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Are Kids Hardwired for Revenge?
Have you ever noticed that there are some things kids seem to do reflexively—say, punching a little brother for toppling a Lego tower? Yet, other behaviors, like saying thank you or helping with chores, must be laboriously taught. If it’s instinctive to punish someone who wrongs you, doesn’t it follow that you’d reward the person who helps you? Aren’t the age-old maxims “an eye for an eye” and “one good turn deserves another” just two sides of the same coin?
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The Surprising Science Behind Why People Underestimate Their Lifespans
When it comes to planning for retirement, and choosing when to start claiming Social Security benefits, one of the key inputs into our decisions is how long we expect to live. Seniors can choose when they want to start taking Social Security payouts; wait longer, and the monthly check from the Social Security Administration is bigger. ... Your own life expectancy depends on a range of factors, most importantly, your health. The Social Security Administration provides life expectancy tables that account for the “conditional probability” of having reached a particular age, but you may find a calculator that takes into account your health status to be more accurate.
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What makes dogs so special and successful? Love.
Research on dogs has exploded in recent decades. Universities have opened canine cognition labs, and scientists have probed dogs’ intelligence, behavior, biology and skills. Clive Wynne, a psychologist and founder of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, has a new book that walks readers through the growing body of dog science. In it, he argues that what makes dogs remarkable is not their smarts, but their capacity to form affectionate relationships with other species — in short, to love. Wynne spoke recently with The Washington Post about his book, “Dog Is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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How to Tune Out Office Distractions
Multiple mechanisms contribute to our ability to tune out distractions in the workplace.
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The Contagion of Corruption
Imagine that you go to City Hall for a construction permit to renovate your house. The employee who receives your form says that, because of the great number of applications the office has received, the staff will take up to nine months to issue the permit. But if you give her $100, your form will make it to the top of the pile. You realize she has just asked for a bribe: an illicit payment to obtain preferential treatment. A number of questions are likely to go through your head. Will I pay to speed things up? Would any of my friends or relatives do the same?
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Are We Living in a Post-Happiness World?
Joy, it seems, is everywhere these days. It is used to sell boxes at Ikea. It is included in ads for drinks at McDonald’s and as a prescriptive for female hygiene. There are T-shirts that tout joy as “an act of resistance.” There is the “Chasing Joy” podcast. And a number of books are being published this year devoted to joyful living, including marriage, productivity, even how to live more like Hugh Jackman. But if joy is everywhere, why does happiness feel so elusive? Haven’t we learned anything since 2014 when Marie Kondo taught us that cleaning our closets was a path to bliss? Well, so much has changed since then.
