Academic

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Gratitude among married couples

couple gratitude elderly

When did you lastly thank your spouse? Gratitude is an excellent booster for your relationship, it improves the other well being both psychologically as well as physically. It gives him or her more satisfaction, and activates pro-social behavior. So go and do it.

An individual who expresses gratitude is not only providing a positive expression to a partner, but is also conveying an acknowledgement of, and appreciation for, the partner. Someone who is expressing gratitude to a spouse is essentially celebrating the benefits that their spouse has brought to their life, which has the potential to leave the spouse feeling understood, appreciated, and empowered to continue providing effective and appreciated support in the marriage.

Meanwhile let me tell you about some recent findings of a study of felt and expressed gratitude among married couples. What’s new is the fact that these couples had lived together on average for 12 years. The age range was 21-67 years old.

Higher levels of felt gratitude are positively associated with an individual’s marital happiness. Moreover, one’s overall gratitude predicts his or her own as well as his or her spouse’s marital satisfaction. To feel higher level of gratitude is more important for marital bliss than one’s tendency to express gratitude.
Why is this?

  • individuals make a wide variety of attributions for their spouse’s expressions of gratitude. For instance, the spouse may interpret expressed gratitude as a positive expression of appreciation, a manipulative attempt to get something from the partner, a patronizing expression designed to point out flaws
  • although one is likely to be mindful of his or her own gratitude, the expression of gratitude in a marriage may quickly become a simple habit of interaction that often goes unnoticed, thereby having no relevance to marital satisfaction at all
  • gratitude may be a valuable resource for couples, but its association with marital happiness may be obscured when more dominant negative interactions are present

Why is this important?

interventions designed to strengthen marriages with a focus on gratitude may wish to emphasize each individual’s own experience of gratitude rather than focusing the sole effort on having couples express gratitude to one another

Gratitude in relations to my opinion might have an optimal dosage, to much and it will wear out or become routine, what do you think?

ResearchBlogging.org
Gordon, C., Arnette, R., & Smith, R. (2010). Have you thanked your spouse today?: Felt and expressed gratitude among married couples Personality and Individual Differences DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.10.012

 

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Can brain scans tell us who makes a good chief executive?

Can we use brain scans to select SEO’s. I don’t think so and the indexsy seo services don’t think so either, do you?

So is there a chance that a recruitment industry which already uses psychometrics will now look to other techniques, including perhaps brain scanning? One headhunter is sceptical.

Read more over at BBC News, interesting piece, the start of neuroeconomics. Sound like a promising rising field of science, wish I had the time to look into this.

 

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Narcissism and academic dishonesty

Narcissus

Academic dishonesty is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. Examples are:

  • Plagiarism: The adoption or reproduction of original creations of another author (person, collective, organization, community or other type of author, including anonymous authors) without due acknowledgment.
  • Fabrication: The falsification of data, information, or citations in any formal academic exercise.
  • Deception: Providing false information to an instructor concerning a formal academic exercise—e.g., giving a false excuse for missing a deadline or falsely claiming to have submitted work.

Excellence in academics is highly valued in our societies. It delivers power, status, privileges and appreciation. It could also challenge narcissists because they are depended on power and status in order to maintain a positive self image. Narcissism has been used to describe both a clinical condition and a normal personality trait. Narcissism can lead to rationalized cheating. In worst cases there is deliberate cheating, with explicit intention.

A recent study examined the extent to which narcissism predicts self reported academic misconduct. From this research the results were not surprising. Exhibitionism and power were associated with academic dishonesty.

Narcissists have been described as exhibitionists because of their tendency to show off to gain admiration. It has been suggested that exhibitionism is narcissists’ mechanism for flaunting their superiority to others.

Moreover, the results of this study indicate that exhibitionists experience less guild for cheating. On the other hand students with higher self-esteem did not perform academic dishonesty. They also experience less pressure to cheat because they assume that others will not cheat. There were no gender differences with respect to admitting academic dishonesty, but men were less likely to experience guilt for academic dishonesty.

