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Avoiding Cold Feet Down the Aisle
The New York Times: His charisma was big enough to make his bad habits seem small, more like quirks than flaws. The cigarettes on his breath; the extra weight around the middle; the indifference to clothing and appearances — surely these were minor things, correctable in time. ... “Virtually every big, real-life decision requires the decision-maker to resolve 10 fundamental questions, or what I call cardinal issues,” said J. Frank Yates, a professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Michigan’s business school. People only feel real confidence, he said, when they begin to address them all, including trade-offs and timing. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Study links synaesthesia with coloured fridge magnets
Wired UK: A study of people with colour-grapheme synaesthesia -- where written forms are associated with particular colours -- has found that the pairings of colours and letters may be linked to playing with children's coloured magnetic letters. The research was conducted by Nathan Witthoft and Jonathan Winawer of Stanford University's psychology department and focused on eleven synaesthetes with strikingly similar letter-colour pairings which appeared to correspond with the letter-colour pairings of typical toy magnetic letters. Read the whole story: Wired UK
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Life in the Red
The New York Times: The belt-tightening was the easy part. Cancel the cable. Skip the air conditioners. Ration the cellphone, unplug the wireless Internet, cook rice and beans — done, and done. The larger problem for LaKeisha Tuggle, 33, who had lost her public relations job, was cash flow: After her unemployment insurance and savings ran dry, there was none. So she did some creative financing, juggling loans, credit lines, tax refunds and educational grants, to stay afloat — until a Sunday in September of 2011, when it looked as if the jig was up. She awoke to a foreclosure notice on her front door that announced her home would be auctioned in a week. “One week?” said Ms.
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Power Helps You Live the Good Life by Bringing You Closer to Your True Self
How does being in a position of power at work, with friends, or in a romantic relationship influence well-being? While we might like to believe the stereotype that power leads to unhappiness or loneliness, new research indicates that this stereotype is largely untrue: Being in a position of power may actually make people happier. Drawing on personality and power research, Yona Kifer of Tel Aviv University in Israel and colleagues hypothesized that holding a position of authority might enhance subjective well-being through an increased feeling of authenticity.
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Psychology Plays Key Role in Women’s Salary Negotiations
Yahoo: Closing the gender gap between men and women's salaries could depend on better negotiation tactics, new research finds. The study, by researchers at Harvard and Carnegie Mellon universities, shows that women can successfully negotiate higher salaries. But unlike men, they have to pay attention to the approach they use in order to avoid social backlash. "The anticipation of social backlash or pay discrimination is taxing for women and undermining of their human potential," said the study authors, Harvard's Hannah Riley Bowles and Carnegie Mellon's Linda Babcock. Read the whole story: Yahoo
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Contemplation: A Healthy State of Mind
The Huffington Post: Most dietitians will tell us that the first step in achieving a healthy body weight is buying a good bathroom scale. The second is using it, regularly. Knowing our weight keeps us honest, and this basic bit of information is a key motivator for the nutrition and exercise changes needed to stay fit over the long haul. And it's simple and effortless. Except that it's not. Many people do not have a scale, and what's more, do not want one. Or if they have one, they never use it. There are many explanations for such avoidance. Some people hold on to a bygone image of themselves, believing that they are still fit and healthy. They don't want this cherished delusion shattered.
