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The Psychology of Flow (in under 300 words) What is it like to be fully alive, right now, engaged with what you are doing? That’s the psychology of flow. When the happiness and creativity expert Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was studying how painters work, he noticed an odd thing. When their painting was going well they didn’t care about getting tired, hungry or uncomfortable, they just carried on.

But when the painting was finished, they rapidly lost interest in it. What was this special state of mind that seemed to absorb the whole of your being? Csikszentmihalyi called it a ‘flow state’. It’s the experience of being fully engaged with what you’re currently doing. When you’re in a flow state: an hour can pass in the blink of an eye,you feel what you are doing is important,you’re not self-conscious,action and awareness merges,you feel in full control,and the experience is intrinsically rewarding.

To create a flow experience, you need: It’s not always easy to achieve but being in a state of flow is a beautiful thing. Internal Time: The Science of Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired. By Maria Popova Debunking the social stigma around late risers, or what Einstein has to do with teens’ risk for smoking. “Six hours’ sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool,” Napoleon famously prescribed. (He would have scoffed at Einstein, then, who was known to require ten hours of sleep for optimal performance.)

This perceived superiority of those who can get by on less sleep isn’t just something Napoleon shared with dictators like Hitler and Stalin, it’s an enduring attitude woven into our social norms and expectations, from proverbs about early birds to the basic scheduling structure of education and the workplace. But in Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired, a fine addition to these 7 essential books on time, German chronobiologist Till Roenneberg demonstrates through a wealth of research that our sleep patterns have little to do with laziness and other such scorned character flaws, and everything to do with biology. (Thanks, Jalees.) Why great ideas come when you aren’t trying. History is rich with 'eureka' moments: scientists from Archimedes to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are said to have had flashes of inspiration while thinking about other things.

But the mechanisms behind this psychological phenomenon have remained unclear. A study now suggests that simply taking a break does not bring on inspiration — rather, creativity is fostered by tasks that allow the mind to wander. The discovery was made by a team led by Benjamin Baird and Jonathan Schooler, psychologists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The researchers presented 145 undergraduate students with two 'unusual uses' tasks that gave them two minutes to list as many uses as possible for everyday objects such as toothpicks, clothes hangers and bricks. Jeremy Mayes / GETTY IMAGES Archimedes made his breakthrough discovery of displacement while relaxing in the bath. “We’ve traditionally found that rapid-eye-movement sleep grants creative insight. Seasonal Affective Disorder: Shining a light in your ear 'can brighten your winter mood' By Lauren Paxman Updated: 13:31 GMT, 9 November 2011 As the nights get longer, those who suffer from the winter blues will be planning ways to escape to the sunshine.

But there may be a much simpler way of cheering yourself up... simply shining a bright light into your ear canal. Up to one in four Britons suffer from seasonal affective disorder, with seven per cent of the population having full-blown SAD. Ear's an idea: The effects of seasonal affective disorder could be combated by channeling light to the brain down the ear duct It is caused by the brain not receiving enough daylight which is needed to trigger serotonin, a hormone that regulates mood. Symptoms range from mild lethargy to depression and insomnia, but a cure might be in sight. Two clinical trials, run by Valkee - who make a device that can shine light into your ear - and the University of Oulu in Finland, have found that carefully targeted light can help prevent the condition.

A bright word in the ear for those with winter blues. The Impressive Power of a Stranger’s Advice. Spend more wisely by learning to take other people’s surprisingly accurate advice. Most people are much better at giving advice than taking it. When it comes to spending our money, we like to think we know best what will make us happy. What does the guy next door or a colleague at work know about how we should spend our money? Well, a lot more, it turns out, than we might think. Imagine you are going on a 5 minute speed date with a stranger. Either: a photograph of them with an autobiography.Or: the rating of a previous speed dater (who is a stranger to you). Which one do you think will better predict how much you’ll enjoy the speed date?

If you are like most of the participants in an experiment by Gilbert et al. (2010) then you’ll go for number 1. We’re all different, right? In the experiment, though, the ratings of a previous speed dater were the best predictor of how much people enjoyed their speed date. Here’s one that’s even weirder. Perhaps you’re a bit more wary now? What The Eyes Reveal: 10 Messages My Pupils are Sending You.

The dilation and constriction of the pupils reveals how hard we’re thinking, how excited or disgusted we are and more… Our pupils, the black holes which let light into the eyes, don’t just help us see, they also signal what’s going on in our minds. Here are 10 pieces of psychological research which show how changes in pupil size reveal many aspects of thought. 1. I’m thinking hard Look into my eyes and ask me to name the cigar-smoking founder of psychoanalysis and you won’t see much change in my pupil size.

But ask me to explain the laws of cricket and watch my pupils expand. That’s because research has shown that the harder your brain works, the more your pupils dilate. 2. Keep watching my eyes closely and you’ll spot the point when explaining the laws of cricket gets too much. Poock (1973) reported that when participants’ minds were loaded to 125% of their capacity, their pupils constricted. It’ll be trying to explain a googly that will do it. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Too small to see? Maslow’s hierarchy of needs & Social Media – a modern take. Blood test accurately distinguishes depressed patients from healthy controls.

Public release date: 1-Feb-2012 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Kristen Stantonkstanton3@partners.org 617-643-3907Massachusetts General Hospital The initial assessment of a blood test to help diagnose major depressive disorder indicates it may become a useful clinical tool. In a paper published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, a team including Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers reports that a test analyzing levels of nine biomarkers accurately distinguished patients diagnosed with depression from control participants without significant false-positive results. "Traditionally, diagnosis of major depression and other mental disorders has been made based on patients' reported symptoms, but the accuracy of that process varies a great deal, often depending on the experience and resources of the clinician conducting the assessment," says George Papakostas, MD, of the MGH Department of Psychiatry, lead and corresponding author of the report.

