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The Unintended Consequences of Company Wellness Penalties
The Daily Beast: More and more companies are saying yes—and not only can your company encourage you to get healthy, it can punish you for being overweight, usually by raising your health-care premiums. That’s right—being unhealthy could start digging into your paycheck. About 18 percent of workplace wellness programs include some kind of penalty for employees who don’t get healthy—and a 2010 survey by Hewitt Associates found that percentage is expected to rise to 47 percent by 2015. But three new studies on workplace wellness incentives have found that employees aren’t taking new penalty-laden policies lightly.
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Connect With Someone In A Second Flat
Prevention: Faking a grin reduces stress, but research recently published in Psychological Science reveals that people respond to the real thing instinctively, often reacting with true smiles of their own subconsciously. UK researchers found that people responded to genuine smiles in less than 200 milliseconds (the fastest we can process an expression and respond with a voluntary one) more often than when their partner put on a polite grin. Although the researchers classified any smile involving the eye muscles as genuine during analysis of 48 videotaped one-on-one conversations between adults of the same sex, the real markers are internal.
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For Kids This Summer, How Safe Is Too Safe?
NPR: But does the child lose anything from playing it too safe? Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is a professor of psychology at Temple University, and she says, sometimes, yes. KATHY HIRSH-PASEK: Look, I don't mind changing from wood to plastic, but I do think that we have to let kids climb a little bit higher because we learn a tremendous amount from getting that skinned knee. And we become successes not just by succeeding but sometimes by failing. SHEIR: What about those who say that our children's safety is the most important thing, as in, you know, sometimes it's more than a skinned knee or a bruised elbow.
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Advancing Science Through Critical Discussion
Recent initiatives in psychological science -- such as facilitating replication and ensuring sound methodologies -- have sparked a lively dialogue among researchers, publishers, and the general public. The July 2013 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science builds upon these recent discussions, featuring a special section devoted exclusively to the advancement of psychological science. Perspectives Editor Barbara A. Spellman introduces this section and outlines the articles, all of which are available free to the public.
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Intelligence Agents May Be Prone to Irrational Decision Making
Research suggests that intelligence agents may be more prone to irrational inconsistencies in decision making compared to college students and post-college adults.
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Hong Kong skyscrapers toppling? No, it just looks that way
NBC: The illusion of toppling skyscrapers in Hong Kong is now yielding insights on how the brain distinguishes up from down, researchers say. A popular way to gaze at the Hong Kong skyline that millions of people take advantage of every year is to ride a tram there up Victoria Peak, the highest mountain on Hong Kong Island. "On one trip, I noticed that the city's skyscrapers next to the tram started to appear very tilted, as if they were falling, which anyone with common sense knows is impossible," said lead researcher Chia-huei Tseng, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Hong Kong.
