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Professors are Prejudiced, too
The New York Times IN the world of higher education, we professors like to believe that we are free from the racial and gender biases that afflict so many other people in society. But is this self-conception accurate? To find out, we conducted an experiment. A few years ago, we sent emails to more than 6,500 randomly selected professors from 259 American universities. Each email was from a (fictional) prospective out-of-town student whom the professor did not know, expressing interest in the professor’s Ph.D. program and seeking guidance. These emails were identical and written in impeccable English, varying only in the name of the student sender.
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Did you hear the joke about the CEO?
The Washington Post: Humor isn’t part of most mission statements. Organizations are busy with the serious challenges of trying to improve sales, service and innovation. Besides, being funny is risky. No one appreciates a poorly timed joke or the overactive “fun-gineer” blasting the office with cheesy motivational emails. Yet CEOs, the same people who set the organization’s mission, tend to say that a sense of humor is among their most important traits. Dick Costolo’s wit was on full display a year before he became a CEO, when he tweeted, “First full day as Twitter COO tomorrow.
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Having a Sense of Purpose May Add Years to Your Life
Feeling that you have a sense of purpose in life may help you live longer, no matter what your age, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research has clear implications for promoting positive aging and adult development, says lead researcher Patrick Hill of Carleton University in Canada: “Our findings point to the fact that finding a direction for life, and setting overarching goals for what you want to achieve can help you actually live longer, regardless of when you find your purpose,” says Hill.
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Entering Adulthood in a Recession Linked to Lower Narcissism Later in Life
People who enter adulthood during hard economic times have been found to have a much different view of themselves than those who come of age in prosperous times.
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Stift schlägt Laptop (Pen over laptop)
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Die Hörsäle von Universitäten gleichen heute oft kleinen Rechenzentren. Viele Studenten schreiben bei Vorlesungen auf Laptops mit - zumindest wenn sie nicht gerade bei Facebook sind oder sich sonst wie ablenken. Doch auch wenn die Zuhörer konzentriert bei der Sache sind und die Ausführungen des Dozenten mitschreiben, zahlen sie wohl einen Preis dafür: Sie verarbeiten die Inhalte weniger effektiv, als wenn sie mit der Hand mitschreiben würden. Das berichten die Psychologen Pam Mueller von der Universität Princeton und Daniel Oppenheimer von der Universität von Kalifornien in Los Angeles im Fachmagazin Psychological Science (online).
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Learning A New Skill Works Best To Keep Your Brain Sharp
NPR: Brain training is big business, with computerized brain games touted as a way to help prevent memory loss. But new research shows you might be better off picking up a challenging new hobby. To test this theory, Dr. Denise Park, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas at Dallas, randomly assigned 200 older people to different activities. Some learned digital photography. Another group took up quilting. "Quilting may not seem like a mentally challenging task," Park says. "But if you're a novice and you're cutting out all these abstract shapes, it's a very demanding and complex task." The groups spent 15 hours a week for three months learning their new skills.
