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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.
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I Can’t Sleep. Now What?
Maybe your mind can’t stop racing. Maybe your afternoon coffee or dinner cocktail is keeping you up. So many factors affect our ability to sleep. ... For Aric Prather, a sleep specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, it’s the soothing comedy of “The Office,” although some of his patients turn to the cozy nostalgia of “Frasier.” The idea is to find something both comforting and familiar enough that you can doze off without getting invested. Make sure to keep the screen dim.
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Why Ethnic Minorities Prefer Strong Leaders
A new study provides a potential explanation for ethnic minorities shifting their voting preferences to the political right.
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Combatting Toxic Stress with Science
... Issues arise when the body fails to control the on–off switch, says Wendy Berry Mendes, a psychologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Stress becomes problematic if the body overreacts to situations that are not life-threatening, anticipates a stressor too soon or dwells on negative feelings after the stressor has passed — or if a source of stress sticks around for too long. When cortisol and the sympathetic nervous system are dialled up for extended periods, good stress can turn bad. But how would someone know when the line is crossed? ...
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Researchers Identify Four Autism Subtypes with Distinct Genes and Traits
... When genetic sequencing of the human genome began in earnest in the 1990s, autism researchers hoped to identify the genetic cause—or more likely, causes—of the condition. “Twenty years ago the geneticists were saying, ‘We’re not even going to need autism [as a diagnosis]; we’re just going to have genetically defined disorders,’” says Catherine Lord, a psychologist specializing in autism at the University of California, Los Angeles.
