The Unconscious Mind Can Detect a Liar

When it comes to detecting deceit, your automatic associations may be more accurate than conscious thought in pegging truth-tellers and liars, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The findings suggest that conscious awareness may hinder our ability to detect whether someone is lying, perhaps because we tend to seek out behaviors that are supposedly stereotypical of liars, like averted eyes or fidgeting. But those behaviors may not be all that indicative of an untrustworthy person.

Happy People Work Better

Happiness makes people more productive at work, according to research done at the University of Warwick in the UK. Professor Andrew Oswald, Dr. Eugenio Proto and Dr. Daniel Sgroi from the Department of Economics were the study leaders. They found that happiness made people 12% more productive.

Tips for Turning Your March Madness into March Happiness

By Jaime Kulaga, Ph.D., LMHC

There’s a lot of hype about March Madness, and if you’re an NCAA fan (or married to one) you know it well.

But I’d rather think in terms of March Happiness: training mind and body, just as those basketball players train, to remain positive even when faced with stress, sadness, and the cyclicality of life. You can create a habit of happiness.

Women More Competitive Than Men

True or false: Men are very competitive while women have a tendency to nurture relationships with others. The surprise answer, according to researchers at Harvard and the University of Quebec, is false. Co-authors Richard Wranghamand Joyce Benenson showed that within academic departments, women of different social or professional ranks cooperate with each other less well than men do. The paper was published March 3rd 2014 in the journal Current Biology.

Bright Light Intensifies Emotions

Human emotion, whether positive or negative, is felt more intensely under bright light, according to a study done at the University of Toronto Scarborough and Northwestern University. The research is published in the February 2014 edition of the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Mindfulness & Making Up Your Mind

One 15-minute focused-breathing meditation may help people make better decisions, according to new research from a team at INSEAD — a graduate business school with campuses in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi — and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The findings are published in the February 2014 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Aging and the Pursuit of Happiness

As we age, frequent experiences such as spending time with friends and family tend to make us even happier than extraordinary experiences such as traveling to exotic locales. That is the findings of a study done by Amit Bhattacharjee at Dartmouth and Cassie Mogilner the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The researchers explored the role of age regarding the happiness we feel from both the ordinary and the extraordinary experiences in our lives.

Beyond Emotional Intelligence

John Mayer, the University of New Hampshire psychologist who co-developed with Peter Salovey the groundbreaking theory of emotional intelligence popularized by Daniel Goleman in the book “Emotional Intelligence”, has introduced another paradigm-shifting idea.

Is Your Inner Child Keeping You Trapped in a Bad Relationship or Job?

By Steven Jay Fogel

It happens when we see politicians repeatedly make the same self-destructive mistakes. Think former legislator Anthony Weiner’s repeated sexting scandals.

Or we hear friends complain repeatedly about the horrible job they’re “stuck” in.

Watch: Weight-Loss Self-Inspiration

Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!

Study: Warning Labels Don’t Always Work

Although warning labels are meant to warn consumers of a product's potential dangers, they may actually decrease awareness of those dangers over time. A new study Dr. Yael Steinhart of Tel Aviv University's Recanati Business School, along with Prof. Ziv Carmon of INSEAD in Singapore and Prof.

Emotional Recovery After Public Trauma

 

By Judy Kirkwood

Horrific events like the shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Sikh temple in Wisconsin affect not only those directly or peripherally involved, but also many people who only hear about them on the news.

“Such events leave most of us feeling vulnerable, helpless, sad and anxious,” says Linda Ligenza, a consultant to the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. These killings, unlike those in war, happened in ordinary and familiar settings. This could have been me, we think.

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What’s On Your Bucket List?

The term "bucket list" was around before 2007, but it was popularized that year by the Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman film about two terminally ill guys who travel around the world with a list of to-dos before they "kick the bucket." They find, in their travels, that some of the more trivial items take on deeper significance. An especially touching scene happens when Nicholson as Edward reconciles with his estranged daughter and meets his little granddaughter for the first time.

How Doing Good Helps You

Like a lot of Boomers these days, you may be leading a full and fairly stressful life. Here's a counterintuitive way to make yourself feel better both emotionally and physically. Add one more item to your To Do list: volunteering. And if you're retired with a little leisure on your hands, filling the void with projects that reach out to others is a scientifically proven way to boost your morale and your immune system at the same time.