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The Coronavirus Outbreak Keeps Humans from Touching. Here’s Why That’s So Stressful
With people around the world practicing social distancing and self-isolation to curb the further spread of coronavirus, some are starting to feel the effects of a lack of human touch. Whether it’s shaking a coworker’s hand or hugging a friend, most people are accustomed to some level of platonic physical touch on a daily basis. But for those who are quarantining alone or with people with whom they don’t have physical contact, loneliness and social isolation are growing health concerns. ... According to Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, a lack of physical touch can affect people in more ways than they might realize.
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The Science of Helping Out
At a time when we are all experiencing an extraordinary level of stress, science offers a simple and effective way to bolster our own emotional health. To help yourself, start by helping others. Much of the scientific research on resilience — which is our ability to bounce back from adversity — has shown that having a sense of purpose, and giving support to others, has a significant impact on our well-being.
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The Three Equations for a Happy Life, Even During a Pandemic
It seems strange to launch a column on happiness during a pandemic. The timing is, well, awkward, isn’t it? Maybe not. We’re stuck at home; our lives on COVID time have slowed to a near halt. This creates all sorts of obvious inconveniences, of course. But in the involuntary quiet, many of us also sense an opportunity to think a little more deeply about life. In our go-go-go world, we rarely get the chance to stop and consider the big drivers of our happiness and our sense of purpose. ... The scientific study of happiness has exploded over the past three decades. The Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton (both at Princeton University) publish extensively on the subject.
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Maintaining Lockdown and Preparing an Exit Strategy: A View from Social and Behavioral Sciences
Belgian social psychologists presented this memo to the federally appointed committee that is preparing “the gradual exit strategy” from the COVID-19-related lockdown in Belgium.
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APS Fellow Alison Gopnik Named Guggenheim Fellow
Alison Gopnik, an APS Fellow who is recognized internationally for her study of children’s learning and development, has been selected as a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow.
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Social Distancing Isn’t the Right Language for What Covid-19 Asks of Us
It is a remarkable thing to consider that only a few months ago, most of humanity did not know what social distancing was. The term’s popularity, and the need for it, emerged as Covid-19 did.But as it has become both part of our lexicon and a defining feature of our lives, a growing group of people are calling for the term—though not the actions—to be changed. We should be physical distancing, they say, not social distancing. ... In 2010, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology at Brigham Young University published research showing that people with weaker social ties had a 50% increased likelihood of dying early than those with stronger ones.
