-
Rob Brezsny’s Free Will Astrology
LA Weekly: LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to research published in the journal Psychological Science, many people are virtually allergic to creative ideas. When asked to consider a novel proposal, they're quite likely to reject it in favor of an approach that's well-known to them. (More info here: tinyurl.com/3oor4nq.) This could be a problem for you in the coming weeks, Libra, since one of your strengths will be your ability to come up with innovations. So it won't be enough for you to offer your brilliant notions and original departures from the way things have always been done; you will also have to be persuasive and diplomatic. Think you can handle that dual assignment?
-
The Write Diet: Lose Weight With Just 15 Minutes and a Journal
The Atlantic: Can losing weight really be as simple as a 15-minute writing session? It worked for a group of women who recently took part in a psychological study. But it depends on what you write about. Women who wrote about their most important values for 15 minutes lost an average of 3.4 pounds over the next few months. Women who wrote about something less important gained an average of 2.8 pounds. The researchers think the weight loss was due to increased self-affirmation or self-esteem. Writing about their values made the women see themselves as better people and feel better about themselves. It may also serve to strengthen resolve.
-
Courage & cowardice
National Post: To psychologists, courage, like its opposite cowardice, is not an internal state of mind but an external process. It requires not only bravery, but also success, just as cowardice requires both fear and failure. Both also demand a certain perfection in the results. For example, of the 74 people awarded the Carnegie Medal in 2008 for "saving or attempting to save" another's life, a study found, only one left someone unrescued. "It's sort of like you have to do it or die trying," said Cynthia Pury, editor of The Psychology of Courage: Modern Research on an Ancient Virtue.
-
Nurturing mums raise physically healthier adults
Zee News: Washington: Adults who had nurturing mothers in childhood have better physical health in midlife, a new study has found. Brandeis psychologist Margie Lachman with Gregory Miller and colleagues at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Los Angeles reveal that while children raised in families with low socioeconomic status (SES) frequently go on to have high rates of chronic illness in adulthood, a sizable minority remain healthy across the life course. The research sought to examine if parental nurturance could mitigate the effects of childhood disadvantage. Read the whole story: Zee News
-
Thinking outside the box DOES boost creativity: Cramped work spaces produce few ‘lightbulb moments’ for employees
The Daily Mail: Many work places preach to their employees about the importance of thinking 'outside the box'. But it seems if companies really want increase worker creativity they should focus more on the office environment, according to new research. Scientists say cramped, claustrophobic working environments stifle employees’ creativity and result in fewer 'lightbulb' moments of inspiration. However, working in an airier, less constricted workplace was found to stimulate their brains more and boost their ability to think 'outside the box'. Read the whole story: The Daily Mail
-
The psychology of uncertainty, repeal and the individual mandate
The Washington Post: Eric Horowitz flags new research in the journal Psychological Science that sheds some light on why the uncertainty around the health reform law’s fate may be making Americans more resistant to its individual mandate, the requirement to purchase health insurance. Psychologists Kristin Laurin, Aaron Kay and Gavin Fitzsimmons note that people tend to react to laws restricting their freedom in two different ways. We either rationalize the new restriction, telling ourselves to make the best of it, or we resist, responding negatively to new limits on freedom.
