The Top 10 Regrets People Have About Their Lives

The smouldering regret that is most widespread won’t surprise you.



Romantic regrets are the most common type, research finds.

Among women, regrets about romance were twice as common as among men.

For men, work regrets were most widespread.

Other common areas of regret included financial decisions, parenting mistakes, missed educational opportunities and family arguments.

Professor Neal Roese, an author of this study, said:


“We found that one’s life circumstances, such as accomplishments or shortcomings, inject considerable fuel into the fires of regret.

Although regret is painful, it is an essential component of the human experience.”

Single people were most likely to have romantic regret, the researchers found.


In general people regretted actions and inactions to equal degrees.




But it was regrets about things that people didn’t do that lasted the longest.

Here is the full list of most commonly described regrets:
Romance, lost love – 18.1%
Family – 15.9%
Education – 13.1%
Career – 12.2%
Finance – 9.9%
Parenting – 9.0%
Health – 6.3%
Other – 5.6%
Friends – 3.6%
Spirituality – 2.3%

Education seems to play a role in career regrets, the study’s authors explain:


“Americans with high levels of education had the most career-related regrets.

Apparently, the more education obtained, the more acute may be the sensitivity to aspiration and fulfillment.”

Professor Roese said:


“Past research on regrets focused on samples of college students, which made it difficult to glean insights into the wider population.

This research, however, offers a unique and more thorough look into the psychology of regret to further understand how regret connects to life circumstances and its impact on decision making.”

SOURCE:

http://www.spring.org.uk/2016/10/regrets.php(accessed 31.7.17)

The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science (Morrison & Roese, 2011).

Critical thinking skills are more important than IQ for making good decisions in life

To lead a good life, we need to make good decisions: manage our health and financial affairs, invest in appropriate relationships, and avoid serious lapses like falling for online scams. What equips us to do this? One candidate is IQ: after all, people who score higher on intelligence tests tend to go on to do better academically and in their careers. But many of us know intellectual titans who still make grave errors of judgment in their lives. Book-smart doesn’t necessarily make you life-smart, and a new article in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity examines the utility of IQ in navigating existence, and how another mental ability may put it in the shade.



Whereas IQ is – crudely speaking – a measure of the mental horsepower we have for handling abstract content, some researchers say that “critical thinking” – the ability to make judgments dispassionately without jumping to false conclusions – is a separate ability. To find out if critical thinking ability might be important for real-life outcomes, perhaps even more than IQ, Heather Butler of California State University and her colleagues asked 244 participants – a mix of students and adults recruited online – to complete tests, of their IQ and critical thinking skills.

The intelligence test was fairly standard and covered memory, visual processing and quantitative reasoning. The critical thinking assessment involved participants evaluating courses of action in hypothetical scenarios and also considering the relevance of contextual information that could have a bearing on the decisions.

For example, a typical critical thinking question might require participants to explain whether they would want preschool to be mandatory for all children if research had shown that kids who attend preschool are more likely to excel at school (note this specific question wasn’t used in the test). Successful critical thinking would include recognising that correlation is not causation and reflecting on other possible explanations, and rating as valuable further information such as the income disparity between parents who send their children to preschool and other parents.

As per previous research, critical thinking correlated with IQ moderately (.38), suggesting some overlap but that each test was measuring something distinct.

The researchers were especially interested in how these measures correlated with scores on an inventory of real-world outcomes, on which participants indicated whether they had experienced events ranging from the mildly bad (e.g. fined late fees for a video rental) to the more severe (e.g. acquiring a sexually transmitted disease). The avoidance of these kinds of experiences gives an indirect measure of wise, effective decision making, and the data showed higher IQ individuals did do better. However, high critical thinking was even more strongly associated with these real-world outcomes (even after factoring out IQ). So it’s possible to have a modest IQ and navigate life wisely, or to have a high IQ and make clangers that leave your peers shaking their heads. It’s a question of critical thinking.

And that’s something that can be worked on. Critical thinking isn’t about mental resources so much as a way of looking at the world and a tool-kit to use at the relevant moments. But unfortunately, as a society, we don’t give enough attention to how to foster these skills. Some researchers are very pessimistic about the benefits of formal education for critical thinking, and although a recent meta-analysis has since suggested that attending college produces improvements in critical thinking, it could not identify where the skills were coming from. It should be possible to design better ways to impart and hone these skills, skills critical for the decisions that make up the stuff of our lives.

SOURCE:

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/07/21/why-some-smart-people-make-foolish-decisions/(accessed 31.7.17)

The hidden ways your language betrays your character

Every time we open our mouths, we unwittingly reveal our personalities.

If you overheard a conversation on a bus, do you think you could tell from the words that were used and the topics discussed, the personality of the people who were chatting? What about if I showed you a short story? Could you glean something about the character of the author from their language?

We’re often reminded “choose your words carefully” – well it turns out the words themselves may reveal far more than what we’re actually trying to say. There’s mounting evidence that our personality is written, quite literally, in the language that we use, from the tweets we send to our choice of email address.

Not all findings are particularly surprising. Those who score highly on extroversion really are a lot louder and chattier than their more introverted peers. They also tend to speak more quickly. Female extroverts, but not males, are more likely to have group chats, while introvert men (but not women) spend more time talking to themselves.
The everyday habits that reveal our personalities
The metaphors that shape womens lives
The clues to your personality that appeared before you could talk

But introverts and extroverts also use language very differently. A few years ago, a group of researchers led by Camiel Beukeboom at VU University, Amsterdam, asked a group of 40 volunteers to look at photos of different social situations and describe out loud what was going on. They found that extroverts’ language tended to be more abstract and “loose”, while introverts spoke in more concrete terms. In other words, introverts tend to be a lot more specific.