. [ Print | E-mail. Working too much is correlated with 2-fold increase in likelihood of depression. Public release date: 25-Jan-2012 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Yael Francoyfranco@plos.org 415-568-3169Public Library of Science The odds of a major depressive episode are more than double for those working 11 or more hours a day compared to those working seven to eight hours a day, according to a report is published in the Jan. 25 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.

The authors, led by Marianna Virtanen of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and University College London, followed about 2000 middle aged British civil servants and found a robust association between overtime work and depression. There have been a number of previous studies on the subject, with varying results, but the researchers emphasize that it is hard to compare results across these studies because the cut-off for "overtime" work has not been standardized.

Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. About PLoS ONE [ Print | E-mail. Median Ruby Wax launches Facebook-style website for adults with mental illness. By Sadie Nicholas Updated: 22:00 GMT, 26 November 2011 She has spoken candidly about her own bouts of depression – and now comedian Ruby Wax is hoping to help others, with a ground-breaking social-networking website for adults with mental illnesses.

Endorsed by Britain’s leading mental-health charities, including Mind and SANE, Ruby’s site – www.blackdogtribebeta.com (BDT) – works much like any other social media site, inviting users to create a profile, post information about themselves and communicate with other users of their choosing to share their own experiences and advice, all at no cost. It is aimed at those suffering from conditions including depression, anxiety, panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorder and post-natal depression. And it could be busy – statistics reveal that one in four Britons will suffer some form of mental illness. Support network: Ruby Wax's site has the backing of mental health charities lwww.blackdogtribebeta.com. 'I Wanted To Live': New Depression Drugs Offer Hope For Toughest Cases : Shots - Health Blog.

Hide captionChris Stephens, 28, who has been battling depression all of his life, plays with his dogs at home in Concord, Calif., on Friday. After a dose of ketamine, Stephens says, "I actually wanted to do things. I wanted to live life. " Lianne Milton for NPR Chris Stephens, 28, who has been battling depression all of his life, plays with his dogs at home in Concord, Calif., on Friday. A club drug called "Special K" is generating a lot of buzz among researchers who study depression.

That's because "Special K," which is actually an FDA-approved anesthetic named ketamine, can relieve even suicidal depression in a matter of hours. Those traditional drugs, which act on the brain's serotonin system, can take more than a month to kick in, and don't work for up to 40 percent of people with major depression. "We can take care of a migraine in hours," says Carlos Zarate, a brain researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health who is studying ketamine. Drugs For Depression, Without Success. How The Mind Really Works: 10 Counterintuitive Psychology Studies.

iPad app - How to live better every day - Unstuck. Can An iPad App Really Make You More Productive And Inspired? | Co.Design. Okay, so you’re supposed to be working on something and you know you’re supposed to be working on that something but, for whatever reason, you can’t seem to get going. Surfing the Internet for a while hasn’t helped (hint: it never does) but you’re wondering if maybe there’s a tool to help you get unstuck. Enter: Unstuck, an app for your iPad. Unstuck is a spin-off from SYPartners, "a company that helps leaders and their teams during times of transformation. " The idea is that you can follow a few easy steps to tell the app about your situation and then it’ll give you advice. You start by picking three feelings, filling in some details by multiple choice, and then the app gives you a pile of virtual cards to sort into "so me" and "not me. " At the end, it diagnoses your problems and offers tips and an interactive tool (there are 11 in all) to help you move forward.

I did an experimental run-through using a project that I’ve been procrastinating on for some time. Unstuck iPad app - How to live better every day - Unstuck. TV time: Why children watch multi-screens. Public release date: 2-Aug-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Dr Hilary Gloverhilary.glover@biomedcentral.com 44-020-319-22370BioMed Central New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, examines the relationship children have with electronic viewing devices and their habits of interacting with more than one at a time.

A sedentary lifestyle, linked to spending lots of time watching TV and playing computer games, is thought to lead to obesity, lower mental well-being, and cause health problems in later life, including diabetes. Questioning 10-11 year olds, researchers at the University of Bristol and Loughborough University found that the children enjoyed looking at more than one screen at a time. Dr Jago from the University of Bristol explained, "Health campaigns recommend reducing the amount of time children spend watching TV. Notes to Editors 1. 2. 3. . [ Print | E-mail. Seasonal Affective Disorder – The Basics | A Blog Around The Clock. First published on February 05, 2006. So, why do I say that it is not surprising the exposure to bright light alleviates both seasonal depression and other kinds of depression, and that different mechanisms may be involved?

In mammals, apart from visual photoreception (that is, image formation), there is also non-visual photoreception. The receptors of the former are the rods and cones that you all learned about in middle school. The receptors for the latter are a couple of thousand Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs) located in the retina in each eye. Each of these cells expresses a photopigment melanopsin (the cryptochrome challenger apparently lost the contest about a year ago after several years of frantic research by proponents of both hypotheses). The axons – nerve processes – from these cells go to and make connections in three parts of the brain. The second is the brain center involved in the control of mood.

During the day, the SCN inhibits the secretion of melatonin. Face Research » Psychology experiments about preferences for faces and voices. MBTI and Kiersey. MBTI Wikipedia. Model of personality types A chart with descriptions of each Myers–Briggs personality type and the four dichotomies central to the theory. In personality typology, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. The test attempts to assign a value to each of four categories: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving.

One letter from each category is taken to produce a four-letter test result, such as "INTP" or "ESFJ".[2][3] The MBTI was constructed by two Americans: Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers, who were inspired by the book Psychological Types by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Isabel Myers was particularly fascinated by the concept of introversion and she typed herself as an INFP. History[edit] Briggs began her research into personality in 1917. Concepts[edit] MBTI types.