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Memories of a Child Refugee
The Huffington Post: For many, Sharbat Gula was the face of refugee children everywhere, although her identity was unknown for almost two decades. Captured by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry in 1984, in a refugee camp in Pakistan, the penetrating eyes of the 12-year-old "Afghan girl" grabbed the world's imagination -- and became a symbol of the plight of war-damaged children. Not until 2002 was she finally located and identified, by that time repatriated and living with children of her own, in a country again at war. Sharbat Gula is one of millions of Afghan children who have fled Afghanistan's seemingly endless war, seeking safety in foreign places.
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A Climate for Conspiracy
I am writing this article knowing full well that it will be used as evidence against me—evidence that I have been duped by a powerful cabal, a vast conspiracy to . . . to do what? Well, take your choice. Perhaps to convince a naive public that NASA landed men on the moon? Or to hide the fact that our President is African? Or the fact that al Qaeda didn’t mastermind 9/11? Or to falsely link HIV with AIDS, or smoking with lung cancer? Conspiracy theorists have sounded alarms about every one of these nefarious plots and more, and many conspiracy theorists embrace several imaginary plots. None of these claims has ever been proven. Proof is not conspiracy theorists’ strong suit.
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Compassion Made Easy
The New York Times: ALL the major religions place great importance on compassion. Whether it’s the parable of the good Samaritan in Christianity, Judaism’s “13 attributes of compassion” or the Buddha’s statement that “loving kindness and compassion is all of our practice,” empathy with the suffering of others is seen as a special virtue that has the power to change the world. This idea is often articulated by the Dalai Lama, who argues that individual experiences of compassion radiate outward and increase harmony for all. As a social psychologist interested in the emotions, I long wondered whether this spiritual understanding of compassion was also scientifically accurate.
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Il riconoscimento, non i soldi, fanno la felicità (Recognition, not money, is a delight)
La Stampa: La questione se i soldi facciano o meno la felicità è antica quanto l’uomo – o per lo meno fin da quando è stato inventato il denaro – e, ancora oggi, è oggetto di discussione… e molti studi. Uno di questi ha voluto indagare se fosse più importante per la felicità di una persona l’avere appunto molti soldi o invece avere un senso di gratificazione derivante dall’essere riconosciuto, rispettato e ammirato da amici, parenti e la società in genere. Dei due chi vince? Secondo quanto appurato dalla dottoressa Cameron Anderson e colleghi della Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, vincerebbe la seconda opzione. Read the whole story: La Stampa
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People with shifty eyes AREN’T dishonest… they’re just thinking hard
The Daily Mail: Shifty eyes have been thought to be a sign of disinterest or that a person is lying, but new evidence suggests the involuntary movement occurs when people try and access their long-term memory. Psychology professor Howard Ehrlichman of Queens College, at City University of New York, made the claims in a recent article in the publication Current Directions in Psychological Science. Read the whole story: The Daily Mail
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Starved for Time? Give Some Away
The Wall Street Journal: A sense of ”time famine,” which has reached epidemic levels in modern society, can wreak havoc on one’s psychological and physical health. A new study suggests a counterintuitive remedy: Give some of your precious time away to other people. In one of several experiments exploring variations on this theme, 45 minutes into a one-hour laboratory session at an East Coast university, 136 students either were asked to help an “at risk” student by editing a college essay, for 15 minutes, or told that someone else had already done the editing — so they were free to leave class early, and spend the time windfall however they pleased.
