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Friendships Can Depend on Who You Meet First
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on June 04, 2008
Was your friend one of the first people you met in a new group?I vividly remember my first day at University when I was 18-years-old: not just the terror and the excitement but also the sheer, crushing weight of people I didn't know, and who didn't know me. Of course everyone was in the same boat and it wasn't long before I had made new friends. When I think back, one of my firmest...
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Mondays Are Not As Depressing As You Think
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on May 25, 2008
Mondays should be depressing. The memory of a fun weekend still fresh in the mind, returning to all the problems left behind on Friday and the endless expanse of time until next weekend. Surely Mondays are the most depressing day of the week?New research, though, suggests Mondays aren't as bad as we think. Unfortunately it also finds that Fridays and Saturdays aren't as good as we imagine...
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How to Choose Happiness: Combat 5 Decision-Making Biases
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on May 28, 2008
Choosing happiness can be hard work, but the effort often pays off."Life is the sum of all your choices." --Albert CamusHappiness is in our hands if only we could make the right decisions in life. Decisions often rely on making accurate predictions of how we will feel in the future. Unfortunately for us psychologists have shown that there are five major biases in the way we predict our future...
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Why Money is Part of Human Nature: Money as Both Tool and Drug
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on May 21, 2008
Human behaviour towards money can't solely be explained by its utility, it has a more addictive quality - like a drug.It's no surprise that people want money - we've all got bills to pay. It's also no surprise that money is useful - it would be irritating to pay the electricity bill in corn, goats or some other non-monetary quid pro quo. Originally economists argued that the fact...
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Why Your Future Self is an Emotional Mystery: The Projection Bias
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on May 11, 2008
Going to the supermarket when I'm really hungry, and without a shopping list, is a recipe for disaster. It will take an act of iron will to avoid returning without some kind of junk food. Later, after eating, I'll wonder how I could have bought junk food but forgotten healthy staples like rice and pasta.Why should this be? After all, I know very well what sort of food I should buy;...
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How to Feel More Pleasure: Crank up the Mystery
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on May 02, 2008
When we get a gift from someone out of the blue, alarm bells start ringing. What do they want? What have they done? There must be a reason for this unexplained act of kindness...We naturally like to try and figure out other people's motivations; using rationality to reduce uncertainty helps us make sense of the world. The problem is that sober and logical reflection seems to kill the pleasure...
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How Children Learn the Earth Isn't Flat
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on April 29, 2008
A classic study of childhood learning suggests true understanding comes from letting go of established preconceptions.Top 10 child psychology study: Imagine the revelations we all once absorbed: humans are descended from apes, numbers can be usefully replaced by letters to solve problems and the Earth is (near-enough) a sphere which rotates around the sun. Despite their momentous importance for...
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Two Brains for the Price of One?
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on March 17, 2008
Mind-myth 6: Everyone has heard the idea that our left-brains are logical, verbal, rational and scientific while our right brains are spatial, emotional, intuitive and creative. Like some of the mind-myths covered in this series, there's a solid grain of truth here but its extent has been wildly exaggerated.Left side languageThe biggest grain of truth is that our verbal powers are...
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New Study: SSRI Antidepressants 'Clinically Insignificant' For Most People
via PsyBlog by Jeremy (PsyBlog author) on February 25, 2008
A new study published today is sure to set off another storm in the ongoing debate about the widespread prescription of antidepressants. Professor Irving Kirsch at the University of Hull and colleagues in the US and Canada report that new generation 'SSRI' antidepressants like Prozac or Seroxat mostly fall, "below the recommended criteria for clinical significance" (Kirsch et al. 2008)....
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