Category: Persuasion

Empathic people are likely to have this personality trait.

People with the personality trait of agreeableness are more likely to be highly empathic, research finds.

Agreeable people tend to be friendly, warm and tactful — always taking into account other people’s feelings.

Agreeable people also tend to be trusting, modest, straightforward and compliant.

Psychologists have found that agreeable people are more likely to help others out — and this is partly down to empathy.

In one experiment, participants read stories about someone else having a difficult time.

Afterwards, they rated how likely they would be to help out and how much empathy they would feel for them.

The results showed that people high in agreeableness were more likely to feel empathy for the victim and to be motivated to help them out.

Interestingly, the study also found links between empathy and being neurotic, although neurotic people were more focused on themselves, while agreeable people focused on the other person.

Dr Meara Habashi, the study’s first author, said:

“It is common for persons to experience distress on seeing a victim in need of help.

That distress can lead some people to escape, and to run away from the victim.

But distress does not need to block helping because it may be one first-appearing aspect of empathy.

Distress can actually contribute to helping, but the way it contributes depends on personality.”

Less agreeable people seem to need more reminders that they should help out, said Dr Habashi:

“Personality matters.

It matters in how we structure our request for help, and it matters in how we respond to that request.

Helping is a result of several different processes running in sequence.

Each process contributes something different.

The way we ask for help -perspective taking — can influence our chances for getting it.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Habashi et al., 2016).

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Around one-in-four people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency, according to research.

Small white spots on the skin can be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency.

The white spots often appear on the outside of the forearm, but can be anywhere.

Around one-in-four people may have a vitamin B12 deficiency, according to a recent study.

The body uses vitamin B12 to make red blood cells and to keep the nervous system healthy.

Vitamin B12 deficiency can lead to low levels of melatonin, which contributes to the white spots on the skin.

Other, more common signs of vitamin B12 deficiency include feeling tired, experiencing muscle weakness and being constipated.

Vitamin B12 levels can be boosted through supplementation or by eating foods such as dairy, liver, salmon and eggs.

The study examined blood samples from 1,079 older adults in Germany.

The results showed that 27 percent were deficient in vitamin B12.

Along with this, over half were vitamin D deficient.

Ms Romy Conzade, the study’s first author, said:

“The results are very clear.

Fifty-two percent of the examined older adults had vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L and thus had a suboptimal vitamin D status.”

Dr. Barbara Thorand, study co-author, said:

“Our study also shows that regular intake of vitamin-containing supplements goes along with improved levels of the respective vitamins.

However, vitamin-containing supplements are not a universal remedy, and particularly older people should watch out for maintaining a healthy and nutritious diet.”

The study was published in the journal Nutrients (Conzade et al., 2017).

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The personality traits that are signs of high intelligence.

People whose personalities are happy, energetic and lively have higher IQs, research finds.

Higher IQ is linked to experiencing more positive emotions, enjoying complex problems, having a larger vocabulary and understanding things more quickly.

The researchers found that smarter people were less stressed when given a taxing task to do.

They were also more engaged with it.

People with higher IQs were more likely to agree with statements like:

• I am quick to understand things.
• I have a large vocabulary and enjoy being intellectually engaged.
• I enjoy tackling difficult problems.

The more people agreed with statements like these, the higher their IQ was, researchers found.

The study included 440 people who completed surveys of their happiness and IQ.

The results showed that energetic lively people had higher fluid intelligence.

The study’s authors conclude:

“The results indicated that Intellect was generally associated with lower stress (low distress and worry and high task engagement) before and after intelligence tests.”

Fluid intelligence refers to the speed at which the brain works.

It is like the raw power of an engine or the speed at which a computer can process information.

Fluid intelligence is contrasted with crystallised intelligence.

Crystallised intelligence is something like general knowledge: the information that people have learnt about the world over the years.

The reason that IQ and happiness are linked could be down to how much importance is placed on being smart in Western cultures.

The authors write:

“It is striking that Intellect was correlated with affect even in Study 1, in which there was no requirement to perform an intellectual task.

At least in Western cultures, intellect may be of sufficient importance to the self-schema that it influences general emotional functioning.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Zajenkowskia & Matthews, 2019).

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People following this diet lost four times as much weight as those just following a standard low-carb diet all day long.

Having a large meal for breakfast that is rich in protein and carbs is linked to weight loss, research finds.

Dieters then stuck to a low calorie, low-carb diet for the rest of the day.

People following this diet lost four times as much weight as those just following a standard low-carb diet all day long.

Dr Daniela Jakubowicz and colleagues show that the success of a diet over the long-term relies on its ability to make you feel full and reduce carving for carbs and sweets.