Narcissistic men higher in exhibitionism are more prone to academic misconduct, this is explained by their lack of guilt.

Thus the narcissists’ ambitions for their own academic achievement lead to cheating in school, facilitated by a lack of guilt for their immoral behavior.

ResearchBlogging.org
Brunell, A., Staats, S., Barden, J., & Hupp, J. (2010). Narcissism and academic dishonesty: The exhibitionism dimension and the lack of guilt Personality and Individual Differences DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.10.006

 

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Morningness versus Eveningness

Interesting topic: morningness versus eveningness. My self I am a morningness person. Early to rise, get most of the work done in the morning.

In colloquial terms, individuals oriented towards morning types were often labelled ‘‘Larks”,
and individuals oriented towards eveningness were labelled ‘‘Owls”

Morningness and eveningness is part of our chronotype. Besides heritable factors our chronotype also depends on gender, age, culture and social and environmental zeitgebers. A zeitgeber is any exogenous (external) cue that synchronizes an organism’s endogenous (internal) time-keeping system (clock) to the earth’s 24-hour light/dark cycle. The strongest zeitgeber, for both plants and animals, is light.

  • Girls and women are more morning oriented than boys and men
  • Morningness-eveningness changes during the life span towards more eveningness
  • Adolescents become more evening oriented
  • People living in the Mediterranean region are more shifted towards eveningness than people living in the temperate zones

Chronotype is also studied in correlation to personality dimensions. Studies with the Eysenck’s personality dimensions reported the following:

  • Extraverted people showed higher eveningness
  • Impulsiveness was more common among people with eveningness
  • People with morningness are less sociable than those with eveningness
  • Neuroticism was positively coorelated with eveningness
  • Evening types scored higher on psychoticism than morning types

Studies using the Big Five, a more recent inventory for character dimensions found:

  • Extraversion did not relate to eveningness, morning types had higher conscientiousness
  • Morning types were more agreeable
  • Evening types showed higher neuroticism
  • Evening types scored higher on openness

A recent study used the Temperament Character Inventory by Cloninger (TCI) in adolescents. From this study the adolescents with eveningness scored higher on novelty seeking (NS) and lower in persistence (PS). Morningness chronotypes scored higher in persistence and cooperation (C). High scores in NS may be related to a risk for addictive behavior. This was also found in other research, evening types consume more alcohol and cigarettes compared to morning types. Higher persistence scores is comparable to previous research because morning types are more proactive and higher in conscientiousness. This may also explain why morning types cope better with academic requirements and receive better grades.

So what are you, morning or evening type?
ResearchBlogging.org
Randler, C., & Saliger, L. (2010). Relationship between morningness–eveningness and temperament and character dimensions in adolescents Personality and Individual Differences DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.09.016

 

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What will happen after Resonate in presentations?

I am reading a new book by Nancy Duarte: Resonate ( link to amazon.com). This is her next book after Slide:ology, the art and science of creating great presentations which a reviewed a while back. This new book is all about telling a story during your presentation. That’s the new hype in books on presentations. Wanted to review this new book but many were much faster than me. The author, Nancy Duarte blogged about one of the reviews in her blogpost: Two Years of Research, Forty-Six Words. The conclusion of that review is:

The conclusions are: Don’t be too cerebral. Tell stories. Figure out what the audience cares about. Create common ground with them. Move back and forth between opposing ideas to create energy. Deliver facts but put them in context and make them shocking if possible. Find inspiration anywhere you can.

May be will review it later but this sums it up nice and short. From what I have read so far it’s a little bit cluttered, she needs a lot of text explaining. Did a workshop in 2009 about the story in presenting scientific data, may be that’s why I think it’s a lot of text. On the other hand the book is nicely designed and has lots of excellent examples.

What I can add is the notion that the next book will be about the theatrical aspects of presenting. In the video above which is a compelling enthusiastic presentation with a story but what’s more important to learn is it’s theatrical aspects of the presentation. The use of gestures, the walking between the audience. That’s going to be the next hype.

