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Jean therapy
The Jordan Times: The happiness index of nations acts as a barometer of how successful they are. What makes people happy and keeps them in a cheerful state is not necessarily wealth. Close family ties, warmth of friendships, an invigorating job, a successful marriage and good health are some of the things on the list to achieve that potent bliss. What is little known is that retail therapy is another way of overcoming unhappiness. Most people addicted to shopping, especially the fairer sex, will swear by the therapeutic powers of buying.
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Once Ridiculed, Male Bisexuals Are for Real
ABC: First, there was the time that Kenneth Minick was turned away from a nightclub when word got out that he was bisexual. Then, a co-worker, assuming he was gay jeered, "I hear you're coming out of the closet." His gay friends were just as bad. They, too, were baffled, making him feel like something was wrong with him because he couldn't "pick a team" -- Minick was attracted to both men and women. Now, Minick, a 36-year-old heating and air conditioning specialist from Laguna Niguel, Calif., is an advocate as part of the "It Gets Better Campaign.", and said he feels vindicated.
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How a Happy Marriage May Be Good for Your Heart
TIME Healthland: As we learned earlier today, marriage may make you fat, but a happy union may also help you live longer, according to a new study of heart patients. Patients who were married when they underwent coronary artery bypass surgery were more than twice as likely to survive for 15 years, compared with unmarried patients, and those who were in happier marriages were more likely to live longer. Researchers at the University of Rochester followed 225 bypass patients of both genders who had surgery between 1987 and 1990. The day before surgery, researchers asked about the patients' marital status; one year later, the participants were asked to rate their relationship satisfaction.
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When is a Face Hot or Not?
Boston Magazine: Why does Johnny Depp look so good in eyeliner? Why is the girl next door rarely ever also a Victoria’s Secret model? If somebody wanted to make Will Ferrell into a model, exactly which bits of his face would need to be tweaked to make it happen? These are the sorts of questions that keep attractiveness researchers awake at night. But now, there’s a solution. Published online last week in Psychological Science by face researcher-turned-vision scientist Chris Said at NYU and Alexander Todorov, who happens to be Said’s former Ph.D. adviser, is an amazingly comprehensive new statistical model for facial attractiveness. Yes, hotness can be measured and predicted.
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Scientific U-Turn: Male Bisexuality Is Real
LiveScience: A famous study conducted in 2005 proclaimed that male bisexuality is an illusion. Despite study participants claiming to be attracted to members of both sexes, when the subjects were hooked up to genital sensors and shown same-sex male and same-sex female pornography, individuals were only seriously aroused by one type or the other. The results were taken as evidence that, in terms of arousal, men are either gay, straight or lying.
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When Mimicking Reflects Badly On You
The Huffington Post: Have you ever crossed your arms to match a friend’s stance or leaned in a little closer as your date did the same thing? If so, you’ve experienced mirroring. Whether you realize you’re doing it or not, subtly mimicking people in social settings helps you form bonds and establish connections. Mirroring -- copying a person’s looks, gestures and general body language -- is especially handy on job interviews and dates when we're trying to establish a rapport and develop trust. While this unconscious activity has its benefits -- imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all -- new research reveals that unchecked mirroring can backfire.
