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A Simple Weight Loss Strategy. Really. Maybe.
Huffington Post: Dieting and weight control are really pretty simple. We gain weight and have trouble losing it because we eat too much and move too little. If we can switch that around, most of us should be able to maintain a sensible weight without resorting to unhealthy gimmicks. But that's just the biology of weight control. What about the psychology? Why do we habitually take in too many calories, even when we know those calories are a ticket to obesity and all sorts of chronic diseases? Read the full story: Huffington Post
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How the weather affects us
Wired UK: The weather doesn't just determine if we should be wearing a thick coat or not -- it can have profound effects on the way we behave. You're warmer and colder towards people depending on the weather. In studies, warmer conditions induced: greater social proximity; use of more concrete language; and a more relational focus. (1) People shop more on sunny days: as exposure to sunlight increases, negative effects decrease and consumer spending tends to increase... (2) ...And work more when it pours: on rainy days, men shift on average 30 minutes from leisure to work.
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Need a hand? Find someone humble
msnbc: If you need a helping hand, reach out to the most humble person you know. In a study published online in the Journal of Positive Psychology, researchers found that humble folks are more likely to offer help to someone in need, compared to those who are, well, arrogant. The study findings are “surprising,” because most studies on helping behavior have focused on situations, rather than personality variables, says psychologist and lead author Jordan LaBouff, Ph.D.
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Majority Groups Support Assimilation—Except When They’re Not Majorities
We generally think that views about how to integrate a diverse society depend on people’s positions in that society—that is, whether they’re in the racial, religious, or cultural majority or a member of a minority. In the U.S., “people tend to believe that blacks prefer pluralism and whites prefer assimilation,” says University of Delaware psychologist Eric Hehman. Assimilation asks minorities—whether newly arrived or historically rooted—to drop their cultural identities and adopt the ways of the majority. Pluralism recognizes and even celebrates minority cultures, which live cooperatively within the majority culture.
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The Unreal World: ‘Carnage’ and child bullying
Los Angeles Times: Ethan Longstreet (Eliot Berger), age 11, has formed a gang at his Brooklyn school but has excluded classmate Zachary Cowan (Elvis Polanski), also age 11. When Zachary confronts him, Ethan taunts Zachary and continues to keep him out of the group. Zachary responds to this rejection by hitting Ethan in the mouth with a stick, knocking out two teeth. Ethan's parents, Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly), invite Zachary's parents, Alan (Christoph Waltz) and Nancy (Kate Winslet), over to their apartment to discuss the altercation and find a way to resolve their children's dispute amicably.
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Intelligence Is Not the Same as Value
The New York Times: People who do well on a test of one mental ability — let’s say a test of verbal ability — will tend to do well on tests of others — math ability, spatial ability, and so on. This finding, which has been replicated thousands of times, implies that there is a general factor of human intelligence. Psychologists call this factor “g.” We still don’t know what underlies g.
