Democrats. Every election cycle, independents generate enormous amounts of interest as candidates, pollsters and the media probe their feelings. These voters are widely considered to hold the key to most elections. Independents generally report that neither party fully represents their views. Some report being to the left of the Democratic Party or to the right of the GOP, but most report being in the middle and describe themselves as moderates.
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Tricks From the Elderly to Stop Worrying
The Wall Street Journal: Recent research into how emotions change with age may be able to help people lead healthier and longer lives and bring about new treatments for depression in the elderly. Like people's bodies, emotions change over time. Older people for the most part have far fewer negative feelings, such as worry and stress, than do younger people, studies show. The elderly learn to disentangle themselves from feelings of negativity and seem to focus more on present situations that bring pleasure, rather than on the future, researchers say. They also tend to process negative information less deeply than positive information.
