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Showing posts from February, 2020

Hmm. Stress Can Be An Asset?

Quick.  How many tabs do you have open right now? "From texting throughout a meeting to scrolling Twitter while on a phone call, the art of multitasking now occupies not just part of our day, but practically every minute," says newswise.com. "And despite our insistence that doing more than one activity at a time is more efficient,  research  reveals that trying to do so much at once costs us, not surprisingly, in accuracy—but also in  time ." In fact, studies show that multitasking in the classroom diminishes academic performance, and in the workplace it results in $450 billion in lost productivity worldwide each year, the web site reports. On the safety front, lawmakers have taken steps: 48 states had  banned  texting while driving by 2019, and 20 states had prohibited drivers from using hand-held cell phones. "Despite these efforts, the art of techno-juggling appears to be here to stay, raising the question: is there a way we can get better at it?&qu

Drive a Flashy, Expensive Car? You Probably Have No Road Manners

I'm guilty of this.   I drive a flashy red car and I'm pretty intolerant of other drivers (but I do stop for  pedestrians ).  A new study says there are a lot of people like me.  And the more expensive the car?  The less likely you are to have manners when driving. And that's probably why our roads are so unsafe today. Flashing crosswalk lights are no match for flashy cars, according to a new UNLV study which found that drivers of expensive cars are least likely to stop for crossing pedestrians, newswise.com reports. "Drivers on a whole aren’t all that great at stopping for pedestrians waiting at crosswalks: Of 461 cars that researchers examined, only 28 percent yielded," the web site explains. But the cost of the car was a significant predictor of driver yielding, with the odds that they’ll stop decreasing by 3 percent per $1,000 increase in the car’s value. Researchers estimated the cost of each car using pricing categories from Kelley Blue Book. “It s

Women Execs: Think You'll be Exempt from Sexual Harassment? Guess Again

I don't suppose it comes as a surprise but women in leadership positions face more sexual harassment . I was never in a position of power but I worked with lots of male co-workers and vendors and there were a couple of times -- well, maybe, quite a few more -- I was touched inappropriately. Power in the workplace does not stop women's exposure to sexual harassment, according to newswise.com. "On the contrary, women with supervisory positions are harassed more than women employees," the web site reports. These are the results from a new study from the Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University, which examined the conditions in Sweden, USA and Japan. By analyzing the responses from three surveys, researchers at the Swedish Institute for Social Research, SOFI, at Stockholm University, together with fellow American and Japanese researchers, have studied the prevalence of sexual harassment across the organizational hierarchy.  "The stud

Which Is Better, Revenge or Forgiveness?

Guess we should know this by now.  But a new study says revenge is more enjoyable than forgiveness . Who else displays this better than our president?  And what gives? Newswise.com reports that, w hen it comes to entertainment, people enjoy seeing bad guys get their punishment more than seeing them be forgiven, a new study reveals.  Who'd've thought?  "But even though they don’t enjoy the forgiveness stories as much, people do find these narratives more meaningful and thought-provoking than ones in which the bad guys receive their just deserts," the web site reports.  “We like stories in which the wrongdoers are punished and when they get more punishment than they deserve, we find it fun,” says  Matthew Grizzard , lead author of the study and assistant professor of  communication at The Ohio State University , at newswise.com. “Still, people appreciate stories of forgiveness the most, even if they don’t find them to be quite as fun.”  Think back to the last

Fail? Talk About It Publicly Next Time and You Won't, Says New Study

We've all failed.  It's a part of life.  But what if the next time you're heading for a disaster, you shared your goal publicly ? Publicly sharing a goal may help you persist after hitting a failure, but only if you care about what others think of you, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York, as reported at newswise.com. "However, public announcements, such as Facebook posts about New Year’s resolutions or weight loss targets , may only be motivating when there is i mmediate feedback after a failure and if there is a high incentive in reaching a goal," the web site states. “Everyone sets goals, and some people choose to make those goals public instead of keeping them private. Everyone also fails to meet goals from time to time,” newswise quotes Jenny Jiao, an assistant professor of marketing at Binghamton University’s School of Management . “We were interested in finding out what happens after a failure.” Worki

When Is a Lie a Good Thing?

Did you know people may lie to appear to be  honest ? Hmm.  Who do we know who might do that (or maybe just lie because they're breathing)?  It's the same person who always says, "Honestly," then follows it with a lie. Anyway, a new study has discovered that p eople may lie to appear honest if events that turned out in their favor seem too good to be true, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association, as reported by newswise.com.  “Many people care greatly about their reputation and how they will be judged by others, and a concern about appearing honest may outweigh our desire to actually be honest, even in situations where it will cost us money to lie,” the web site quotes lead researcher Shoham Choshen-Hillel, PhD, a senior lecturer at the School of Business Administration and Center for the Study of Rationality at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  “Our findings suggest that when people obtain extremely favorable outcome