Category: Articles

On Road to Recovery, Past Adversity Provides a Map (NYT) New research suggests that resilience may have at least as much to do with how often people have faced adversity in past as it does with who they are — their personality, their genes, for example — or what they’re facing now. That is, the…

Theories about why people–and animals–yawn.  One tidbit: Children under 5 are not subject to contagious yawning, but adult humans, chimpanzees, monkeys and dogs — animals with advanced social skills — are. Apparently an understanding of the mental states of others is required before yawning becomes catching

NYT:  A Fate That Narcissists Will Hate: Being Ignored. Narcissists, much to the surprise of many experts, are in the process of becoming an endangered species.  Not that they face imminent extinction — it’s a fate much worse than that. They will still be around, but they will be ignored.  The fifth edition of the…

Brains, animals, literal-metaphorical confusions–Robert Sapolsky considers, recalling this famous study along the way: Volunteers would meet one of the experimenters, believing that they would be starting the experiment shortly. In reality, the experiment began when the experimenter, seemingly struggling with an armful of folders, asks the volunteer to briefly hold their coffee. As the key…