Extroverts say: “This article is excellent”

Introverts say: “This article is very informative”





Extroverts like Abraham Lincoln really are louder and chattier than the rest of us (Credit: Getty Images)



In line with this, other research has found that introverts tend to use more articles (the/a) – which, by definition, refer to individual objects or events. They also tend to be more cautious in their language: that is, they use more hedging (perhaps, maybe), and more quantifiable terms, such as referring to specific numbers.

Extroverts say: “Let’s get some food”

Introverts say: “Perhaps we could go for a sandwich”

All of this makes psychological sense. Most extroverts enjoy the fast life, being more likely to drink, sleep around and take risks than introverts; every time they open their mouths, too, extroverts are prepared to take greater risks with the accuracy, spontaneity and reach of what they say.

The links between personality and language also extend to the written word. When Jacob Hirsh and Jordan Peterson from the University of Toronto asked students to write about past experiences and future goals, they found that those who scored higher in extroversion tended to make more mention of words pertaining to relationships, which makes sense, the researchers said, as extroverts are “active social explorers”.

But it’s not just about extroversion vs introversion. Their language also revealed other aspects of their personalities – including how open-minded they were (the liberal used more words pertaining to the senses), how neurotic (the highly strung referred more often to emotional angst) and how conscientious (more diligent students used more achievement and work-related words).

The neurotic say: “I carry around a monstrous sadness”

The open-minded say: “You just need to be heard”

The conscientious say: “We can work on it”





Those who are more open to experience are more likely to use the word "ink" (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Eric Magnan)



Personality also shines through in creative writing. In 2010, a team of German psychologists gave over a 100 student participants five words as prompts (“plane crash,” “parlourmaid,” “fireworks,” “Middle Ages,” and “supermarket”) and then asked them to write a short story that included each of these words. This time more open-minded participants produced more creative stories, while more agreeable participants wrote stories with a more pro-social vibe. What’s more, when a separate group of participants were shown the stories and asked to judge the traits of the authors, they did a pretty good job, at least for the traits of openness and agreeableness.

Most of these studies have looked at the language we use in isolation. But what happens when we chat together? One study found that if you put a bunch of introverts in a room together, they’ll probably end up talking about problem solving (“I've got to look for an apartment because my room mates are driving me nuts”).

In contrast, when extroverts talk to each other they cover a wider range of topics and display more “pleasure talk”, such as “I like jogging” and “Steinbeck is wonderful”. Again this is consistent with what most people already know: in life extroverts tend to be more focused on simply enjoying life.





...Meanwhile extroverts are more likely to say the word "drink" (Credit: iStock)



Of course, these days we also spend our days sending emails, blogging and posting updates to Twitter. And – you guessed it – it seems we betray our personalities in these digital forums too.

By analyzing the content of nearly 700 blogs comprising hundreds of thousands of words, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that the words people usedmatched up to the way they reported their own personality: for instance, those who viewed themselves as more agreeable used fewer swear words.

But the team went further, even pinning personality traits down to the use of specific words. High scorers on “openness to experience” were more likely to use the word “ink” and – predictably – extroverts are more likely to say the word "drink".





Introverts like drag queen RuPaul (who said he's just masquerading as an extrovert) tend to speak in more concrete terms (Credit: Getty Images)



It’s a similar story on Twitter. Other research has found that extroverts tend to refer to positive emotions and social situations more frequently, while high scorers in neuroticism (or emotional instability) tend to use more first-person singular pronouns, like “I” and “me”. The latter fits with the finding that those experiencing emotional turmoil use these words more liberally.

Extroverts say: “We’re so happy!”

Neurotics say: “I’m having a good time”

Incredibly, these personality associations are so consistent, the same study found that volunteers were able to accurately guess the personality of a total stranger – how neurotic and agreeable they were – just by reading their tweets.

In fact, it seems we can’t help trying to decipher the personalities of the people we meet from the language they use. We’re constantly judging – right down to a person’s digital labels. Those with more numbers in their email address, for example, are seen as less conscientious. Meanwhile we tend to think that humorous addresses are more likely to belong to extroverts (though this isn’t true).

The idea that we reveal something fundamental about ourselves every time we speak, write or tweet, is a little disconcerting – especially if you generally prefer to keep your character profile to yourself. But it also offers an opportunity to change the way you’re seen by others. In some situations, such as in a job interview or the early stages of dating, it should be possible to adopt a desirable persona, just by changing the language you use. If that’s you I’m guessing your personality is a touch Machiavellian.

SOURCE:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170720-the-hidden-ways-your-language-betrays-your-character(accessed 24.7.17)

When you can’t remember where you are or how you got there

How does it feel to suddenly lose more than a week of your memory? Claudia Hammond investigates an unsettling and mysterious brain condition.




Two years ago, 63-year-old Paul Bolding was on holiday in Croatia, visiting a beach on a tiny island with his wife, Kirsty. They decided to go to snorkelling, taking turns to go in the sea while the other one looked after their stuff. Paul had a swim and then dozed on a beach mat on the pebbles for a while. When he woke up he had no idea where he was or how he got there.

Not surprisingly, Paul was very scared. His wife took him to sit in the shade, desperately trying to find a way to calm him down and to work out what was happening to him. She told me in Radio 4’s All in the Mind that she soon worked out that he wasn’t able to form any new memories because he kept asking the same questions: “Do you think I’ve got sunstroke? Do you think I fell asleep in the Sun?” This happened more than 20 times.


He couldn’t remember any of the previous 10 days of their holiday

Kirsty wondered whether this be the start of dementia. Fearing she might have to spend the rest of life looking after him, she drove him back to the town where they were staying, hoping that more familiar surroundings might trigger his memory. She had to order lunch for him because he didn’t know what to have. He couldn’t remember any of the previous 10 days of their holiday, even though part of it had involved meeting some relatives for the very first time.





