Tag: psychology

Driver distractions

With summer officially here and school officially out, the roads will soon be full of people driving to and from the beach, the cottage and/or grandma’s house. Just in time, new research has appeared that sheds new light on how drivers can best keep their minds–and, as a result, their cars–on the road. First, some …

Continue reading

Happiness

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are inalienable rights, according to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, but pursuing happiness isn’t the same thing as actually catching it, alas. However, new research is indicating ways we can increase our happiness quotient scientifically. Until recently the only way to measure an emotion scientifically was to focus …

Continue reading

Making miksates…um, mistakes

The holidays are supposed to be a time of rest and relaxation, but if you’re like me, after several nights of parties, you feel pretty much as sleep-deprived as you did before the holidays, if not more so. Also if you’re like me, when you get tired you begin to make more miksates–er, mistakes, ranging …

Continue reading

Dreams: new research

The other night I dreamed I went into a Montreal restaurant with TV chef Emeril, where he annoyed the restaurant’s chef by taking over the cooking of a two-metre-long fish filet, which, when split open, contained a trilobite. “Monster darts!” exclaimed the restaurant’s chef, then demonstrated how to pull the legs off trilobites and throw …

Continue reading

Birth order

I’m the youngest member of a family of three boys. Growing up, I always felt I benefited from seeing what kinds of trouble my older brothers got themselves into, so I could avoid it. This is no doubt why I was a perfect child. (Don’t believe me? Ask my parents and brothers…um, on second thought, …

Continue reading

Lucid dreaming

I enjoy my dreams, which are typically full of James-Bond/science-fictional elements.  Sometimes they’re so exciting I regret waking up and not finding out how they end. Maybe I don’t have to.  Apparently it’s possible to learn to direct your dream while you’re in it.  It’s called lucid dreaming, and researchers at Stanford University have developed …

Continue reading

The science of flirting

There may be, as Paul Simon wrote, 50 ways to leave your lover, recent research has discovered there are even more ways to attract one–52, to be exact. That’s according to Dr. Monica Moore, an associate professor at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, who recently undertook the first serious study of the science of …

Continue reading

First names

“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” That may be; but would a boy named Rose ever get a job as a professional wrestler? That (or something like that) was the question Ohio University psychologist James Bruning set out to answer with …

Continue reading

The Journal of Mundane Behavior

I work at home, which, contrary to popular belief, does not mean I watch television all day. (I prefer computer games.) However, when, on occasion, I do turn the TV on, I’m immediately confronted with bizarre behavior, outlandish personalities, and just plain weirdness, on every program from talk shows to news. As a whole, our …

Continue reading

The winter brain

On a cold, dark January day, your brain just slips into neutral. Thoughts crawl along like a snail on sedatives, you can barely remember your own name, and higher functions like mathematics are simply beyond your ability. Right? Not according to a recent study. Apparently, our minds are actually sharper in the winter than in …

Continue reading

Dreams

Dreams have fascinated people for millennia. Ancient people sought portents of the future in dreams. Not-so-ancient people, such as Sigmund Freud, sought information about the psyche: he felt that an examination of dreams could help a psychoanalyst guide a person in the resolution of inner conflicts. In the 20th century, the function of dreams has …

Continue reading

Learning

It’s September, and that can only mean one thing: the Roughriders are losing. Oh, all right, TWO things: the Roughriders are losing, and kids are back in school. School, in theory, is where we learn what we need to know to be a useful member of society. How these things are taught has changed drastically …

Continue reading

Easy AdSense Pro by Unreal