News category: News
August 15th 2012.
Get off the grid and into the wild on an overnight backpacking trip.
Backpackers are likely to experience the wilderness much more intimately than other types of travelers — and reap the benefits of physical exercise and mental refreshment at the same time.
“A variety of studies show that even relatively brief experiences in nature can enhance feelings of energy and vitality,” said Dr. Richard M. Ryan, professor of psychology, psychiatry and education at the University of Rochester.
Nature has a way of magnifying little details you may have overlooked, and your safety and overall enjoyment depend on your preparedness. So if you’re not sure where to begin your backpacking adventure, consider a guided trip.
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By Katherine Dorsett Bennett
August 13th 2012.
By TEDx Talks
July 3rd 2012.
As people come out at younger and younger ages, experts say they are more likely to enter the workforce out of the closet and less likely to go back in for professional appearances – which will create a more inclusive work environment for employees of all ages.
“Over a 20-year span it’s been an incredible change,” says Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester in New York. “It’s one of the most fast-lifting stigma that I can think of.”
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18680489
By Kate Dailey
May 10th 2012.
Pioneering work in the field was carried out in the early 1970s by Edward Deci, a psychologist at Rochester University in New York. He found that students offered cash prizes to solve puzzles were less likely to continue working on them after payments had been made, compared to students who were offered no money. Deci’s work helped clarify the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation – doing things because you like doing them in their own right or doing them because you want a reward that has been offered.
“People have three psychological needs – to feel autonomous, to feel competent and to feel related to others,” he says. Payment, according to Deci’s research, does not fulfill these needs. Over-emphasis on financial reward undermines autonomy and therefore intrinsic motivation, he says. “This [negative effect of money on motivation] matters hugely. You need high quality performance from bankers. You need thinkers, problem solvers, people who can be creative and using money to motivate them will not get you that.”…
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120509-is-it-all-about-the-money
By Carinne Piekema
May 4th 2012.
Aristotle’s philosophy was an influence on Edward Deci and Richard Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, which suggests that employees will work harder for you, and perform better, if you give them tasks they find meaningful and morally worthwhile.
Humans want to believe in something and to serve it. Appeal to your employees’ best nature and they will answer that call.
Read more at:
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/business-learn-from-ancient-philosophers?newsfeed=true
By Jules Evans
May 1st 2012.
That common put-down aimed at homophobic people – that they may, in fact, be gay themselves – may have some truth to it.
Two researchers, Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology, psychiatry and education at the University of Rochester, and William Ryan, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, say they’ve found “empirical evidence that homophobia can result, at least in part, from the suppression of same-sex desire.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/can-homophobia-sometimes-mask-same-sex-desire/article2418848/
By Tralee Pearce
April 10th 2012.
(CBS News) Do homophobic people actually fear their own unconscious feelings? A new study suggests that people who repress their own sexual attraction to the same sex are more likely to express hostility towards gays.
“In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward,” study co-author Dr. Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, said in a university written statement.
In four separate experiments conducted in the U.S. and in Germany, each involving an average of 160 college students, researchers attempted to measure any differences between what people say about their sexual orientation and how they actually react. Their findings are published in the April issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
For one experiment, researchers used word and picture tests to subliminally prime participants with either the word “me” or “others,” and then asking them to place the words and images into “gay” or “straight” categories. A second experiment had participants browse same-sex or opposite-sex photos to test implicit – or unconscious – same-sex attraction. Other experiments measured participants’ levels of homophobia through questionnaires or asked about participants’ upbringings and their parents’ perspectives.
Read more at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/homophobia-may-reveal-denial-of-own-same-sex-attraction-study-suggests/
By Monica Dybuncio
April 9th 2012.
“This study shows that if you are feeling that kind of visceral reaction to an out-group, ask yourself, ‘Why?'” co-author Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, said in a statement. “Those intense emotions should serve as a call to self-reflection.”
The research, published in the April 2012 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, reveals the nuances of prejudices like homophobia, which can ultimately have dire consequences. [The 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors]
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/homophobia-homosexuality-gay_n_1412846.html
By Jeanna Bryner