Spend now or save for tomorrow? Many financial decisions come down to this exact problem. How do we calculate these kind of trade-offs?
Spend now or save for tomorrow? Many financial decisions come down to this exact problem. If you buy the dress or the sunglasses now, you can’t use that money at the weekend to pay for the restaurant. How do we calculate these kind of trade-offs? Do we make any calculation at all? If not, then what factors influence our decisions?
Continue reading “Money and Self-Control: The Battle Between Thoughts and Emotions”
There’s a 50% chance that you consider yourself shy. But is this ‘just’ shyness or is it a mental disorder?
There’s a 50% chance that you consider yourself shy. But is this ‘just’ shyness or is it a mental disorder? Since 1980 the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by psychiatrists in diagnosis has included the categories of ‘social phobia’ and ‘social anxiety disorder’. This suggests that what would previously have been your particular way of being, has become a ‘disorder’ with a biological cause which needs some medication…
Continue reading “Are You Just Shy or Do You Have a Social Phobia?”
We need rapport to influence others, to teach and learn, to achieve difficult tasks in groups and even to mate.
Rapport is important. We need rapport to influence others, to teach and learn, to achieve difficult tasks in groups and even to mate. The latest research reveals gaining rapport is not just about matching body language and being positive, the picture is actually much more complicated. Studies have shown that expressivity is actually one of the most important factors in rapport. An expressive person displays their emotions nonverbally to those around them. Those who are more expressive have been found to elicit greater levels of liking and rapport from others.
Continue reading “Achieving Rapport: Expressivity, Coordination and Flow”
It has been estimated that 5% of the UK population are active users of mental health helplines. Mental health helplines are close to my heart as I volunteer for one of them myself. One question has troubled me since I have worked there, as it has troubled many of my colleagues: Do they do any good? Is it really good to talk?
Last weekend the British Psychological Society had its Annual Conference. It’s a chance for psychologists to show off what they’ve been up to for the last year. Here’s some of the research that caught my eye.
The key to finding love on the net is honesty. Would you believe that it’s bad for your chances of finding true love if you lie about your personal appearance? And yet how many people are still doing this? A lot.
If you’re still unsuccessfully trying to give up smoking then psychologists may know why. Apparently it makes all the normal activities of life less pleasurable. Certainly disheartening news for those trying to give up, but still it can help to know the worst.
As people are finding more health related information on the internet, GPs are re-evaluating their roles. Instead of being the initial point of access to knowledge, they now tend to see themselves more as information filters.
In a related vein, researchers are also asking which websites people trust when looking for health information. The findings make for worrying reading: people were ignoring reputable organisation in favour of more ‘attractive’ sites.
Confident communicators are more persuasive. So you’ve got to fake it ’till you make it.
But don’t worry if it all gets too much for you then there is one easy way to make the pain go away and reduce your anxiety: listen to some music.
The British Psychological Society Annual Conference
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