 

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Female Academics Pioneers in Science

Interesting video with an interview of two female scientists and how their career developed.

When Carla Shatz, PhD, and Helen Blau, PhD, came to Stanford in 1978, they were two of the first women to be hired on the tenure tract for basic science faculty. Over the decades, as their professional and personal paths have diverged and converged, they have remained friends. In this video, they discuss the courses their paths have taken and reflect on the rewards and challenges of their lives as scientists.

Thanks Scope, Stanford University of Medicine.

 

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The Brain in our Gut

Did you know you have functioning neurons in your intestines — about a hundred million of them? Food scientist Heribert Watzke tells us about the “hidden brain” in our gut and the surprising things it makes us feel.

 

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Internet and Videogames Improve Reading Skills and Visual Spatial Skills in Children

Well yes, but only for those children initially low in these skills. Gender, race and income did not influence the relationship between videogaming, Internet use and academic performance in children.
Computers and Internet access are available in almost all schools in the US, 87% of children between 12 and 17 use the Internet, 71% of online youth in this age group rely on the Internet for school projects, 88% of the children believe they benefit from Internet for school performance, 34% downloaded study aides from the Internet, 57% used a home computer to complete school assignments.

But does the Internet and videogaming benefit academic performance in children?

They studied this question in 482 youth form 20 middle schools spread throughout the southern lower peninsula of Michigan. They measured twice during the first and second year. Besides the above mentioned conclusions it found videogaming improving visual spatial skills but it negatively influenced academic performance. Mostly so for those who were doing well on academic performance, for those with below average of average performance on academic performance videogaming looses it’s impact on academic performance over time.

So if your child has below average reading skills Internet use can improve it, the same for visual spatial skills. For those with average or above average Internet and videogaming don’t seem to improve their skills, videogaming may have an negative effect on academic performance over time for those with above average academic performance. Since Internet and even videogaming seem to become part of everyday live for children the most important concern to my opinion is not them using Internet or videogaming but getting them outside and play and exercise, what do you think?

ResearchBlogging.org
Jackson, L., von Eye, A., Witt, E., Zhao, Y., & Fitzgerald, H. (2010). A longitudinal study of the effects of Internet use and videogame playing on academic performance and the roles of gender, race and income in these relationships Computers in Human Behavior DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.08.001

 

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Our natural sleep cycle

A short talk about our inner clock. To short for some of the commenter’s, but you can easily find more information on sleep and your inner clock

In today’s world, balancing school, work, kids and more, most of us can only hope for the recommended eight hours of sleep. Examining the science behind our body’s internal clock, Jessa Gamble reveals the surprising and substantial program of rest we should be observing.

You can ask your partner to listen for breathing sounds when you sleep and try to figure out your breathing patterns during an afternoon nap. You can also consult an ent surgeon and tell them your suspicions. They will take it from there, checking your nose and throat.

What are the causes of mouth breathing?

Mouth breathing is most often caused by a complete or partial obstruction in the nasal airway. This means there is something in your nose blocking the air from getting through, and your body is not getting enough oxygen that way.

This something could be congestion from an allergy or an infection, or even enlarged tonsils or adenoids, nasal polyps, or you may have a deviated septum.

It’s amazing how your inner clock works. In fact, as with dreams, there are things we still don’t know and discoveries are still being made. Some people think your inner clock is set, others that it can be modified.

One thing’s for sure, it is important to sleep well and get enough rest, or else your body could be affected, inner clock included. It is one of the reasons people that don’t sleep well will have a hard time sleeping at night even though they are tired; so its important to obtain a good pillow and the spinaleze pillow for sale is one of the best options for improving the quality of your sleep,  because sometimes their inner clock has been affected by the lack of sleep.

