Married to our computers?

Behavior patterns and emotion aren’t the first things we think of when we think of computers. But it turns out that computers are pretty adept at judging our personality traits – and in some cases they are better than our own friends and family. When it comes to openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism a […]

Making friends with stress – it’s not all bad

Mindset is so important. Just last night I was reading some new research on 6 different areas of health where studies are finding cognitive behavioral therapy to be as effective as medications that have been relied upon in the past. From infertility to OCD, the links between our thoughts, feelings and behaviors could hold the […]

Read for your health

A new study from the University of Sussex found that reading helps reduce stress more than music, tea, or going for a walk – no matter what you read. “Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels by more than two thirds…”

Facebook and ‘choosing sadness’

Two interesting articles popped up the same day, even though they were published in different months. And they may have an interesting link. One looks at how, and why, depressed participants ‘choose sadness‘ across studies more often than the control participants, even though it makes them more sad. The other is a study shows a […]

Buy Experiences, Not Things

Spending on experiences is a good investment, but other recent studies showed that you can get even more when you share those experiences. One study even found that having unique experiences may lower the rewards reaped. And a shared bad experience led to better overall feelings than being the only person to have a good experience. Another study may […]

The Starbucks Controversy & Psychology

When companies use technology to maximize profits, what are they missing? “it’s impossible to talk about economics without talking about psychology” At least if you want to understand the farther reaching impacts. The Starbucks Controversy: Economics and Psychology Are Sorta the Same Thing is a good read on how a seemingly simple productivity plan can have […]