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In schools, self-esteem boosting is losing favor to rigor, finer-tuned praise
The Washington Post: For decades, the prevailing wisdom in education was that high self-esteem would lead to high achievement. The theory led to an avalanche of daily affirmations, awards ceremonies and attendance certificates — but few, if any, academic gains. Now, an increasing number of teachers are weaning themselves from what some call empty praise. Drawing on psychology and brain research, these educators aim to articulate a more precise, and scientific, vocabulary for praise that will push children to work through mistakes and take on more challenging assignments. Consider teacher Shar Hellie’s new approach in Montgomery County. Read the whole story: The Washington Post
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Who’s mummy’s little darling? How bond with mother in first 18 months can shape our love life
Daily Mail: A baby’s relationship with their mother during the first 18 months of life affects their behaviour in future romances, a study has shown. The ability to trust, love and work through arguments is defined early on in childhood. A mistreated infant becomes a defensive arguer while the baby whose mother was attentive and supportive is able to work through problems with their partner. And while attitudes can change with new relationships, old patterns rear up during times of stress. A team studied 75 children of low-income mothers whom they had been assessing from birth into their early 30s, including their close friends and romantic partners.
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The values diet
The Boston Globe: Losing weight is hard. Wouldn’t it be nice if a simple one-time exercise could shave off several pounds over several months? Researchers asked women to write about their most important value and why it was important to them, or about a less important value and why it might be important to someone else. Two and a half months later, women who had written about their most important value had lost weight, whereas women who had written about a less important value had gained weight. The first group also had smaller waists and better cognitive performance than the second group.
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For Mental Health Boost: Take Charge Of Your Personal Story
WBUR Radio: I have a friend who, from my perspective, has a great life: fabulous job, cool wife, close family. Still, this guy sees himself as perpetually at the mercy of life’s twists and turns. When work is hard, he feels like “a failure.” When his relationship gets complicated, he becomes “unloveable.” I’ve always wondered why he perceives such ugliness looking into the mirror. Well, it appears that the stories he — that we all — tell ourselves about our lives have a huge impact on our mental health.
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Which Direction Now? Just Ask the North-Facing Map in Your Head
You’re driving from work to pick up your kids at school. The drive is familiar; you’ve done it almost every day for years. But how do you know in which direction the school is from your home? Landmarks? The sun? Animal instinct? Now, a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, yields an alternative answer that surprised even its authors, Julia Frankenstein, Betty J. Mohler, Heinrich H. Bülthoff, and Tobias Meilinger, who collaborated at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, in Tübingen, Germany.
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Infants Possess Intermingled Senses
Scientific American: What if every visit to the museum was the equivalent of spending time at the philharmonic? For painter Wassily Kandinsky, that was the experience of painting: colors triggered sounds. Now a study from the University of California, San Diego, suggests that we are all born synesthetes like Kandinsky, with senses so joined that stimulating one reliably stimulates another. The work, published in the August issue of Psychological Science, has become the first experimental confirmation of the infant-synesthesia hypothesis—which has existed, unproved, for almost 20 years. Read the full story: Scientific American
