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The Powerlessness of Positive Thinking
The New Yorker: Since publishing “The Secret,” in 2006, the Australian author Rhonda Byrne has been writing self-help manifestos based on the idea that people who think positive thoughts are rewarded with happiness, wealth, influence, wisdom, and success. In November, 2013, she published “Hero,” the fourth book in the series. The book showcases the wisdom of twelve heroes—businesspeople, sports stars, writers, and philanthropists. Byrne’s idea isn’t new—it’s been a mainstay among greeting-card companies, motivational speakers, and school teachers for decades—but she’s become one of its most visible prophets. “The way to change a lack of belief is very simple,” Byrne writes.
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Why You Can’t Keep a Secret
The Atlantic: Though his 18-year-old patient Ida Bauer was “in the first bloom of youth,” Sigmund Freud wrote in 1905, she had come to him suffering from coughing fits and episodes of speechlessness. She’d become depressed and withdrawn, even hinting at suicide. During one session, as he tried to help her uncover the source of her sickness, Freud observed Bauer toying with a small handbag. Interpreting the act as an expression of repressed desire, Freud concluded, “No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his finger-tips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.” Read the whole story: The Atlantic
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Money, Sleep and Love: What Makes a Happy Parent?
LiveScience: Who is happier: Parents or non-parents? It's a conundrum that burns hot in the cultural discourse. Are parents made miserable by dirty diapers, long sleepless nights and needy kiddos? Or are they on cloud nine, because of the love and meaning their offspring bring to their lives? Or is it perhaps some mix of the two, as journalist Jennifer Senior argues in the new and much-buzzed-about "All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood" (Ecco, 2014)? Wrong questions. ... Beyond demographics, parental happiness may be linked to the goals parents have when caring for their children children.
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The Future Of The (Scared, White) GOP
When President Obama defeated Mitt Romney in 2012, handily winning a second term, he did so with only 39 percent of white voters. White men made up only a quarter of his votes. Even staunch Republicans had to take notice of these stark demographics. Some questioned the longtime GOP strategy of appealing to white voters, and others went so far as to question the party’s future. Have white voters, and the Republican Party itself, become irrelevant in the nation’s shifting 21st century political landscape? The 2012 election, according to sociologist Michael Kimmel, merely crystallized a much larger cultural and economic shift already taking place in the country.
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The Science of Momentum: Does a Win Today Predict a Win Tomorrow?
The Huffington Post: If your favorite team or player wins on a given day -- especially if it's a landslide win, then it's likely that "momentum" gets thrown around by people previewing the next event. Winning in any activity often gets used to build confidence for the next contest. Along with sports commentators, "momentum" is frequently used by stock analysts talking to investors, politicians talking to supporters, and executives talking to employees and other stakeholders. For better or worse, momentum is one of those concepts that's sticky in our heads. We're evolved to see patterns -- like figuring out "who's hot" and "who's not" -- partly to help us anticipate the future.
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Is Depression Just Bad Chemistry?
Scientific American Mind: A commercial sponsored by Pfizer, the drug company that manufactures the antidepressant Zoloft, asserts, “While the cause [of depression] is unknown, depression may be related to an imbalance of natural chemicals between nerve cells in the brain. Prescription Zoloft works to correct this imbalance.” Using advertisements such as this one, pharmaceutical companies have widely promoted the idea that depression results from a chemical imbalance in the brain. ... Much of the general public seems to have accepted the chemical imbalance hypothesis uncritically. For example, in a 2007 survey of 262 undergraduates, psychologist Christopher M.
