Tag: psychology

Let’s not rush into anything

In movies and TV shows, people fall in love and into bed (or the other way around) with amazing speed. In musicals, it’s even worse: all it takes is a single song. In real life, though, although one hears of whirlwind romances and sudden marriages (often followed by whirlwind separations and sudden divorces) courtship is …

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The psychology of procrastination

Some people think I have good time management skills because I work at home and yet manage to crank out a lot of words of one sort or another. Some people don’t know what they’re talking about. The fact is, my usual working pattern is procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate, panic panic panic!, rinse and repeat. I, …

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The fad cycle

Here’s a fearless prediction for 2009: sometime, somewhere, something is going to become a hot new fad. It’s a cycle as old as…well, as old as me, anyway, and I suspect a good deal older. Since I was a teenager in the 1970s, I think in terms of Rubik Cubes, platform shoes, bell-bottoms and mood …

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The epidemiology of happiness

‘Tis the season… Oh, no, wait, I can’t use THAT opening again. Um, how about…At this time of year, there’s a lot of talk about joy and happiness. There’s also a lot of talk about influenza. You might think them unrelated, but in fact they share one very interesting characteristic: they’re both contagious. If contagious …

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A bit about bias

A Bit About Bias Now that both the Canadian and the American elections are over, it’s time to ask ourselves a serious question: How on Earth could so many people be so pig-headed and blind as to have disagreed with you and me (I’m assuming, of course, that you agree with me) about the best …

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Faces

Faces, both metaphorically and in reality, hold real power–which has made them a fruitful area of research over the years. Much of that research into faces has focused on attractiveness–because, as Lisa DeBruine and Ben Jones, experimental psychologists at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, put it, “people preferentially mate with, date, associate with, employ, …

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Male managers as animal show-offs

I’ve been a freelance writer for 15 years now, so the world of office politics is something I know about only through second-hand accounts and television shows. I say that just so you know I can’t personally vouch for the accuracy of the study that caught my eye this week. The study, authored by Jeffrey …

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Car faces

Every once in a while my seven-year-old daughter will watch a car go by as we’re driving and comment, “That car looks angry,” or “That car looks sad.” It’s something we’ve all thought at some point or other (or at least I have) regardless of age: the fronts of cars look just enough like faces …

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Books, movies, reality are all equally disgusting–and that’s a good thing!

I write nonfiction (obviously), but I also write science fiction and fantasy. We who write such stuff are occasionally asked (and occasionally wonder) if our works can continue to compete in a media universe in which “science fiction” and “fantasy” conjure up for most people Hollywood special-effects extravaganzas first, and the written word second (if …

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Scientific evidence reading fiction is good for you AND for society

From the Globe and Mail: A group of Toronto researchers have compiled a body of evidence showing that bookworms have exceptionally strong people skills. Their years of research – summed up in the current issue of New Scientist magazine – has shown readers of narrative fiction scored higher on tests of empathy and social acumen …

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Monday, Monday

From the Mamas and the Papas’ “Monday, Monday” to the Carpenters’ “Rainy Days and Mondays” to the Boomtown Rats’ supremely creepy “I Don’t Like Mondays,” the first day of the work and school week has been vilified as a day of depression. But new research shows that people’s moods don’t really change that much over …

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Is today a good day to ask for a raise?

Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. **** As a full-time freelancer, I’m in the enviable position of being on intimate terms with my employer. “I need a raise,” I tell myself. “Sure,” I always reply. Of course, then I get all heavy-handed and I’m-in-charge-here and say hurtful things like “So …

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