Happiness Central Why do couples hold hands? And why does the touch of a mother’s hand so quickly soothe a scared and crying child? Jim Coan from the University of Virginia wanted to investigate the effect of hand holding on couples when they were experiencing a stressful event. He asked 16 happily married women to…
SUCCESS Magazine, Shawn Achor January 2015 If you saw me on Super Soul Sunday with Oprah Winfrey, you’ll know that Oprah and I discussed the age-old question: Is the glass half-empty or half-full? Even the positive-minded media mogul admitted to wrestling with the question. “I beat myself up because sometimes I look at it and I…
SUCCESS Magazine, Shawn Achor December 2014 Negative noise is everywhere in our society, but it’s also inside our heads. Worry is the loudest internal noise, and as a new parent, I understand how easy it is to let it creep in. I need to remember that worry is not love, and that in fact giving…
Daily Mail | Ryan Gorman, December 2014 A New York homeless man is about to launch his own app after learning how to code through the generosity of a software developer who passed him every day during his commute. First announced on Medium last month by software developer Patrick McConlogue, 23, ‘Finding The Unjustly Homeless…
Live Happy, Shawn Achor & Michelle Gielan December 2014 Tips for smart, meaningful giving and receiving this holiday season. Before you go racing out to the mall to pick up a new oversized reindeer sweater for Aunt Sally and a set of drums for your 4-year-old nephew (fun for him, not so much for your…
SUCCESS Magazine, Shawn Achor December 2014 The brilliant Amy Wrzesniewski from Yale University researches how people perceive their jobs. She found that the way a person sees his or her occupation—as a “calling,” as opposed to a “job”—doesn’t depend on the job title or position, but on the meaning he or she perceives in the…
Heather Scherschel Wagner, Britt Ahlstrom, Joseph P. Redden, Zata Vickers, Traci Mann This study sought to test if comfort foods really provide psychological benefits and improve moods. After completing an online questionnaire about their favorite comfort foods, participants participated in two lab studies, a week apart, where they ate their comfort food along with non-comfort or neutral…
Aisha Sultan | News & Observer, December 2014 There are times when a foggy malaise can settle into a spot. Even when cracks of sunlight break through this vapor, a heaviness lingers. Despite being a reporter – a job where we’re conditioned to notice and document what’s wrong, unfair, tragic and broken – I usually…
Jared Lindzon | The Globe and Mail, December 2014 If employees are an organization’s most valuable assets, then there’s nothing more valuable than a highly engaged work force. That’s because research has proven that job satisfaction can lead to higher sales, increased productivity, lower health care and attrition costs, and can even increase share value.…
Puppies. Kittens. Fat babies. These are the cute things in life we love to coo about, but who knew that the mere sight of them could heighten our mental skills? A new study by Japanese researchers now shows there are more benefits to looking at pictures of these universal delights than just getting a case…
