Creative Thinking in the Crescent City
Friday, August 28th, 2009 | Tags: arts, cooperation, development, evolution, family, flow, health, money, motivation, need, optimism, positive psychology, prosocial behavior, psychology, social connections, social integration, sustainability | 1 Comment »[caption id="attachment_704" align="alignleft" width="326" caption="Lower Ninth Ward, 2009 "][/caption] This week marks the four-year anniversary of the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. As hurricane season begins again this year, some are left wondering how the survivors of the storm ...
Testing Positive Psychology
Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | Tags: Forgiveness, Generosity, compassion, development, gratitude, happiness, helping behavior, meditation, mindfulness, motivation, optimism, prosocial behavior, psychology, self-actualization | 1 Comment »Are there really steps people can take to increase their overall happiness and life satisfaction? For the past decade, researchers in the positive psychology movement have tried to identify effective, everyday strategies for making people happier. Recently, researchers Nancy L. Sin ...
And they all lived happily ever after…
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | Tags: Education, children, development, emotional literacy, empathy, family, parenting | Leave a Comment »Growing up, I was always a fan of bedtime stories with my mom. Looking back, I realize she had quite a talent for picking some good ones (like my favorite, Where the Wild Things Are). According to a recent study by ...
The Price of Perfection: A review of The Triple Bind
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 | Tags: children, development, family, gender roles, happiness, parenting, psychology | Leave a Comment »In The Triple Bind (Ballantine Books, 2009), psychologist Stephen Hinshaw explores society’s expectations of girls and young women. According to Hinshaw, girls are pressured to excel at both traditional “female” roles (of being caring, tolerant, cute, sexy) and traditional “male” ...
Play to be Happy
Monday, May 18th, 2009 | Tags: children, development, family, happiness, health, parenting, play | Leave a Comment »The obesity epidemic has spurred many parents to try to get their kids to spend less time in front of the TV or computer and more time running around outside. But a new study suggests that kids who exercise aren’t ...
Parenting against Genetic Risk
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 | Tags: children, development, emotional intelligence, family, genetics, parenting | Leave a Comment »As scientists learn more about the genetic roots of our behavior, there's a tendency to believe a kid's destiny is written in his genes. But parents, take heart: A recent study suggest that by maintaining an involved and supportive presence ...
Make yourself breathless: exercise your brain
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 | Tags: development, health, neuroscience | Leave a Comment »It’s no secret that as we age, we’re prone to slow down, both mentally and physically. Scientists have even documented a loss of brain tissue in the aging brain. Yet not all brains deteriorate at the same rate and to ...
Is aging altruistic?
Monday, January 28th, 2008 | Tags: altruism, development, evolution, genetics | Leave a Comment »Researchers at the University of Southern California have made yeast cells live 10 times longer than they naturally would by putting them on a strict, low-calorie diet, and removing RAS2 and SCH9, two genes that cause the yeast to age. Regardless ...
Helper vs. Hinderer: Babies know the difference
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 | Tags: children, cooperation, development, emotional intelligence, evolution | Leave a Comment »A new study by Yale University's Infant Cognition Center, published in the journal Nature, shows that babies develop social skills at an early age, preferring to play with toys that were helpers over those that were hinderers. The Yale team ...
The (inverse) power of praise
Monday, November 19th, 2007 | Tags: children, development, emotional literacy, family, motivation, parenting | Leave a Comment »Po Bronson recently picked up the American Association for the Advancement of Science's 2007 Science Journalism Award in the Print/Magazine category for his Feb. 19, 2007 article (co-authored with Ashley Merryman), "How Not to Talk to Your Kids," published in ...
