Does Exercise Truly Make You Happy?
Does Exercise Truly Make You Happy?
A healthy mind in a healthy body or mens sane in corpore sano, as Decimus Junius Juvenalis put it in his time, is a phrase that seems to imply some causal relationship between exercise and a sound mind. However, when Juvenalis (one of the great Roman satirists of his time) made himself immortal with these words, he at least seemed to care to make a causal statement. / more
Job insecurity climate: On shared perceptions of job insecurity
keywords:
insecurity / working
Job insecurity climate: On shared perceptions of job insecurity
Imagine that there is a general feeling of anticipating job loss at your work place or in your work group. Maybe something dramatic happened, for instance that the company you work for lost their biggest customer or client account. Or maybe there is just a sneaking suspicion in the work group that the company is not doing too well and that people might be let go. How would this affect you as a person, and how would it affect your work group? / more
Pause Button Therapy
Pause Button Therapy
In these uncertain and confusing times where ambiguity is considered as clarity, marketing is masquerading as science, and problems of living are labeled as disorders, psychotherapy has become a prevalent fad that replaced the support that was once provided by the extended family and the clergy. / more
Confessions of a sociopath: A life spent hiding in plain sight
Confessions of a sociopath: A life spent hiding in plain sight
Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a sociopath? Or maybe you would rather not even think about it? M. E. Thomas (a pseudonym), the author of “Confessions of a sociopath: A life spent hiding in plain sight” doesn’t need to imagine it, she experiences it every day. / more
That human touch that means so much: Exploring the tactile dimension of social life
keywords:
emotion regulation / interpersonal touch / mediated touch / social bonding
That human touch that means so much: Exploring the tactile dimension of social life
Interpersonal touch is a fundamental but undervalued aspect of human nature. In the present article, the authors review psychological research showing that even fleeting forms of touch may have a powerful impact on our emotional and social functioning. Given its significant beneficial effects, touch may be valuable as a therapeutic or health-promoting tool. / more
Intergroup Contact Theory: Past, Present, and Future
keywords:
discrimination / intergroup contact hypothesis / prejudice
Intergroup Contact Theory: Past, Present, and Future
In the midst of racial segregation in the U.S.A and the ‘Jim Crow Laws’, Gordon Allport (1954) proposed one of the most important social psychological events of the 20th century, suggesting that contact between members of different groups (under certain conditions) can work to reduce prejudice and intergroup conflict. Indeed, the idea that contact between members of different groups can help to reduce prejudice... / more
Are we all jerks? Why nobody helps when surrounded by others
keywords:
bystander effect / diffusion of responsibility / interventions
Are we all jerks? Why nobody helps when surrounded by others
People are not likely to help when faced with an emergency. Are they all heartless or is something else going on? Science reveals that we can explain this lack of helping behavior by the Bystander effect and that there are ways to decrease this effect. It was a busy Monday night in Café Moto in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Cars were passing by and more guests entered the restaurant. The restaurant seats 35... / more
House, M.D. and the science of psychogenic illness
keywords:
psychogenic illness / science
House, M.D. and the science of psychogenic illness
In an episode of House, M.D. (“Airborne”) an illness spreads among passengers on a commercial airplane via ostensibly non-biological means, creating a mini-epidemic with purely psychological origins. Could something like this happen in real life? Does the mere conviction that one is becoming physically sick increase one’s chances of contracting genuine symptoms of illness? This article explores this issue and in the process evaluates the realism of the plot from “Airborne.” / more
Your mother, metaphors, and other monkey business: How experiences of physical warmth shape how we think about relationships
keywords:
embodiment / social cognition / conceptual metaphors / loneliness
Your mother, metaphors, and other monkey business: How experiences of physical warmth shape how we think about relationships
Peter was a student in his early twenties, and apart from several inconsequential trysts, had spent most of his life alone and indifferent to the world of love and romance. He had, in fact, become so accustomed to this lifestyle that he assumed this would be his fate, and had made peace with the prospects of a cold and lonely existence. This assumption was proven wrong when Peter met Gwen, a girl Peter had chanced to meet in one of... / more