Tag: neuromarketing

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When You’re Preparing for a Task, Say “You Can Do It,” not “I Can Do It”

People who referred to themselves as “you” or by their own names while silently talking to themselves in preparation for a five-minute speech were subsequently calmer and more confident and performed better on the talk than people who had referred to themselves as “I” or “me” (3.6 versus 3.2 on a combined five-point scale, in the view of judges), says a team led by Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan. The research participants who talked to themselves in the second or third person also felt less shame afterward. By distancing us from ourselves, the use of the second and third person in internal monologues enables us to better regulate our emotions, the researchers say.

Overconfidence

SOURCE: Self-Talk as a Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters

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Why It Might Not Be a Good Idea to Tackle Moral Issues in the Afternoon

Le’ts negotiate in the morning folks!

In a series of experiments, Maryam Kouchaki of Harvard and Isaac H. Smith of the University of Utah found that people were 20% to 50% more likely to lie, cheat, or be otherwise dishonest in the afternoon than in the morning. The experience of ordinary activities over the course of the day appears to gradually deplete people’s ability to regulate themselves, an effect that’s most pronounced for those who are the most honest. Organizations might do well to be particularly vigilant in the afternoon about combating customers’ or employees’ unethical behaviors, the researchers say.

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SOURCE: The Morning Morality Effect: The Influence of Time of Day on Unethical Behavior

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Residents of Poor Countries Have a Great Advantage: Religion

An analysis of polling data from 132 nations shows that religious belief appears to be the main reason why people in poor countries see greater meaning in life than residents of wealthy countries, say Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia and Ed Diener of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Among the nations with the highest sense that life has meaning are Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo, Ethiopia, Laos, and Ecuador. By connecting daily experiences with a coherent belief system, religion plays a critical role in helping people construct meaning out of extreme hardship, the authors say.

SOURCE: Residents of Poor Nations Have a Greater Sense of Meaning in Life Than Residents of Wealthy Nations

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A Simple Daily Intervention Decreases Employee Stress

A Simple Daily Intervention Decreases Employee Stress

Stress levels and physical complaints declined by roughly 15% after employees were directed to spend 10 minutes writing about three things that had gone well each day, says a team of researchers led by Joyce E. Bono of the University of Florida. At the end of the work day, the employees logged on to a website where they were asked to write about events large or small, personal or work-related, and explain why they had gone well. The findings suggest that this intervention could have important effects on employee stress and health, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Building Positive Resources: Effects of Positive Events and Positive Reflection on Work Stress and Health

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Lavish Praise Can Backfire in Some Cases

Children whose self-esteem was at least 1.3 standard deviations below average reacted to lavish praise (“You made an incredibly beautiful drawing”) by becoming less willing to take on challenges, possibly out of fear that they might not be able to perform as “incredibly” well in the future, according to a study led by Eddie Brummelman of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Children with high self-esteem did the opposite, responding to lavish praise by seeking greater challenges. Although many educators encourage parents and teachers to shower praise on pupils, adults should resist the temptation in the case of children who appear to have low self-esteem, the researchers say.

Teenager girl makes chewing gum's bubble

SOURCE: “That’s Not Just Beautiful–That’s Incredibly Beautiful!”: The Adverse Impact of Inflated Praise on Children With Low Self-Esteem

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Upward Mobility Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

A study of hundreds of low-income American youths shows that at age 19, those who had been rated as diligent and academically successful were less healthy than peers who had been labeled aggressive, difficult, and isolated, a team led by Gregory E. Miller of Northwestern University writes in The New York Times. Highly motivated people from low-income backgrounds often feel tremendous internal pressure to succeed, but behaving diligently all the time may leave them feeling exhausted and sapped of willpower, and they may let their health fall by the wayside, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Can Upward Mobility Cost You Your Health?

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Why the Overconfident, Even After Being Exposed, Continue to Dominate

Overconfidence can be dangerous, leading entrepreneurs to risk too much in new ventures and CEOs to engage in too many acquisitions of other firms, yet overconfident people continue to occupy positions of power. A team led by Jessica A. Kennedy of The Wharton School suggests why: Overconfidence engenders high status even after overconfident individuals are exposed as being less competent than they say they are. In a series of experiments, overconfident people suffered no loss of status after groups received clear, objective data about participants’ true performance on a task.

Overconfidence

SOURCE: When overconfidence is revealed to others: Testing the status-enhancement theory of overconfidence

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Exercise Sparks Creative Thinking

Have you ever hit a creative roadblock? Exercise might be the answer to overcoming mental blocks, according to a new study. The findings, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, revealed that people who exercise regularly are better at creative thinking compared to those who do not exercise.

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