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The Psychology of the Serenity Prayer
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” These are the first lines of what’s known as the Serenity Prayer, which is well known to many recovering alcoholics. It’s often recited in the rooms of AA as a reminder of the core principle of successful sobriety: Acceptance of the reality that for addicts, nothing but absolute, lifelong abstinence will lead to healthy and lasting recovery. As simple as that message is, it’s very difficult for many alcoholics to embrace, at least at first.
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To “Think Outside the Box”, Think Outside the Box
Want to think outside the box? Try actually thinking outside of a box. In a study to be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researchers had students think up solutions to problems while acting out various metaphors about creative thinking and found that the instructions actually worked.
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Science’s “most beautiful theories”
Reuters: From Darwinian evolution to the idea that personality is largely shaped by chance, the favorite theories of the world's most eminent thinkers are as eclectic as science itself. Every January, John Brockman, the impresario and literary agent who presides over the online salon Edge.org, asks his circle of scientists, digerati and humanities scholars to tackle one question. In previous years, they have included "how is the Internet changing the way you think?" and "what is the most important invention in the last 2,000 years?" This year, he posed the open-ended question "what is your favorite deep, elegant or beautiful explanation?" Read the full story: Reuters
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What’s Behind the Phenomenon of Aging and Happiness?
International Business Times: Older people are generally happier, and some researchers believe it is because they tend to focus and remember more positive events while leaving behind negative ones, according to a study. These cognitive processes help older people control their emotions and let them see life more enthusiastically and in a sunnier light, researchers said. There is a lot of good theory about this age difference in happiness," said psychologist Derek Isaacowitz of Northeastern University, "but much of the research does not provide direct evidence" of the relationships between the phenomena and actual happiness. Read the full story: International Business Times
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Resveratrol researcher faked data, report says; what drives academic fraud?
Los Angeles Times: A University of Connecticut researcher who worked on the health benefits of a chemical in red wine fabricated data in 145 separate research projects, a three-year investigation has found. University officials have notified 11 scientific journal studies co-authored by Dipak Das, whose work focused on whether resveratrol -- an antioxidant found in grape skin -- can prevent coronary heart disease or kill cancer cells, according to the Boston Herald.
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Can Money Buy Self-Esteem?
Scientific American: Sellers have long charged a premium for objects that confer some kind of social status, even if they offer few, if any, functional benefits over cheaper products. Designer sunglasses, $200,000 Swiss watches, and many high-end cars often seem to fall into this category. If a marketer can make a mundane item seem like a status symbol—maybe by wrapping it in a fancy package or associating it with wealth, success or beauty—they can charge more for it. Although this practice may seem like a way to trick consumers out of their hard-earned cash, studies show that people do reap real psychological benefits from the purchase of high status items.
