May 21 2013

Here are some striking research findings: Children as young as 14 months can differentiate between a credible person and a deceitful one. And even as we get older, all it takes is 100 milliseconds of exposure to a person’s face for many people to judge trustworthiness or deception.

In the key relationships in our lives, trust influences whether we feel comfortable being our vulnerable, genuine selves or whether we feel defensive and guarded, anticipating harm. Trust is tricky and all-powerful, as it determines how we feel while making all kinds of decisions — accepting a dinner date, riding in a cab, heeding a doctor’s advice, hiring a babysitter, buying a certain product, or signing on with a personal trainer. We can perform these actions with ease and comfort, or with stress, fear, and anxiety — and trust makes all the difference.

Read more...

May 21 2013

PROBLEM: Public health officials spend a lot of time trying to figure out to how to be against obesity, as a disease, without being against obese people. (Or at least, most of them do.) It's probably safe to say that most of this complexity is lost on children, who pick up on societal cues as to what is socially acceptable and what is not.

METHODOLOGY: Andrew Hill and colleagues at the University of Leeds designed three versions of a simple story book about two friends, Alfie and Thomas, whose cat gets stuck in a tree. In one version, both Alfie and Thomas were "normal." In the two others, Thomas remained the same but Alfie was presented as either overweight or disabled. The books were read to 126 schoolchildren, ranging in age from 4 to 6 years old, who were then asked to rate Alfie and Thomas on a number of attributes. The procedure was repeated with female characters -- Alfina and Holly -- for another group of 150 children.

Read more...

May 20 2013

Positive thinking is a significant element of happiness. In order to become a positive thinker, determination and consistency are important. The first thing to know about positive thinking is that everyone can do it. With certain cognitive and behavioral modifications, we can all become positive thinkers. Another important factor is that being a positive thinker does not mean you become numb to anything that is not working properly in your life or is negative -- it just means that you approach life and face challenges with a healthier outlook.

To become a positive thinker, these may help you:

Read more...

May 20 2013

Answering a call while getting your blood pressure taken could lead to an inaccurately higher reading, according to a new study.

Research presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension shows that systolic blood pressure rises when a person receives phonic calls.

The study included 94 people with mild to moderate hypertension, with an average age of 53. The participants were asked about their cell phone habits (how many calls they made or took a day, if it was on while getting the blood pressure reading, how often they turned their phones off, etc.).

Read more...