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New Research from Psychological Science
A sample of research exploring poverty and puberty, infants’ processing of unexpected events, and a re-examination of statistical-learning ability in newborn chicks.
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Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers
They can be identified by their independent-bookstore tote bags, their “Book Lover” mugs, or—most reliably—by the bound, printed stacks of paper they flip through on their lap. They are, for lack of a more specific term, readers. ... “Introverts seem to be a little bit more likely to do a lot of leisure-time reading,” Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, told me. Willingham also talked about the importance, which many researchers have examined, of the number of books in one’s childhood home.
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Friend or stranger – who do you turn to?
I read about a study recently, taken over a number of years involving about 30,000 people which focused on whether you were more likely to speak to a friend or a stranger when you are happy or unhappy. What intrigued me about the study was the findings were a lot more negative about interacting with strangers than has been my experience. ... What surprised me about this study (published in Psychological science in July this year), was it concluded if you’re feeling happy, you are more likely to make conversation with a stranger. If you are less happy, you are more likely to confide their problems to a friend.
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Stanford Psychologists Entice Students To Eat More Veggies
The old expression “It’s not rocket science...it’s much, much harder” may well apply to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science. A team of researchers led by Bradley Turnwald of Stanford University took on the challenge of figuring out how to get college students to eat more vegetables. ... Turnwald and his team found that re-labeling cafeteria vegetables with palate-enticing names (for instance, “twisted citrus glazed carrots” or “ultimate chargrilled asparagus”) resulted in double-digit increases in vegetable consumption on college campuses around the country.
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Latitude Adjustment: Distance from the Equator Shapes Our Thinking
In the past decade, psychologists have made a welcome leap, expanding beyond a narrow focus on the North America, Europe and Australia in their research to include people from all over the world. One benefit has been greater insight on global distribution of cultural features—the society-level differences in psychological phenomena such as happiness, individualism and aggressiveness. ... In both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, happiness is higher in countries farther away from the equator (such as Denmark or New Zealand) than those closer to it (such as Vietnam or Cambodia). ...
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The fast track to a life well lived is feeling grateful
For the Ancient Greeks, virtue wasn't a goal in and of itself, but rather a route to a life well lived. By being honest and generous, embodying diligence and fortitude, showing restraint and kindness, a person would flourish – coming to live a life filled with meaning and finding an enduring, as opposed to ephemeral, happiness. Today, that view hasn't much changed. ... Consider honesty. Say I ask people to play a game of chance where they could flip a virtual coin to win one of two monetary prizes: a small one or a larger one. Let's also say the flip occurs in private.
