How Being Bad Can Raise Your Will Power

June 27, 2010

Could imagining yourself doing bad or good increase your will power? Psychologists have been aware for decades of a phenomenon known as “priming.”  In which thinking about a concept can cause you to behave in ways aligned with that concept. For example, in one study having college students complete crossword puzzles that had words such [...]

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How To Improve Memory By 20%

June 26, 2010

Researchers wanted to see what effect a mere walk in the woods would have on people’s memory.  So they gave participants some challenging memory tasks – they had to recite lists of numbers backwards. Then they had half the participants take a walk in nature and the other half walk around the city. Then all [...]

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Think Of This To Boost Creativity In 43 Seconds

June 25, 2010

Research has shown that many types of creativity require abstract thought.  And thinking of events in the future causes people to think more abstractly. So researchers set up several experiments to answer the question “Does thinking about the future improve creativity?” Here’s what they did in one experiment. They divided participants into two groups.  One [...]

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Think Of This To Boost Creativity In 43 Seconds

June 24, 2010

Research has shown that many types of creativity require abstract thought.  And thinking of events in the future causes people to think more abstractly.  So researchers set up several experiments to answer the question “Does thinking about the future improve creativity?” Here’s what they did in one experiment. They divided participants into two groups.  One [...]

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A Common Self-Help Technique That’s Proven To Cause Failure And What To Do Instead

June 24, 2010

Many a self-help book touts the power of positive visualization to help you achieve your goals.  However, recent research shows that a common type of visualization often advocated in these books can actually keep you from achieving your goals. In one study done at UCLA, one group of students was encouraged to visualize getting a [...]

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Could This Video Lower Your Stress In 60 Seconds?

June 23, 2010

The short answer according to recent research is yes. Having animals around you has been known for many years to lower stress.  However, researchers wanted to know if just watching videos of animals would lower stress as well. So they assembled volunteers and put them into three groups. One group watched videos of animals.  Another [...]

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How To Increase Your Will Power In 60 Seconds

June 22, 2010

Do you know of someone who has great will power?  Do you ever wish you could borrow some of their self-control when you need to resist a tempting cookie or to get yourself to the gym. Well, recent research suggests that actually thinking about that person can give you some of their self control. Michelle [...]

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How Being Negative Can Get You To The Gym

June 21, 2010

Most self-help gurus will tell you that if you want to motivate yourself to do something focus on all the benefits you’ll gain from taking action.  However, if you’re procrastinating current research suggests that a very different approach may be even more helpful.  A specific kind of negative thinking and feeling may be much more [...]

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How A Sexy Poster Can Increase Your Will Power

June 20, 2010

There’s a whole area of study in psychology called priming.  It’s the study of how things that are often outside our awareness can influence our behavior without our knowing it. Well, in one study of priming researchers wanted to know if just seeing the right kind of image could cause participants to think of dieting [...]

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How To Reduce Pain With A Simple Photograph

June 19, 2010

Past research has shown that having loved ones present or holding your hand can reduce pain.  In a recent study, they wanted to know if a simple photograph of a loved one would produce the same results. They assembled 28 women in long-term relationships and their partners.  Researchers took photos of the partners for use [...]

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