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The Cost of Efficiency: Exploring Doubling-Back Aversion
Podcast: Why do we avoid retracing our steps—even when it helps us reach our goals faster? Under the Cortex explores.
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The Mistake Parents Make With Chores
... For parents with resistant kids, their best hope is to avoid bribes, allowance, other incentives, and chore charts, and instead turn chores into a social activity. Saying “Let’s do this together” can make a task more engaging, Barbara Rogoff, a distinguished professor of psychology at UC Santa Cruz, told me. And, if that fails, parents may have to simply enforce their expectations, Cara Goodwin, a child psychologist, said. Although kids may not like being held accountable at first, many will eventually gain satisfaction from a job well done.
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7 Simple Ways To Be A Bit Happier Each Day
With the stresses of daily life, it can often seem difficult to find moments to smell the proverbial roses. ... “You can make small changes in your life that have big effects,” said Darwin Guevarra, an assistant professor of psychology at Miami University and an author of the study. The Big Joy Project was meant to show people that “joy is a skill they can build,” Elissa Epel, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California at San Francisco and a study co-author, said in an email. ...
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Want More Self-Control? The Secret Isn’t Willpower.
... To improve willpower, it boils down to “just try harder,” said Kentaro Fujita, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University who studies self-regulation and decision making. But self-control involves a set of skills that can be learned, he added. Preparation, mind-set and the ability to either avoid or reframe temptation can be far more effective than trying to “force that desire down,” Dr. Fujita said. ...
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Optimists Are Alike, but Pessimists Are Unique, Brain Scan Study Suggests
... Optimism and pessimism aren’t unchanging traits; they tend to shift with age, although the trajectories vary from culture to culture. Nor is optimism an unquestioned good. “Extreme optimism might not always be a good thing because we might not plan for the future as well as we should,” says Aleea Devitt, a psychologist at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, who studies future thinking. And “pessimism may be a useful ‘positive’ trait in some situations; there’s evidence that some people can be defensive pessimists, which can actually help them better prepare for the future.”
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8 Things to Say When Someone Lies to You
When someone you care about lies to you, you’ll probably feel betrayed, furious—and maybe even foolish, because how could you possibly have been duped like that? “People start to question themselves and how they could be so oblivious,” says Christian L. Hart, a professor of psychology at Texas Woman’s University, where he leads the Human Deception Laboratory. ... One of the main reasons people lie—especially women—is to maintain cohesion in important relationships. They might want to make their partner feel better, or, however misguidedly, believe their fib is improving the relationship. “You don't want to push them away accidentally, because their goal isn't to drive you away.