The incident happened when Paul was on a summer holiday in Croatia (Credit: iStock)



By late afternoon he began to feel better, suggesting going for the walk they had discussed the previous day, suggesting his memory was returning. Within an hour everything had gone back to normal – everything apart from his missing memory of those six hours, which, to this day, has never come back.

Back home in the UK he visited his doctor, who told him he’d had an episode of transient global amnesia, a condition that’s more common in people over the age of 50 (which Paul was). Accident and emergency units are accustomed to seeing two or three cases a month.

During an episode, people still know how to drive and how to talk, but in a typical case such as Paul’s they can’t remember what they’ve been doing in the preceding days. Repeated questioning of others, just as Paul did on the beach, is a hallmark of this diagnosis.


Accident and emergency units are accustomed to seeing two or three cases a month

The cause is still something of a mystery. Initially doctors thought these attacks might be a symptom of epilepsy or a migraine, or even a mini-stroke. But now they are considered to be unrelated to other health issues. The seahorse-shaped hippocampus, which processes our autobiographical memories, allowing us to store them long-term, is thought to hold the key.





The effect can be so serious that people completely lose track of who they are (Credit: iStock)



Adam Zeman, professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology at University of Exeter Medical School explains how it works: “What we think happens is that the hippocampi get switched off temporarily. Paul’s case is classic. You lose memory of the past couple of weeks and can’t make new memories while the episode goes on.”

Brain imaging studies support this theory, revealing temporary abnormalities in the hippocampus during an episode.


People with a history of headaches were more likely to experience them

Reviewing 142 individual women with transient global amnesia, doctors in France found that these cases were precipitated by stressful emotional events such as an argument, while in men they happened more frequently after physical exertion or immersion in cold water. People with a history of headaches were more likely to experience them.





The syndrome can mean people lose any memory of hours or days of their lives forever (Credit: iStock)



Occasionally, people with a different condition called transient epileptic amnesia can be misdiagnosed with transient global amnesia, but with this form of epilepsy, episodes are briefer and more frequent, often happening when someone has first woken up. Zeman says that most of the time diagnosis is easy: “If you see someone after an episode and they give the kind of description Paul gave, there’s very little doubt. If you see them in the midst of an episode, it’s a little more difficult and you’d have to consider other possibilities, such as a mini-stroke, epilepsy or psychogenic amnesia.” The big difference with psychogenic amnesia is that patients don’t remember who they are, but they can lay down new memories.

The good news about transient global amnesia is that usually, it’s mysteriously a one-off that’s not indicative of any other problems. Only a very small percentage of those who experience one episode will ever have another. But if it happens to you it can, of course, be very frightening.

Paul hopes it won’t ever happen again. But if it does, at least Kirsty will know what it is.

SOURCE:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170720-when-you-cant-remember-where-you-are-or-how-you-got-there(accessed 24.7.17)

Οι παράγοντες κινδύνου για την άνοια

Ο ανθρώπινος εγκέφαλος επηρεάζεται και από μεταβλητούς παράγοντες. Η βελτίωση της ποιότητας ζωής δρα αποτρεπτικά έναντι της εμφάνισης γεροντικής άνοιας.



Εννέα παράγοντες αποδείχθηκε ότι συμβάλλουν στην εμφάνιση της γεροντικής άνοιας. Πρόκειται για την απώλεια της ακοής κατά τη μέση ηλικία, την αδυναμία ολοκλήρωσης της δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης, το κάπνισμα, την αδυναμία αναζήτησης θεραπευτικών λύσεων για την κατάθλιψη, την έλλειψη φυσικής δραστηριότητας, την κοινωνική απομόνωση, την υπέρταση, την παχυσαρκία και τον διαβήτη τύπου 2. Αυτοί οι παράγοντες μπορεί να συμβάλουν ακόμα και κατά 35% στην εμφάνιση γεροντικής άνοιας. Το υπόλοιπο 65% του κινδύνου υποτίθεται ότι δεν μπορεί να μεταβληθεί με αλλαγές του τρόπου ζωής.

«Παρότι η γεροντική άνοια διαγιγνώσκεται στην τρίτη ηλικία, οι μεταβολές στον εγκέφαλο αρχίζουν πολύ νωρίτερα» επισημαίνει ο συντάκτης της έκθεσης καθηγητής Γκιλ Λίβινγκστον του University College του Λονδίνου. «Η δραστηριοποίησή μας τώρα μπορεί να βελτιώσει σημαντικά τη ζωή για τους πάσχοντες από άνοια και τις οικογένειές τους, μεταβάλλοντας έτσι το μέλλον της κοινωνίας».

Η έκθεση, η οποία αποτελεί έργο 24 διεθνών επιστημόνων για την άνοια, υποδεικνύει ότι κάποιοι παράγοντες της καθημερινότητας μπορεί να διαδραματίσουν ένα βασικό ρόλο στην αύξηση ή στη μείωση του κινδύνου που έχει κάθε άτομο να εμφανίσει άνοια. Επίσης, μελετά τη λειτουργία ενός «γνωσιακού δικτύου», έτσι ώστε ο εγκέφαλος να εξακολουθήσει να λειτουργεί παρά τις ζημίες που θα έχει υποστεί. Οι ειδικοί επισημαίνουν ότι η διαχείριση των εννέα παραγόντων κινδύνου μπορεί να μειώσει τα κρούσματα άνοιας κατά ένα τρίτο.

Η αδυναμία ολοκλήρωσης της δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης ήταν ένας από τους σοβαρότερους παράγοντες κινδύνου και οι ειδικοί επισημαίνουν ότι τα άτομα που εξακολουθούν να μαθαίνουν καθ’ όλη τη διάρκεια της ζωής τους χτίζουν σημαντικές άμυνες έναντι της άνοιας.

Επίσης, ένας σημαντικός παράγοντας κινδύνου είναι η απώλεια της ακοής στη μέση ηλικία, καθώς κάτι τέτοιο οδηγεί στην κοινωνική απομόνωση και στην κατάθλιψη, που είναι δύο μεταβλητοί παράγοντες για την εμφάνιση της άνοιας. Επίσης, ένα ακόμα αισιόδοξο μήνυμα από την έκθεση είναι ό,τι είναι καλό για την καρδιά είναι συνήθως καλό και για τον εγκέφαλο.

Η διακοπή του καπνίσματος, η φυσική δραστηριότητα, η καταπολέμηση της παχυσαρκίας και η θεραπεία της υπέρτασης μπορεί να οδηγήσουν στην καταπολέμηση της άνοιας, των καρδιαγγειακών παθήσεων όπως εξάλλου και του καρκίνου. Ωστόσο, οι ερευνητές επισημαίνουν ότι δεν είχαν αρκετά στοιχεία προκειμένου να κάνουν τις απαραίτητες διατροφικές συστάσεις όπως εξάλλου και συστάσεις σχετικά με την κατανάλωση του αλκοόλ. Πιστεύουν, ωστόσο, ότι και τα δύο μπορεί να έχουν μείζονα σημασία.

Οπως επισημαίνει ο δρ Νταγκ Μπράουν, επικεφαλής έρευνας της Εταιρείας Αλτσχαϊμερ, «παρότι δεν είναι αναπόφευκτο, η γεροντική άνοια φαίνεται να είναι ο μεγαλύτερος δολοφόνος του 21ου αιώνα. Πρέπει να γνωρίζουμε τους κινδύνους και να κάνουμε τις απαραίτητες αλλαγές στον τρόπο ζωής μας» .

ΠΗΓΗ:

http://www.kathimerini.gr/919390/article/ygeia/ygeia---epikairothta/oi-paragontes-kindynoy-gia-thn-anoia(accessed 24.7.17)

The Simplest Way To Help Someone In Pain

It has incredible psychological and physiological power.



Holding someone’s hand is enough to reduce their pain and even synchronise breathing and heart rates, new research finds.

Dr Pavel Goldstein, the study’s first author, said:


“The more empathic the partner and the stronger the analgesic effect, the higher the synchronization between the two when they are touching.”

The study is the latest in the area of interpersonal synchronisation.

This is how people’s physiological measures automatically synchronise to those who are around them.

People automatically synchronise their footsteps when walking together and mirror each other’s posture, studies have found.

It has even been shown that when people have a good rapport with each other their brain waves synchronise.


The new study was inspired by Dr Goldstein’s experience with his daughter’s birth:



“My wife was in pain, and all I could think was, ‘What can I do to help her?’ I reached for her hand and it seemed to help.

I wanted to test it out in the lab: Can one really decrease pain with touch, and if so, how?”

For the study couples were either sat together, not touching, sat together touching, or in different rooms.

Then the woman was subjected to some pain.

The results showed that just sitting together was enough to synchronise the couple’s heart rates and breathing.

However, the pain cut this synchronisation, unless the man was allowed to hold his partner’s hand.

Dr Goldstein said:


“It appears that pain totally interrupts this interpersonal synchronization between couples.

Touch brings it back.”

It is not yet clear exactly how holding hands is related is related to the pain-killing effect, Dr Goldstein said:


“It could be that touch is a tool for communicating empathy, resulting in an analgesic, or pain-killing, effect.”

SOURCE

http://www.spring.org.uk/2017/07/the-best-way-to-help-someone-in-pain.php(accessed 19.7.17)

Emotionally competent teens have brains that fire “in tune” with their parents’ brains

Up and down the land parents and teenagers are engaged in tense negotiation and diplomacy in an effort to maintain domestic peace. Some households are finding more success than others. Their secret, according to a new paper in NeuroImage, is a literal meeting of minds – synchronisation of brain cell firing seems to foster emotional harmony. Moreover, when parents and their teenagers display this “neural similarity”, write Tae-Ho Lee and his colleagues, “this promotes youths’ psychological adjustment”.

These are intriguing findings – in the fact the researchers claim this is the first time that anyone has compared the brain activity of parent-child dyads with their interpersonal relations. However, sceptics will baulk at the rampant neuro-reductionism and at the paper’s repeated claims of brain-based causation on the basis of purely correlational evidence.



The researchers recruited 31 teens and their primary caregiver. The latter was always either the teen’s mother or father, genetically related to them. The average age of the parents was 43 years and just under 90 per cent were mothers. The teens were a roughly 50-50 mix of boys and girls, with an average age of 15.

Each parent and teen participant underwent a 6-minute brain scan in which they lay still and looked at a cross on a screen. From this, the researchers identified each person’s resting state “connectome” showing the patterns of neural firing across the brain and the functional connectivity between 13 different brain networks (the researchers described this as showing each participant’s “unique brain fingerprint”).

For two weeks, every teen and parent also kept a daily diary, reporting their positive and negative moods. The teens also completed an “emotional competence” questionnaire about their ability to identify and describe their feelings.

Ho Lee and his team looked at the emotional synchrony between each parent-child dyad – whether they tended to report the same kinds of emotions each night or not – and found plenty of variability. Some dyads showed a lot of similarity, others were completely out of kilter. The researchers also looked at the level of similarity in the brain connectomes of each parent-teen pair, finding that some were more “neurally in-tune” than others.

The two measures correlated, as in the parent-teen pairs who showed greater emotional synchrony also tended to show greater neural synchrony. “We propose that children’s neural connectome is a psychological representation at the neural systems level, resulting from shared experiences with their primary caregiver,” the researchers said.

There was also a correlation between greater neural synchrony between parent and teen and the teen’s level’s of emotional competence.

Next, the researchers conducted a mediation analysis, which is a statistical technique for testing how factors might be associated. This showed that neural synchrony was linked to greater emotional competence via emotional synchrony (consistent with the possibility that neural similarity fosters emotional synchrony, which leads to greater emotional competence). In contrast, the analysis suggested that neural synchrony did not mediate the association between parent-teen emotional synchrony and teens’ emotional competence (in other words, this is not consistent with the idea that emotional synchrony breeds neural synchrony, which fosters greater emotional competence).

Based on this, the researchers made repeated causal claims, such as: “dyadic brain similarity plays an important role in children’s emotional competence by contributing to more synchronised emotional mood fluctuations”; and “We provide the first empirical evidence unpacking how the brain’s functional organisation is shared between individuals and influences emotional synchrony, ultimately conferring benefits for youths’ development”; and “the degree of neural similarity in parent-child dyads promotes youths’ psychological adjustment” (all emphases added).

However, this is a purely correlational study so there’s no way to know if any of the factors – parent-teen emotional synchrony, parent-teen neural synchrony, teen emotional competence – are causally related. Mediation analysis is no substitute for data derived from longitudinal and/or experimental methods. Yes, it is fascinating to see how complex emotional relations between parents and their teens may manifest at a neural level, but it seems overly reductionist and simplistic to claim that brain activity is the root cause of everything else.

Even assuming that neural synchrony between parents and teens really is an important influence on parent-teen harmony and teens’ psychological adjustment, it’s hard to imagine, from a clinical or everyday perspective, that this is a particularly useful or practical level at which to think about or intervene in family life.

SOURCE:

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/07/03/emotionally-competent-teens-have-brains-that-fire-in-tune-with-their-parents-brains/(accessed 19.7.17)

Μαγειρεύοντας μαζί με τα παιδιά σας

Η μαγειρική παρέα με τα παιδιά μας δεν αποτελεί μόνο μία από τις καλύτερες και πιο δημιουργικές εμπειρίες αλλά παράλληλα και ένα από τα καλύτερα και πλέον πρακτικά μαθήματα υγιεινής διατροφής. Η μαγειρική εξυπηρετεί την επαφή και εξοικείωση του παιδιού με τις βασικές πρώτες ύλες, δηλαδή τα βασικά τρόφιμα και συστατικά κάθε συνταγής.

Επιπλέον, η συγκεκριμένη ασχολία είναι ιδιαίτερα επωφελής για τα παιδιά για τους εξής λόγους:

Η μαγειρική συμβάλλει στην καλύτερη συγκέντρωσή τους και στο να μάθουν να μετρούν και να διαβάζουν. Αποτελεί για τα παιδιά μία πρόκληση και μία μοναδική εμπειρία.

Η μαγειρική τα βοηθά να αποκτήσουν οικειότητα με την κουζίνα και να αρχίσουν να ξεχωρίζουν ένα καλό και υγιεινό γεύμα και να μαθαίνουν τους κανόνες της υγιεινής διατροφής.

Κυρίως, όμως, η μαγειρική μας βοηθά να περνάμε ποιοτικό χρόνο και να επικοινωνούμε μαζί τους, μέσω μίας διασκεδαστικής εμπειρίας.

Φυσικά, με αυτόν τον τρόπο, μαθαίνουν ότι πρέπει να ακολουθούνται όλοι οι κανόνες ασφάλειας και υγιεινής, όπως το πλύσιμο των χεριών πριν μαγειρέψουν.

ΠΗΓΗ:

http://www.kathimerini.gr/914022/gallery/ygeia/paidi/mageireyontas-mazi-me-ta-paidia-sas(accessed 13.7.17)

Play, learn, grow

Ιδέες απασχόλησης κ διδασκαλίας παιδιών!




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Small acts of kindness at work benefit the giver, the receiver and the whole organisation

In the lab, psychologists have shown how generosity propagates and spreads. If someone is kind to us, we tend to “pay it forward” and act more generously to someone else when given the chance. But it’s not clear if these findings are realistic. For example, when we’re juggling priorities on a busy work day, might receiving an act of kindness actually be a nuisance, leaving us feeling indebted to return the favour when we’ve got more important things to do? An uplifting new study in the journal Emotion looks at acts of altruism within a real-life working environment, and shows how kindness really does ripple outwards from a good deed.



The researchers from the University of California headed by Joseph Chancellor studied workers from Coca Cola’s Madrid site, a group of mostly female employees from a range of departments. Participants were told they were part of a happiness study, and once a week for four weeks they checked in to report how they were feeling, in terms of mood and life satisfaction, and their experience of positive and negative behaviours, including how many they had carried out towards others, and how many others had made towards them. Four weeks later, the participants completed further measures, such as of their happiness and job satisfaction.

Unbeknownst to most of the group, 19 of the participants were in cahoots with the researchers: they were “givers” whose task each week was to perform acts of kindness towards some of their co-workers (they were to refrain from showing kindness to other co-workers who served as a control group). It was up to the givers what generous acts they performed – Chancellor’s team wanted to make sure these participants had autonomy in what they did, rather than obeying an injunction (we know that this can turn out badly) – examples of the favours they performed included bringing someone a drink, and emailing a thank-you note.

So what did a month of extra kindness mean for the workers who were on the receiving end, for the givers, and for the organisation as a whole?

The acts of kindness don’t go unnoticed. The receivers observed more prosocial behaviours in the office and by the end of the study, they were reporting ten times more prosocial behaviours than the controls. In addition, receivers’ level of “felt autonomy” – essentially how much they felt in control of their days at work – were higher than controls over the course of the study, although it’s worth noting that this was because autonomy dropped in controls while it held steady in the receivers (Seth Margolis, a co-author on the paper, told me that work conditions were likely getting harder over the study period, with the acts of kindness acting as a buffer). One month after the study ended, the receivers were also enjoying significantly higher levels of happiness than controls.

Giving was itself rewarding, and on some indicators more rewarding than receiving. The givers saw the same preserved autonomy enjoyed by receivers, and additionally saw benefit to their sense of competency (again relative to declining control scores) – presumably decorating Nuria’s monitor with a smiley face made of post-its reminds you of your creative potential. The givers’ one-month followup measures were also more impressive than the receivers’: they enjoyed higher levels of life satisfaction and job satisfaction, and fewer depressive symptoms. This suggests that in this context, giving had a more durable effect than receiving. This shouldn’t be so surprising, as evidence suggests we feel happier when spending money on others than ourselves, and acts of kindness increase autonomy and competence.

Finally, and consistent with past lab studies, the research showed that receivers didn’t just enjoy acts of kindness – they paid them forward. By the end of the study, the receivers reported engaging in nearly three times more prosocial behaviours than did the controls. If this were direct reciprocity – Nuria figuring out who got busy with the smiley stickies on her monitor and fetching them a coffee as a thank you – then we would expect to see the givers reporting many more positive behaviours by study end. But they didn’t, suggesting that the acts were paid forward to someone other than the original giver, due to a sense of elevation and desire to participate in an organisation that was treating them in an ideal way. This contributes to the idea that while there are individual origins of prosociality, there is also a strong contagious quality to it, moving socially through groups, in much the way that phenomena such as rudeness and even obesity have been shown to do.

So workplace acts of kindness – freely chosen – appear to be a way to create virtuous cycles within organisations, benefiting the recipients, the givers, and the climate at large. Just get the goodness started, and enjoy its growth all around you.

SOURCE:

https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/07/04/small-acts-of-kindness-at-work-benefit-the-giver-the-receiver-and-the-whole-organisation/(accessed 10.7.17)

Η ψυχολογική σημασία των διακοπών

Η σύγχρονη καταναλωτική εποχή έχει επιβάλει μία άνευ προηγουμένου τυποποίηση στο στυλ των διακοπών. Ο αστικός πληθυσμός βομβαρδιζόμενος από τις διαφημίσεις και τα life style περιοδικά, προσπαθεί να προσαρμόσει τις διακοπές του στις επιταγές της κοσμικής ζωής και όχι στη προσωπικότητα του με ολέθρια αποτελέσματα: τα πρότυπα βασίζονται στον άκρατο καταναλωτισμό και ευδαιμονισμό, ο οποίος απαιτεί ισχυρό οικονομικό υπόβαθρο.

Γράφει: Ευστράτιος Παπάνης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής Κοινωνιολογίας, Πανεπιστήμιο Αιγαίου

Κατά τη διάρκεια των διακοπών πολλοί εργαζόμενοι, υπό την πίεση του να περάσουν οπωσδήποτε ευχάριστα, επιτείνουν το άγχος τους, με αποτέλεσμα να μην απολαμβάνουν τις μικρές στιγμές και να κοιτούν απελπισμένοι τις μέρες να ξοδεύονται, χωρίς η πολυπόθητη ευχαρίστηση να επέρχεται.Οι έρευνες δείχνουν ότι οι άντρες απολαμβάνουν τις διακοπές λιγότερο σε σύγκριση με τις γυναίκες και θα ήταν προθυμότεροι να τις τερματίσουν και να επιστρέψουν στη δουλειά τους. Οι γυναίκες συνδέουν το ύψος των χρημάτων που ξοδεύουν για διακοπές με την προσμονή της ευχαρίστησης που θα αντλήσουν.

Οι περισσότερες έρευνες πάντως δείχνουν ότι οι μεγαλύτερες διακοπές δεν είναι και οι καλύτερες. Αντίθετα, τα περισσότερα θετικά συναισθήματα αναδύονται, όταν έχουν σχεδιαστεί μικρές εξορμήσεις. Η εναλλαγή των στιγμών χαλάρωσης στις βραχυπρόθεσμες διακοπές με την ολιγοήμερη επιστροφή στην πραγματικότητα οξύνει την αντίθεση και οδηγεί τους ανθρώπους να εκτιμούν περισσότερο τον ελεύθερο τους χρόνο.

Ωστόσο, πολλοί λίγοι καταφέρνουν να πετύχουν θεαματικές αλλαγές κατά την περίοδο των διακοπών, ενώ αντίθετα οι περισσότεροι μεταφέρουν αυτούσιες τις συνήθειες και το άγχος τους στη νέα τοποθεσία. Οι ψυχολογικές αυτές αποσκευές, ειδικά των εργασιομανών, οδηγούν σε εμμονές και ιδεοληψίες που αναστέλλουν την ηδονή: Ψυχαναγκαστικές προσωπικότητες, που πανικοβάλλονται εάν δεν έχουν μεταφέρει όλη την οικοσκευή στις αποσκευές, που φρίττουν με την ιδέα πως δεν θα είναι εφικτή η ευρυζωνική σύνδεση στο απόμερο μέρος που θα επισκεφθούν, που νιώθουν προδομένοι από το δίκτυο κινητής τηλεφωνίας και απογοητευμένοι από την έλλειψη καταστήματος καλλυντικών στο παραμεθόριο νησί, απλώς ψάχνουν μια πρόφαση να μείνουν σπίτι τους και να αντισταθούν μέχρις εσχάτων στην αλλαγή.

Προβλήματα επίσης δημιουργούνται όταν οι ελπίδες υπερβαίνουν τις δυνατότητες και όταν η πραγματικότητα υπολείπεται της φαντασίας (συμβαίνει συχνά):

Κουνούπια, ανεπαρκή ξενοδοχεία, εγκαύματα από τον ήλιο, μέλη της οικογένειας με διαφορετική αντίληψη για τις ιδανικές στιγμές χαλάρωσης, καυγάδες, συνωστισμός, πενιχρά οικονομικά, καθώς και μια επίπλαστη κουλτούρα περιπέτειας είναι δυνατόν να διαταράξουν και να διασκεδάσουν τις επιθυμίες, οδηγώντας στη ματαίωση και την εξάντληση.

Σύμφωνα με όλες με τις έρευνες η προσμονή, η εμπειρία και οι αναμνήσεις είναι τρεις ψυχολογικές μεταβλητές που επηρεάζουν τη στάση μας απέναντι στις διακοπές. Συνηθέστερα το στάδιο της προσμονής, όσο και αν αυτό ακούγεται περίεργο, είναι το καθοριστικότερο, αλλά και το πιο ευχάριστο από τα υπόλοιπα δύο.

Μερικές φορές οι πιθανές αναποδιές αποτελούν τις καλύτερες αναμνήσεις και πηγή για ατέλειωτες αφηγήσεις κατά την επιστροφή, αλλά το πρόβλημα είναι ότι αυτό δεν γίνεται αντιληπτό τη στιγμή που οι αντιξοότητες ταλανίζουν τους παραθεριστές: Κατά το στάδιο της ανάμνησης οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι τείνουν να εξιδανικεύουν τα θετικά στοιχεία των διακοπών τους και να υποβαθμίζουν τα αρνητικά. Οι επιστήμονες αποκαλούν το φαινόμενο αυτό ιδεατή μνήμη. Περιγράφει την αποσύνδεση των αναμνήσεων από τα συνοδευτικά συναισθήματα και εξηγεί γιατί οι περισσότεροι θεωρούν τις διακοπές ευχάριστες, ενώ ίσως δεν τις βίωσαν ως τέτοιες. Αργότερα, παρατηρείται η τάση περιφραστικής περιγραφής τους: Αυτές ήταν οι διακοπές που κόντεψα να πνιγώ, ή τότε που γνώρισα τη σύζυγό μου.

Το συμπέρασμα σε κάθε περίπτωση είναι ότι η αναμονή και η ανάμνηση, περισσότερο από τις ίδιες τις διακοπές, είναι τα ισχυρότερα αναλγητικά, που μας ωθούν να σχεδιάζουμε τις επόμενες εξορμήσεις μας.

Μπορούμε να διακρίνουμε δύο βασικούς τύπους παραθεριστών : τον οργανωτικό, ο οποίος αντλεί ευχαρίστηση από τον προσεχτικό σχεδιασμό των διακοπών και που προσπαθεί να προβλέψει κάθε πιθανή λεπτομέρεια και τον αυθόρμητο – περιπετειώδη τύπο, που αρέσκεται να αντιμετωπίζει ακραίες και απρόβλεπτες καταστάσεις. Σε κάθε περίπτωση η σύγκρουση επέρχεται εάν αυτοί οι δύο τύποι αποφασίζουν να πάνε από κοινού διακοπές.

Πρέπει να γίνει κατανοητό ότι η έννοια των διακοπών δεν υπήρχε μέχρι τα πρόσφατα χρόνια στο συλλογικό υποοσυνείδητο του λαού, αλλά επεβλήθη από τον αστικό τρόπο ζωής και τα ΜΜΕ. Ποτέ δεν υπήρξαμε έθνος με κουλτούρα διακοπών, αν και τουριστική χώρα. Οι προπάτορές μας δεν είχαν ούτε την πολυτέλεια ούτε τη διάθεση. Στην πραγματικότητα, οι διακοπές πρέπει να κατανέμονται καθ’ όλη τη διάρκεια του χρόνου και να μην συσχετίζονται με συγκεκριμένες τουριστικές περιοχές και modus vivendi. Το τελικό ζητούμενο είναι η ευτυχία και ειδικότερα η υποκειμενική αντίληψη της, η οποία δε συνδέεται αναγκαστικά με την αλλαγή του τρόπου ζωής.

Συμβουλές:
-Να έχετε ρεαλιστικές προσδοκίες από τις διακοπές
-Να μένετε σε επαφή με τα αληθινά αισθήματα και επιθυμίες σας. Εκφράστε τα ελέυθερα.
-Χρησιμοποιείστε τμήματα του εγκεφάλου σας, που δεν αξιοποιούνται κανονικά το υπόλοιπο έτος. Αυτό το επιτυγχάνετε με το να ανακλύψετε και να ασχολειθείτε με δραστηριότητες, που δεν βρίσκονται στο καθημερινό ρεπερτόριό σας.
-Επιδιώξτε να διαθέτετε προσωπικό χρόνο για χαλάρωση
-Πληροφορηθείτε για την ιστορία και τα πολιτιστικά δρώμενα της περιοχής που θα επισκεφθείτε. Να έχεστε σε επαφή με τους ντόπιους.
-Διαβάστε ένα βιβλίο και αποφύγετε την τηλεόραση και τους ηλεκτρονικούς υπολογιστές.
-Ακούστε πολλή μουσική
-Ανάλογα με την προσωπικότητά σας, είτε επιδιώξτε να κάνετε διαφορετικά πράγματα από αυτά που έχετε συνηθίσει είτε μεταφέρετε τις συνήθειες σας, αλλά σε χαλαρότερους ρυθμούς..
-Κάντε νέες γνωριμίες
-Μην προβείτε σε έξοδα, που υπερβαίνουν τις δυνατότητές σας
-Μην επαναπαυθείτε ότι οι διακοπές μπορούν να σας αποζημιώσουν για το υπόλοιπο έτος.
-Μην ακολουθείτε τη μόδα. Επιλέξτε προορισμούς, που δεν απευθύνονται στη μάζα
-Αποκοπείτε από όλα όσα σας αγχώνουν. Αποσυνδεθείτε με κάθε τρόπο και ξεχάστε τα e-mail τα κινητά, την εργασία. Μεριμνάτε μόνο για τη σημερινή μέρα και όχι για το αύριο. Ενημερώστε τους φίλους και τον προϊστάμενο ότι δεν θα είστε διαθέσιμοι για την περίοδο των διακοπών.
-Επιδιώξτε τη φυσική άσκηση.
-Επιλέξτε ένα αργό μέσο μεταφοράς, για να σας μεταφέρει στον προορισμό σας. Αυτό σας δίνει τη δυνατότητα να συνειδητοποιήσετε ότι φεύγετε.
-Μέσα σε δεκαπέντε ημέρες από το πέρας των διακοπών τα επίπεδα της πίεσης και του άγχους θα έχουν επανέλθει στα προγενέστερα επίπεδα. Κρατήστε στην εργασία σας τις αναμνήσεις και τις φωτογραφίες από τις εξορμήσεις σας.

