US study claims being a mummy¿s boy helps men have better relationships By Daniel Bates Published: 20:15 GMT, 21 March 2012 | Updated: 21:49 GMT, 21 March 2012 Good influence: The front cover of The Mama's Boy Myth, in which Kate Stone Lombardi seeks to disprove the stereotype of weak, effeminate sons They have long been ridiculed for being sissies or too feminine. But now it seems that being a mummy’s boy might actually be a good thing for a man. A new book claims that having a close mother-son relationship actually helps boys to have a better relationships with others. Author Kate Stone Lombardi says the old stereotype that these men are weak and more likely to be gay is not true. In fact, mummy’s boys have a ‘broader definition of masculinity’ that is of significant benefit to their mental health. Mothers with close relationships to their sons have featured in countless films including the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic ‘Psycho’, in which Norman Bates becomes a neurotic killer. Close: Author Kate Stone Lombardi, shown in a family photo with her own son
Leading organizational transformations Many senior managers today are aggressively trying to transform their companies, seeking radically to improve performance by changing behavior and capabilities throughout the organization. Unfortunately, most leadership groups lack a proven way of thinking about the challenge. Ask your management team what a good business plan looks like, and you will probably find close agreement. But ask them—especially in the middle of a major change effort—what a good change plan should include, and opinions will vary all over the map. The chaos of opinion created by hype and buzzwords is doubly unfortunate. Today, however, generating and capturing such quantum leaps in performance lie at the heart of many CEOs' jobs. For that, the right kind of conversation is essential. Axes of change Our experience indicates that no single type of change initiative is sufficient to bring about acceptable levels of performance improvement. Examples of the failure of single-initiative "magic pills" abound. Top down
Companion Animal Psychology: Are young children more interested in animals than toys? At what age do children develop a fascination with animals? A brand new paper by Vanessa LoBue et al investigates young children’s interest in live animals. A set of three studies looked at young children in a naturalistic play environment in which they could choose to interact with animals or toys. The animals were always in an enclosure, so the children could only look at them and not physically touch them. One obvious difference between animals and toys is that the animals move. The first study was an exploratory one involving children aged between 11 and 40 months. The results showed that children interacted more frequently with the animals than the toys, and spent more time interacting with the animals than the two most popular toys. The second study was similar, but this time as well as the fish and hamster there was a black Tarantula and an orange and black California Mountain King snake. The final study utilized a more controlled design. Infants aged 18 – 33 months took part.
The Salvation Army and Goodwill: Inside the places your clothes go when you donate them Spencer Platt/Getty. It was early morning at the Quincy Street Salvation Army, an easy-to-miss location tucked away on a Brooklyn side street. The only donations that had come in so far were books, an entire truck full from one single apartment. Michael Noneza, otherwise known as “Maui,” one of the donation center’s assistant supervisors, bounced into the warehouse. The Quincy Street Salvation Army may be on a quiet out-of-the-way street, but it is the main distribution center serving eight Salvation Army locations in Brooklyn and Queens. What American doesn’t have something hanging in his or her closet worn only once or twice, a pair of pants waiting for a diet, or even a brand-new dress or jacket with the tags still on? There is an enormous disconnect between increasing clothing consumption and the resultant waste, partially because unworn clothes aren’t immediately thrown out like other disposable products. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images.