Sometimes people fail to realize that things that they did not consider factors are actually affecting them the most. It’s not always about severity, but rate of exposure. Take your mattress for example. Is it old? Is it just ok? It might be news to some, but just ok is not good enough if you sleep in that mattress, or try to, nearly every night. Try to feel the difference by getting a top rated hybrid mattress, and you’ll be able to prove this yourself.

It is unfortunate that things like these are not common knowledge when they can be so harmful, not to mention relatively easy to avoid.

 

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When Leaders Sacrifice Group Goals for the Sake of Self-Interest

leadership abusive

The recent financial crisis is partly due to leaders abusing their power for self-interest. CEO’s and other leaders are responsible for the promotion and welfare of their clients and workers. Instead of wielding their power for the greater good, leaders might be tempted to use their power in self-serving ways. What makes leaders use their power not to promote the welfare of others but to use it to enhance their personal interest and to increase their power an domination?

An evolutionary view on leadership:

The relationship between leaders and followers reflects a social contract wherein followers trust leaders to make decisions that benefit the group and leaders agree to pursue actions that are in the group’s best interests. The prevalence of leadership throughout history and across species suggests that leadership provides a stable strategy for effective group functioning

In order to achieve the goals of the group, leaders are given power and group members must give up some of their power. This balance can be delicate, group members will tend to make the power gap as small as possible while leaders may be motivated to maintain or increase the power gap. Hence the proverb “power corrupts”.

From an evolutionary theory standpoint the problem of increasing power and using it for self interest was researched with two important general approaches. One being dominance or the strategy focused on maintaining the power gap between oneself and others. And the other being prestige which reflects a strategy in which people use their high social status to attain positive group outcomes. Individual differences in these two features were studied in 5 experiments and recently published. Situational factors such as group instability and intergroup competition were also studied since these factors increase the possibility of misuse of power.

From several experiments it was learned that leaders high in dominance tend to hold information back when their role in the group was tenuous in order to protect their power. They only did so when the hierarchy in the group was unstable and their position threatened. They also tend to exclude top performers when the hierarchy was unstable because he or she was seen as a threat to their power. In case of an unstable hierarchy in the group leaders high in dominance tend to hold back information, exclude their best workers in order to protect their power. Those low in dominance motivation did not resort to those tricks.

The presence of a competitive other group cause dominance oriented leaders to perceive their top performers as especially happy and creating a harmonious work environment as well as cooperative. In the absence of competition with another group, leaders high in dominance motivation view their excellent group members as a rival and a threat to their power. The presence of a competitive group changes the attitude of the high in dominance leader from seeing their excellent group members either as competitors or allies. Moreover in the absence of a competitive out-group, the best group members were placed in a role with little influence. When faced with a competitive group, the excellent members were put in a director role, a role with greater influence.

In short, using power for self-interest was observed only among leaders high in dominance motivation. This was not observed in those high in desire for prestige or low in dominance motivation. Other situations contributing to selfish use of power in those high in dominance were situations in which the power could be threatened by group instability, on the other hand presence of a competitive group decreases the possibility of misuse of power.

Why is this important?
This research amongst other research on this topic might have implications for managing group processes.

  • A stable system in which leaders are secure but accountable could provide a favorable context for group success, this could be improved by changing the hierarchy after predefined periods of time
  • Initial group formation and changes to the composition of groups are periods in which leaders can attempt to increase their power, group instability needs extra care in the form of more accountability
  • Hierarchy in groups should be as flat as possible and power distributed amongst individuals
  • Leaders’ power should not extend beyond the domains of their specialized knowledge and group size should be kept to a minimum. Larger groups tend to increase decision making hierarchy and extend the span of control for leaders way beyond their expertise
  • Group competition can enhance group success
  • When selecting leaders be aware that rather than those with a desire for authority or domination, those with valuable skills or knowledge may be better suited to leadership

This post was chosen as an Editor's Selection for ResearchBlogging.org
Maner, J., & Mead, N. (2010). The essential tension between leadership and power: When leaders sacrifice group goals for the sake of self-interest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99 (3), 482-497 DOI: 10.1037/a0018559

 
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