How Retail Therapy Works: Spending Money for Social Acceptance. It was a pattern that Nicole Mead had seen over and over. Her friends would break up with their romantic partners and then go on a shopping spree to compensate: break up and buy, break up and buy, break up and buy. As a marketing and psychology researcher, it was a pattern that fascinated her. So when it came time for the then-Ph.D. candidate Mead to work on her research project, she knew what she wanted to investigate: how social exclusion — and not necessarily just the romantic kind — impacts spending. Anecdotal evidence had already suggested that retail was the new rebound, but Mead wanted to know how far people would go to mend their bruised ego or broken heart.
“I wanted to inform consumers, so they can take charge of their consumption and spending,” says Mead, the study’s lead author who is now a post-doctorate fellow at the Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research. “They may be making financially unwise decisions to be accepted by other people.”
The results are in. The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance. Do you enjoy having time to yourself, but always feel a little guilty about it? Then Susan Cain’s “Quiet : The Power of Introverts” is for you. It’s part book, part manifesto. We live in a nation that values its extroverts – the outgoing, the lovers of crowds – but not the quiet types who change the world.
She recently answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook. Cook: This may be a stupid question, but how do you define an introvert? How can somebody tell whether they are truly introverted or extroverted? Cain: Not a stupid question at all! It’s also important to understand that introversion is different from shyness. Cook: You argue that our culture has an extroversion bias. Cain: In our society, the ideal self is bold, gregarious, and comfortable in the spotlight. In my book, I travel the country – from a Tony Robbins seminar to Harvard Business School to Rick Warren’s powerful Saddleback Church – shining a light on the bias against introversion. Cain: Yes.
Cain: Yes. Want to Be Heard? Try Changing the Way You Talk. We all know that frequent verbal ticks, such as “like” and “you know,” can turn listeners off. But what about the pace, pitch and fluency of your speech? Are others more likely to tune in if you’re a high-talker, for instance, or deep-voiced? These questions matter — not least for telemarketers — according to a study presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research by a team from the University of Michigan. The researchers found that telemarketers with certain vocal characteristics were far more persuasive than others.
Reviewing recordings of 1,380 introductory telephone calls made by 100 telemarketers of both genders, the researchers analyzed the speed, fluency and pitch of the speakers’ voices and then correlated that information with their success rates in convincing call recipients to participate in a survey. (More on TIME.com: What Annoys You? A speed of about 3.5 words per second was considered ideal. Related Links: Why Your Embarrassment Causes Me So Much Pain. Ever find yourself physically cringing as you watch those hopeful contestants on American Idol who have no clue that they can’t sing? If so, you’re probably a highly empathetic person, according to new study published in the journal PloS One. In fact, the study finds, the experience of vicarious embarrassment affects the same brain regions that light up when you empathize with someone’s physical pain. The study adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that physical and emotional pain are processed in the same brain regions, which is probably why we describe ourselves as “hurt” whether we’ve just been dumped by a lover or broken a leg.
Now add watching someone walk around with toilet paper on their shoe to the list of shared emotional trauma. The new research suggests not only that we empathize with other people’s embarrassment as we do their pain, but that we also experience this vicarious emotion whether or not we the person being embarrassed is aware of their social predicament.
Why a Bad Reputation Gets You Noticed. Having a bad reputation may not be desirable, but it does make you more likely to be seen — literally. A new study finds that, all other things being equal, people are more likely to pay attention to faces that have been associated with negative gossip than those with neutral or positive associations. The study contributes to a body of work showing that far from being objective, our perceptions are shaped by unconscious brain processes that determine what we “choose” to see or ignore — even before we become aware of it. The findings also add to the idea that the brain evolved to be particularly sensitive to “bad guys” or cheaters — fellow humans who undermine social life by deception, theft or other non-cooperative behavior. (More on TIME.com: Fear Changes What We Hear) Led by Northeastern University psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett, researchers conducted two experiments.
In the first, 61 people were asked to view images of faces. The Upside of Gossip: Social and Psychological Benefits. Haven’t got anything nice to say? Well, you might want to say it anyway — especially if you think it’ll help ward off some bad behavior. It seems that gossip may be getting an undeserved bad rap, particularly so-called prosocial gossip, which serves to warn others about dishonest or untrustworthy people — unlike the catty, idle chatter that fuels so many office and schoolyard rumors.
In a small study that looked at the effects of prosocial gossip, psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley, found that engaging in behind-the-back talk actually had meaningful social benefits. It lowered gossipers’ stress, prevented exploitation and promoted more generous behavior. “Gossip can be bad, but we tend to overlook that it can be good as well,” says social psychologist Robb Willer, a co-author of the study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
“A lot of gossip is driven by concern for others and has positive, social effects.” MORE: Generosity Can Be Contagious. Explanation: How Brain Training Can Make You Significantly Smarter. The Brain Is Made of Its Own Architects | Mind & Brain. In the 1940s, the Nobel prize–winning neurobiologist Roger Sperry performed some of the most important brain surgeries in the history of science. His patients were newts. Sperry started by gently prying out newts’ eyes with a jeweler’s forceps.
