Helping Others Live Sober: New Evidence Indicates “Helping Helps the Helper” Stay Sober Byron R. Johnson1, Maria E. Pagano2, Matthew T. Lee3, Stephen G. Post4 December 1, 2015 1Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA 2Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA 3University of Akron, OH, USA 4Stony Brook University, NY, USA Byron R. Johnson, Program on…
JC Miler, Z Krizan, April 2016 Walking Facilitates Positive Affect (Even When Expecting the Opposite). This study conducted 3 experiments to examine how walking induced positivity. Walking in this study wasn’t necessarily for exercise. Results showed that: even when participants didn’t know what the purpose of the experiment was, they experienced an increase in positive affect walking caused a…
Balancing Act: Greedy Kids? New Study Says a Gratitude Journal Will Help Chicago Tribune, Heidi Stevens March 15, 2016 Materialistic kids aren’t just tough to shop with at Target (“TeenyMates! Shopkins! Legos! Need! Them! All!”). They’re at an increased risk of developing long-term social and psychological issues, according to a new study. Aric Rindfleisch, professor of…
M. Jun, C.K. Kim, J. Han, M. Kim, J.Y. Kim, 2014 Strong Attachment to Heroes: How Does it Occur and Affect People’s Self-Efficacy and Ultimately Quality of Life? This study looked at how our attachment to heroes affects our lives, if at all. Researchers specifically looked at how hero attachment, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction of…
Rachel Nuwer | Smithsonian, June 2013 A wealth of studies have examined the hypothesis that spending time outdoors boosts our well-being, but until now not much was known about how being outside affects what researchers call “momentary subjective well-being,” a fancy term for how you feel in-the-moment. Unless scientists follow participants around with a clip board asking…
Ian Alcock, Mathew P. White, Benedict W. Wheeler, Lora E. Fleming, and Michael H. Depledge This study examined how living in urban areas with more green space and urban areas with less green space affected participants’ mental health over the long term. The experiment was conducted over a period of five years, using panel data to…
Kimberly Yam | Huffington Post, March 2015 Image courtesy of Sherman Padgett A senior prank is often an opportunity for high school students to make some mischief. That’s why North High School Principal Sherman Padgett in Wichita, Kansas, wasn’t so willing to take a bucket that a student offered him last Wednesday. “No way,” Padgett…
Christopher Keyes | Outside Online, February 2015 “What’s new?” Lately, this polite attempt at small talk has been my kryptonite. It may seem benign and friendly, but to me it sounds vaguely like a challenge. As in: Is your life interesting or not? I’ll mentally scroll through recent days, only to see a blur of…
Catharine Paddock | Medical News Today, September 2014 Staff working in offices designed to be lean and devoid of greenery, are happier and more productive when those environments are enriched with plants, say researchers who conducted the largest field study of its kind. The new study suggests that a green workplace helps office workers be more…
P.C. Watkins, J. Uhder., & S. Pichinevskiy This study looked at the gratitude 3-blessings treatment and its effectiveness on improving subjective well-being. For one week, subjects practiced either gratitude 3-blessings, pride 3-blessings, or memory placebo, daily. Results showed that: Subjects had significantly enhanced well-being if they had practiced the gratitude 3-blessings treatment, versus the other practices…
