To succeed in work or study you must concentrate and keep your mind on what you’re doing. However there appear to be some exceptions. For those tasks where you must be creative, concentration might even be counter- productive, whereas distractions could help find original solutions. A group of students was asked to list all the...
Public opinion on issues such as gay marriage, immigration, free arms sale, driving license for women may remain unchanged for decades and then suddenly change. Sociologists are trying to understand if there are rules as to how masses of people change their mind over certain issues. It was thought that to change people’s opinions a...
According to a study news concerning terrorist attacks, natural disasters or potential threats becomes more negative, imprecise and dramatic as it passes from one person to another. Strangely, the negative amplification continues even if at some point the original news is proposed. For example, if two victims in a terrible ferry disaster become twenty by...
“Should my child be rewarded/punished for getting a good/bad mark at school?” Are reward and punishment the opposite extremes of a response or two independent factors. Psychologists believe that they are independent behaviors and that punishments are two to three times more effective than prizes in modifying behavior. A group of boys and girls were...
Recently a mother brought her 12-year old son in for a medical visit. No particular problem, but the teachers say the boy does not show confidence in himself. “He does not go for it…” “He’s afraid of losing”, “He prefers playing with small children”, “He lets the other kids boss him around”, “He gives up...
