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Edited by Jill Wright,
According to the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, it's time for psychologists toiling away in Melbourne, or for that matter anywhere else in Western countries, to take into account the fact that a lot of people actually don't want to be happy. New Zealanders, for instance, actually fear happiness, having developed something of a national consensus that joy gets followed...
Edited by Jill Wright,
More and more these days, I'm convinced that we are in the early stages of a mass mindfulness movement. Yesterday, for instance, I belatedly caught up with a BBC Horizon show from last year, called The Truth about Personality, which suggested that mindfulness meditation can help us live longer by changing our mental orientation from pessimism to optimism. According to...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Author and journalist Paula Span, who blogs about "the new old age" for the New York Times, recently highlighted just how important it is for good physical, as well as mental health, to have a sense of purpose in life: it can help you live longer, and avoid cognitive deterioration in old age. I couldn't help but wonder whether having...
Edited by Jill Wright,
I think we must be in the middle of a mindfulness explosion right now. Over the past few months I've been coming across articles in everything from Harvard Business Review to Time magazine, the New York Times, The Times of London etc., etc. about a practice that can achieve extraordinary results in everything from alleviating anxiety to improving clarity of...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Here's an arresting thought from a recent podcast from the BBC Radio 4 show The Human Zoo, on negotiation: "There is probably no more basic psychological principle than how we influence folk." The speaker was Professor Margaret A. Neale, who teaches courses on negotiation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. You might find the PDF discussing her negotiating tips...
Edited by Jill Wright,
The popular image of psychologists probably tends towards the old cliche of "rats and stats", and jolly fascination with salivating dogs. If so, you'll probably be astonished by a couple of articles in the latest edition of the British Psychological Society's journal, The Psychologist. One, headed "For those psychologists about to rock ...", explores whether insights from psychology could help...
Edited by Jill Wright,
I've been following the work of Harvard psychologist Professor Ellen Langer for some time now. I was originally interested in her work with the ageing which she outlined in Counterclockwise. That book arose from what might best be described as an elaborate experiment in time travel. She took eight men in their 70s and 80s to a week-long retreat into...
Edited by Jill Wright,
I imagine that many psychologists will share my reaction to a Fairfax Media article exploring the background to the tragic suicide of former model and TV presenter, Charlotte Dawson. Headed, "Friends tried to save fragile Charlotte Dawson", it is, on many levels, profoundly disturbing. As one of the victim's friends told Fairfax, "There are so many of us that tried...
Edited by Jill Wright,
While I admit to being a complete sucker for dogs - my husband and I are just now recovering from the death of our British Bulldog four years ago and have begun the process of looking for a Welsh Terrier puppy - I'm not sure that I can accept the implicit linking by the Harvard Business Review of the canine...
Edited by Jill Wright,
This being what journalists call "the silly season", when news is scarce and journalists prepared to do more than token research are even thinner on the ground than usual, it's perhaps understandable that even a respected newspaper like The Guardian and its "Science Desk" should have come up with a less than rigorous piece on overcoming worry. Daniel Freeman, a...