Other People Often Aren't As Shallow As They Seem People who aren't doing well socially sometimes feel they can't relate to other people. One common complaint that flows from this is that they feel other people are dumb and shallow. Since they may see themselves as deep and intelligent in comparison, they naturally feel a little alienated. Some people are irredeemably superficial and vacuous. There are many superficial traits that can make people seem more shallow than they are I think a big problem with the "Everyone sucks, I have nothing in common with them" attitude is that you can end up writing off lots of people before you even give them a chance. There are women who seem like all they care about is make-up and clubbing, but who are interested in philosophy and history. Shallowness isn't an All-or-Nothing thing either. Here are some things that may make layered, intelligent people come off as dumbasses at a glance: Personality Accent and style of speaking Many accents have negative stereotypes associated with them. Writing style
Answers to Common Questions on Enterprise Architecture | Architecture and Governance – Strategic IT Planning and Enterprise Architecture Anyone who frequents EA-related conferences, webinars, discussion groups, and other open Q&A forums quickly discovers that there are questions that come up over and over again. Those asking the questions say they cannot find short, easy-to-consume, and direct answers to their questions from traditional research sources such as the Internet. They prefer to get personal answers to their questions and have the opportunity to engage in a discussion that is contextually relevant to their situation. The following digest represents short answers to just a few of the questions frequently asked to the authors in the last year. Question: Should enterprise architecture really be called “IT” architecture? Answer: Most EA-related discussions, certainly those found on the Internet, tend to be about low-level technology issues, frameworks, modeling, or technology-driven adoption issues (what impact “cloud” will have on the enterprise, for example). Why is that the case? Are they important? by George S.
Revisiting why incompetents think they’re awesome In 1999 a pair of researchers published a paper called "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments (PDF)." David Dunning and Justin Kruger (both at Cornell University's Department of Psychology at the time) conducted a series of four studies showing that, in certain cases, people who are very bad at something think they are actually pretty good. They showed that to assess your own expertise at something, you need to have a certain amount of expertise already. Remember the 2008 election campaign? The financial markets were going crazy, and banks that were "too big to fail" were bailed out by the government. Smug EU officials proclaimed that all was well within the EU—even while they were bailing out a number of financial institutions. In all of this, uninformed idiots blame the Greeks for being lazy, the Germans for being too strict, and everyone but themselves. This paper has become a cult classic.
BBC Future column: Why we love to hoard Here’s last week’s column from BBC Future. The original is here. It’s not really about hoarding, its about the endowment effect and a really lovely piece of work that helped found the field of behavioural economics (and win Daniel Kahneman a Nobel prize). Oh, and I give some advice on how to de-clutter, lifehacker-style. Question: How do you make something instantly twice as expensive? Answer: By giving it away. This might sound like a nonsensical riddle, but if you’ve ever felt overly possessive about your regular parking space, your pen, or your Star Wars box sets, then you’re experiencing some elements behind the psychology of ownership. This riddle actually describes a phenomenon called the Endowment Effect. You can see how the endowment effect escalates – how else can you explain the boxes of cassette tapes, shoes or mobile phones that fill several shelves of your room… or even several rooms? No trade Classic economics states that the students should begin to trade with each other.
gnitive Dissonance: The Minds Most Common Reaction to Truth | Blindfold Inner peace is a journey more are finding themselves on daily. Everyday brings the collective on Earth closer to recognizing it’s unlimited infinite potential and ability to create something new for planet Earth and it’s people. Many of us are beginning to notice that operating from a place of love, peace and understanding is the key to creating change. This makes it more practical, being the change you would like to see in the world is a journey in itself. Cognitive dissonance is a term used in modern psychology to describe the feeling of discomfort when holding two or more conflicting ideas, beliefs, or values. Humanity has been programmed to believe so many different lies on so many different levels. 2. 4. 5. Be love. the energy that is created from a place of peace and love can be tremendously beneficial to the human race.
Biz4ge Business Transformation and Business Architecture Website – ‘Home’ Page Welcome to the Biz4ge (pronounced biz-forge) website – dedicated to the success of business transformation efforts in organisations of all types and sizes, but especially to those who must manage much of it without the benefit of expensive external specialist support! The content of this website has been forged by the decades of collective experience it’s authors have (see About Us) of working with and for large organisations around the globe and in most sectors on their change management efforts. This website assembles our extensive knowledge of business transformation and business architecture techniques. Very importantly, it does so in a way that cuts through much of the technical jargon and complexity surrounding them thereby making them more accessible, relevant and an essential performance improvement and benefits delivery tool for mid-market and larger organisations. Now, lets move on and begin by asking what is business transformation? We define a business architecture as being: