January 11, 2011 by Shannon
January 11th 2011. If there’s one thing the U.S. economy is booming in, it’s the production of mass quantities of onlookers. We have become a nation of spectators, zoning into the glow of digital and high-def screens, cocooned in entertainment centers, oblivious to the sun in the sky, the breeze in the trees, and the...
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December 1, 2010 by Shannon
December 1st 2009. I love spending time outside. From wild places like the backcountry of the Sierra Nevada mountains, to the mundane nature in my back yard, I find comfort in my natural experiences. These places are restful. Peaceful. They restore my batteries, and help me to focus. And I am not alone in...
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November 10, 2010 by Shannon
November 15th 2010. If humans were cars, we would have been recalled a long time ago for a key fix in the ignition equipment. A serious defect keeps our desire machinery defaulting to a belief that other people, goodies, or status can make us happy or worthy — the exact opposite of what can do...
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November 8, 2010 by Shannon
November 8th 2010. Left alone in a room, a group of people were given a complicated seven-piece puzzle, known as a Soma cube, and told to assemble the pieces into specific designs. One group was offered a monetary reward for each correctly assembled puzzle; another group was offered nothing. They worked at the puzzles...
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October 22, 2010 by Shannon
October 22nd 2010. Exercising self-control isn’t fun. If you’re dieting, for instance, you may easily resist the blueberry muffin at that impossibly aromatic bakeshop you pass by in the morning. You may then have lunch with your friends but just order a small salad (sans creamy dressing, of course). But at some point later in...
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October 13, 2010 by Shannon
October 13th 2010. Knox College’s Tim Kasser and Richard Ryan, from the University of Rochester, have documented that external goals like appearance and possessions are associated with lower self-esteem, higher anxiety and lower well-being. Jennifer Crocker of the University of Michigan reports that, when self-esteem is based on external measures like appearance and approval, there...
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September 20, 2010 by Shannon
September 20th 2010. With unemployment idling near 10%, the negative effect of job loss on mental health has assumed a sharp relevance. Losing work has been linked to depressive symptoms, heavy alcohol use and even long-term psychological damage. But research suggests that loss of income explains only part of this pain. The rest has something...
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August 1, 2010 by Shannon
August 2010. SCIENCEWATCH.COM CORRESPONDENT GARY TAUBES TALKS WITH RYAN ABOUT THE FAR-FLUNG INFLUENCE OF SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY. You’ve been working on Self-Determination Theory for a long time. How did it all begin? I’m a clinical psychologist. The very first motivation project I was involved in, back in the late 1970s, was in schools, and we saw what...
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August 1, 2010 by Shannon
August 2010. Ten years ago, the popular business reporter and author Daniel Pink began researching why an increasing number of people were leaving jobs in large organizations to work for themselves. He encountered—“in a pretty cursory way,” as he explains it—work on human motivation by Rochester experimental psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. Two...
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