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How Giving is Better Than Receiving
International Business Times: As the old saying goes, "It is better to give than to receive." Most people would shrug off this proverb and keep to themselves thinking that it would be better, but there is scientific proof that people like it better when they give than receive. According to a study that is based on the wise saying, University of California, Los Angeles, scientists revealed that giving support to people's loved ones' not only benefits the recipient, but also the giver. Naomi Eisenberger, UCLA assistant professor of psychology and the senior author of the study, along with Tristen Inagaki, studied 20 young couples in good relationships.
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Körperhaltung trifft Entscheidungen
Men's Health Denmark: Unsere Entscheidungsfindung hängt offenbar stark davon ab, zu welcher Seite unser Körper gerade geneigt ist. Wer mit leichtem Linksdrall ein Urteil fällt, soll zu einem anderne Ergebnis kommen, als im aufrechten oder nach rechts geneigten Stand. Zu dieser Erkenntnis kamen nun niederländische Forscher der Erasmus University Rotterdam. Für Ihre Studie mussten sich 33 Probanden auf ein sogenanntes Wii Balance Board stellen, mit dem die Wissenschaflter unbemerkt die Neigung ihrer Körper steuern konnten. Anschließend wurden den Studienteilnehmern Fragen gestellt, deren Antwort sie mehr schätzen, als wissen konnten.
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Want a pay raise? Keep on the right side of your boss
Express: Be careful to stand upright next time your boss asks you how much you should be paid. If you are leaning to the left you will be putting a lower value on your worth. Fascinating new research has found body posture affects decision-making, and people who physically lean to the left are more likely to underestimate figures. Researchers found that covertly manipulating the tilt of the body influences people’s estimates of sizes, numbers and percentages. They got 33 students to stand on Wii balance boards that imperceptibly manipulated their posture to tilt left or right or stay upright while questions appeared on a screen. Read the whole story: Express
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The predictably irrational NBA lockout
ESPN: Dan Ariely thinks Duke basketball fans are crazy. Or at least they act a little irrational sometimes. As a behavioral economics professor at the ACC school, he noticed something interesting -- that fans who won Duke basketball tickets through a lottery tended to overvalue those tickets. In fact, those randomly selected students valued those tickets 10 times more than what other students did. Cameron Crazies, indeed. Ariely interpreted this phenomenon as an example of the endowment effect, an imperfection of the human mind that causes people to believe the things they possess are worth more than they actually are.
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The Smartest Way to Overcome an Obstacle
The Huffington Post: Few important things in life come easy. Starting in school, there are days where assignments just don't go well. That concept you thought you had nailed in class has flown from your mind by the time you sit down to do your work. As you get older, the obstacles get more varied. You might want to buy a great new car, but you don't have the money. You could be thwarted at work by someone who has a different agenda. Or perhaps the economy has made it difficult for your business to push forward on a new venture. Dealing with obstacles is a crucial part of being successful in life. And there are lots of strategies we use to help us deal with them.
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Cranking Up Your Private Pep Rally
The Wall Street Journal: To summon the "calculated explosiveness" he felt he needed to clinch a motorcycle jump at this past summer's X-Games, Travis Pastrana cranked up AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock" before revving his engine. The motocross champion and race driver usually likes country music—nothing overly aggressive—to help him focus ahead of most other extreme-sporting feats. Going with the rock anthem for that jump "obviously hasn't worked out," says Mr. Pastrana, who broke his right foot and ankle when his twisting backflip failed at the Los Angeles event. Such can be the power of music to pump up a person for a performance—sometimes even too much.