He rotated them 180 degrees and then pressed them back into their sockets. The newts had two days to recover before Sperry started the second half of the procedure. He sliced into the roof of each newt’s mouth and made a slit in the sheath surrounding the optic nerve, which relays signals from the eyes to the brain. He drew out the nerve, cut it in two, and tucked the two ragged ends back into their sheath. If Sperry had performed this gruesome surgery on a person, his patient would have been left permanently blind. Their vision, he wrote, “was not a blurred confusion.” The experiment revealed that nerve cells, or neurons, possess a tremendous capacity for wiring themselves. When It Comes To Depression, Serotonin Isn't The Whole Story : Shots - Health Blog. Hide captionThe antidepressant Prozac selectively targets the chemical serotonin.
Paul S. Howell/Getty Images When I was 17 years old, I got so depressed that what felt like an enormous black hole appeared in my chest. Everywhere I went, the black hole went, too. So to address the black-hole issue, my parents took me to a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. "The problem with you," she explained, "is that you have a chemical imbalance. Then she handed my mother a prescription for Prozac. That was the late '80s, but this story of a chemical imbalance brought on by low serotonin has remained very popular.
"I don't know of any story that has supplanted it," says Alan Frazer, a researcher who studies how antidepressant medications work. "It definitely continues to live — absolutely," agrees his colleague Pedro Delgado, the chair of the psychiatry department at UT. But for many scientists who research depression, this explanation is no longer satisfying. Still, the story of serotonin remains. The Brain—Information about the Brain. 1 Introduction “I think, therefore I am.” —René Descartes, 17th-century philosopher Few of us question the crucial importance of the brain. It is vital to our existence. Our brains enable us to think, as René Descartes so skillfully pointed out nearly 400 years ago. Yet the human brain is responsible for so much more. It directs almost everything we do. The brain makes up only 2 percent of our body weight, but it consumes 20 percent of the oxygen we breathe and 20 percent of the energy we consume.
Scientists have worked for many years to unravel the complex workings of the brain. Despite these and other significant advances in the field of brain research, most of the processes responsible for the integrated functioning of billions of brain cells remain a mystery. An essential aspect of any scientific research is communicating results to the public in a way that is easily understood. 2 Myths and Realities about the Brain Myth: The brain is separate from the nervous system.
Figure 1. 12 Dozen Places To Educate Yourself Online For Free. 8 Things Everybody Ought to Know About Concentrating. “Music helps me concentrate,” Mike said to me glancing briefly over his shoulder. Mike was in his room writing a paper for his U.S. History class. On his desk next to his computer sat crunched Red Bulls, empty Gatorade bottles, some extra pocket change and scattered pieces of paper.
In the pocket of his sweat pants rested a blaring iPod with a chord that dangled near the floor, almost touching against his Adidas sandals. On his computer sat even more stray objects than his surrounding environment. There must have been twenty browser tabs open. Mike made a shift about every thirty seconds between all of the above. Do you know a person like this? The Science Behind Concentration In the above account, Mike’s obviously stuck in a routine that many of us may have found ourselves in, yet in the moment we feel it’s almost an impossible routine to get out of.
When we constantly multitask to get things done, we’re not multitasking, we’re rapidly shifting our attention. Phase 1: Blood Rush Alert. An afternoon nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity. If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don’t roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power.
Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter. Students who napped (green column) did markedly better in memorizing tests than their no-nap counterparts. (Courtesy of Matthew Walker) Conversely, the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become, according to the findings. “Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap,” said Matthew Walker, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the lead investigator of these studies.
In the recent UC Berkeley sleep study, 39 healthy young adults were divided into two groups — nap and no-nap. How To Train Yourself To Speed Read. Defense Mechanisms. 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking. Theta Wave Brain Synchronization. This is a replication of a Theta wave entrainment rhythm first created by scientists in the 1960s to lull patients into a deep, colorful, creative dream state. Listen to it for 10 minutes, longer if you can. The longer it plays, the deeper you’ll go. So go. How It Works The human brain produces different levels of electrical activity depending on the amount of information it is processing. During a detailed task, it lights up with electrical charges as it sends and receives messages at a high concentration, its neurons firing in quick succession.
While in a relaxed state of sleep, it glows dimmer, its neurons firing less often. Throughout the day, the brain lingers between four different types of brainwave patterns: Theta waves (at around 4 to 7 Hz) are the sweet spot for many brain functions. 49 Fascinating YouTube Videos to Learn About the Human Body. As any doctor, nurse practitioner or other health care professional knows, the body is an interesting system.
In many ways, it’s like a machine, with many complex parts. There is a lot to learn about the body and how it works, as well as how its different systems interact to create a larger system. Here are 49 interesting YouTube videos that can help you learn about the human body: Brain Your brain directs the rest of the body’s functions. How the Body Works: The Regions of the Brain: An interesting look at the different regions of the brain, and what they are responsible for.Brain Anatomy Function: How brain works?
Nervous System The nervous system brings messages from the brain to all over the body. How the Body Works: The Anatomy of the Central Nervous System: Find out how the nervous system is set up, and how it works.How the Body Works: Anatomy of Nerve: The nervous system is made up of thousands of nerves. Muscles Skeleton Circulatory and Respiratory Systems Other Systems.