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One Type of Motivation May Be Key to Success
Science Magazine: Do you want to lose weight? Make more money? Learn to play the piano? Your odds of achieving any of these goals depend not just on how motivated you are, but also, according to a new study of West Point cadets, the source of that motivation. There are two types of motivation. Internal motivation drives people to achieve a goal for its own sake, whereas external motivation is not directly related to the goal itself. For example, if you are learning how to play the violin, you may be internally motivated by your love of the instrument, but also externally motivated by your parents’ pride or your hope that the skill will help you get into a better college.
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Clues to Teaching Young Children to Tell the Truth
The Wall Street Journal: Parents who want their children to be more honest might be better off trying to make them feel more like George Washington than Pinocchio. The story of Pinocchio emphasizes the shame the puppet-boy feels when he lies. Rachael Saunders The story of the first U.S. president coming clean to his father about chopping down a cherry tree significantly reduced children's likelihood of lying in a recent study. The tykes who heard "Pinocchio," the puppet-boy whose nose grows when he lies, or "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" didn't change their behavior. Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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When Top Talent Hurts a Team
The Boston Globe: Should Boston Sports fans be happy when one of their teams adds an exceptional player to the roster? It depends whether we’re talking about the Red Sox or the Celtics. A new study finds that adding top talent to a team is beneficial only up to a point, after which adding more top talent subtracts from team performance—at least in sports that demand cooperative play. This was true in soccer (based on an analysis of 2010 and 2014 World Cup qualification matches) and in basketball (based on an analysis of NBA seasons). However, it was not true in Major League Baseball, where win percentage always increased with more top talent.
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When Negativity Is What We Need
The New York Times: If your friend is feeling bad about himself, you might try to convince him that everything’s actually O.K. But a new study suggests this kind of reassurance doesn’t necessarily make people with low self-esteem feel better, and some say it’s further evidence against the idea that positive thinking heals all wounds. For the study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the psychologist Denise Marigold and her co-authors examined how people with low self-esteem responded to “positive reframing” of difficult events in their lives (statements like “that’s not so bad,” or “at least you learned something”).
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6 Science-Backed Ways To Make Better Decisions
The Huffington Post: Imagine what the world would be like if everyone practiced a little more rational decision-making. Fortunately, research does show that there are things you can do to help make more accurate and reason-based -- and less emotion-based and potentially impulsive -- decisions. Here are just a few. Read the whole story: The Huffington Post
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Coaching Senior Drivers
With older people facing as high a risk of car crashes as teens, some states and provinces now test older drivers with the aim of getting the riskiest motorists off the road. But the tests they use are inadequate, says cognitive psychologist Normand Teasdale of Université Laval in Québec. Some governments only test vision; others test cognition, too. In some cases, on-the-road tests also are required. But none of these tests is enough—they lack accuracy, sensitivity and specificity.