ΠΗΓΗ:

http://underwriter.gr/%CE%B7-%CF%88%CF%85%CF%87%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CF%83%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%80%CF%8E%CE%BD/(accessed 6.7.17)

O φαύλος κύκλος της μοναξιάς βλάπτει την υγεία

«Κουτί απομόνωσης» ονομάζεται η εικονιζόμενη εγκατάσταση που είχε τοποθετηθεί πριν από δύο χρόνια στον σταθμό Πάντιγκτον του Λονδίνου.




ΣΙΚΑΓΟ. «Αντίο αγάπη, αντίο ευτυχία, καλωσόρισες μοναξιά, νομίζω ότι θα κλάψω, νομίζω ότι θα πεθάνω», τραγουδάει ο Ρόι Σάιντερ στην εμβληματική ταινία «Η παράσταση αρχίζει» του Μπομπ Φόσι. Πράγματι, η μοναξιά, όσο εξιδανικευμένα κι αν αποτυπώνεται στην τέχνη, είναι επικίνδυνη για την υγεία. Ευθύνεται μάλιστα για τον ακόλουθο φαύλο κύκλο: η μοναξιά αυξάνει την εγωκεντρικότητα και η τελευταία με τη σειρά της αυξάνει τη μοναξιά, αν και σε μικρότερο βαθμό. Πολλοί άνθρωποι μπλέκονται σε ένα τέτοιο αέναο σχήμα αλληλοτροφοδότησης μεταξύ μοναξιάς και εγωκεντρικότητας, σύμφωνα με μια νέα αμερικανική επιστημονική έρευνα. Οι ερευνητές, με επικεφαλής τον κορυφαίο ειδικό παγκοσμίως σε θέματα μοναξιάς καθηγητή ψυχολογίας Τζον Κατσιόπο, διευθυντή του Κέντρου Γνωσιακής και Κοινωνικής Νευροεπιστήμης του Πανεπιστημίου του Σικάγου, που έκαναν τη σχετική δημοσίευση στο περιοδικό κοινωνικής ψυχολογίας Personality and Social Psychology, μελέτησαν σε βάθος δεκαετίας 229 άτομα ηλικίας 50 έως 68 ετών (τυχαίο δείγμα του πληθυσμού). Διαπιστώθηκε το αναμενόμενο, δηλαδή ότι η μοναξιά αυξάνει την εγωκεντρικότητα, αλλά και κάτι που ήταν μάλλον έκπληξη, ότι η εγωκεντρικότητα αυξάνει επίσης τη μοναξιά, δημιουργώντας έτσι πιο εύκολα σε έναν άνθρωπο το αίσθημα της κοινωνικής απομόνωσης.

Προηγούμενες έρευνες των ίδιων ερευνητών έχουν δείξει ότι διεθνώς το 35% έως 50% των ανθρώπων παραπονιέται πως νιώθει μοναξιά συνεχώς ή συχνά. Αλλες μελέτες έχουν δείξει ότι οι μοναχικοί άνθρωποι είναι πιο ευάλωτοι σε διάφορα σωματικά και ψυχικά προβλήματα και έχουν υψηλότερα ποσοστά πρόωρης θνησιμότητας. Από το 2006 ο Κατσιόπο προωθεί μια εξήγηση της μοναξιάς που βασίζεται στην εξελικτική ψυχολογία. Σύμφωνα με τη θεωρία του ίδιου και της συζύγου του Στεφανί Κατσιόπο, επίκουρης καθηγήτριας ψυχιατρικής της Ιατρικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου του Σικάγου, η μοναξιά εξελίχθηκε στους ανθρώπους ως το ψυχικό ισοδύναμο του σωματικού πόνου. Oπως ο πόνος προειδοποιεί τους ανθρώπους για κάποια βλάβη στο σώμα τους που χρειάζεται προσοχή, έτσι και η μοναξιά προειδοποιεί τους ανθρώπους ότι κάτι δεν πάει καλά με τις κοινωνικές σχέσεις από τις οποίες εξαρτάται η επιβίωσή τους. Σύμφωνα με τον Κατσιόπο, «οι άνθρωποι εξελίχθηκαν σε τόσο ισχυρό είδος εν μέρει χάρη στην αμοιβαία βοήθεια και προστασία και τις αντίστοιχες προσαρμογές στον εγκέφαλό τους στο πλαίσιο των κοινωνικών αλληλεπιδράσεών τους. Οταν όμως δεν έχουμε αμοιβαία βοήθεια και προστασία, είναι πιθανότερο να εστιάσουμε στα δικά μας συμφέροντα και στην ατομική ευτυχία μας. Eτσι, γινόμαστε πιο εγωκεντρικοί». Οπως δείχνει η νέα μελέτη, στη σύγχρονη κοινωνία ο εγωκεντρισμός μπορεί βραχυπρόθεσμα να προστατεύσει τους μοναχικούς ανθρώπους, αλλά σε βάθος χρόνου συσσωρεύονται οι επιζήμιες επιπτώσεις της μοναξιάς, με αρνητικές συνέπειες για την υγεία και την ευτυχία ενός ανθρώπου.

ΠΗΓΗ:

http://www.kathimerini.gr/914197/article/ygeia/ygeia---epikairothta/o-faylos-kyklos-ths-mona3ias-vlaptei-thn-ygeia(accessed 5.7.17)