They recruited 94 physically inactive obese women and divided them into two group to see if having a big breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates is more effective than a strict low-carb diet.

The very low-carb diet contained 1,085 calories a day based on 78 grams of fat, 51 grams of protein, and 17 grams of carbohydrates.

For participants who were on this diet, breakfast was the smallest meal throughout the day, containing just 290 calories.

Dieters could have milk, eggs, meat, fruit, cereal, and bread for breakfast but the amount of carbohydrates was only 7 grams and protein 12 grams.

The big-breakfast diet group consumed 1,240 calories per day consisting of 97 grams of carbohydrates, 93 grams of protein, and 46 grams of fat.

Their breakfast was 610 calories containing 58 grams of carbs, 47 grams of protein, and 22 grams of fat.

Their lunch was 395 calories containing 34 grams of carbs, 28 grams of protein, and 13 grams of fat.

Their dinner was 235 calories grams 5 gram of carbs, 18 grams of protein, and 26 grams of fat.

The study period was eight months in which the first four months focused on losing weight and the last four months focused maintaining weight.

The strict low-carb group lost 28 pounds (12.7 kg) and the big-breakfast group lost 23 pounds (10.5 kg).

At eight months, however, the low-carb dieters regained 18 pounds (8.2 kg) whereas those on the big-breakfast diet kept losing weight and lost an extra 16.5 pounds (7.5 kg).

On average, those eating a big breakfast lost 21 percent of their weight but those on the low-carb diet only lost 4.5 percent of their weight.

In addition, after consuming their big breakfast, participants felt more full and craved fewer carbs and sweets.

Dr Jakubowicz said:

“Most weight loss studies have determined that a very low carbohydrate diet is not a good method to reduce weight.

It exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism.

As a result, after a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity.”

Dr Jakubowicz believes that the big-breakfast diet works as over 15 years she has successfully used this diet plan on her patients.

It keeps appetite under control and lowers cravings for sugars or starches such as sweets, dessert, potatoes, pasta and bread.

It also contains more fruit and vegetables which will increase level of vitamins and fibre intake.

Dr Jakubowicz added:

“Only five percent of carbohydrate-restrictive diets are successful after two years.

Most carbohydrate-restrictive…

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How long can you wait for your reward?

Having stronger self-control is a sign of higher intelligence, research finds.

Faced with temptation, more intelligent people stay cooler.

In the study, those with higher intelligence waited longer for a larger reward.

For the study, 103 people were given a series of tests that involved choosing between small financial rewards today or larger ones later on.

For example, let’s say I offer you $5 right now, or $10 in a month’s time.

Choosing the larger reward later on makes sense, but immediate returns are tempting.

Psychologists call this ‘delay discounting’: the longer people have to wait for a reward, the more they discount its value.

In other words, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.

The results showed that people with higher intelligence could wait longer for their reward, so demonstrating higher self-control.

Brain scans revealed that people with higher IQ had greater activation in an area called the anterior prefrontal cortex.

This area of the brain allows people to manage complex problems and deal with competing goals.

Dr Noah Shamosh, the study’s first author, said:

“It has been known for some time that intelligence and self-control are related, but we didn’t know why.

Our study implicates the function of a specific brain structure, the anterior prefrontal cortex, which is one of the last brain structures to fully mature.”

The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (Shamosh et al., 2008).

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What the continuous pressure to be happy is doing to some people’s emotions.

People who feel greater pressure to be happy report feeling worse all round, research finds.

The pressure to feel positive emotions is linked to more symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress.

It underlines the fact that the pressure to achieve what are, for many, unattainable emotions and ways of being is exhausting.

Ironically, then, the pressure to be happy can make you sad.

The conclusions come from a study that compared the well-being and the societal pressure to be happy of over 7,000 people in 40 different countries.

People who feel the largest pressure to be happy are those who live in countries which have high average levels of happiness, such as Nordic countries and Canada.

Dr Egon Dejonckheere, the study’s first author, said:

“The level of happiness individuals feel pressured to achieve may be unattainable and reveal differences between an individual’s emotional life and the emotions society approves of.

This discrepancy between an individual and society may create a perceived failure that can trigger negative emotions.

In countries where all citizens appear to be happy, deviations from the expected norm are likely more apparent, which makes it more distressing.”

The researchers used data from the World Happiness Index, which rates the happiest countries in the world as:

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Switzerland
4. Iceland
5. Netherlands
6. Norway
7. Sweden
8. Luxembourg
9. New Zealand
10. Austria

The United Kingdom comes 17th on the list, with the United States at 19th (the Canadians come 14th).

Feeling bad about feeling sad

Society’s expectations work negatively for negative emotions, just as they work negatively for positive emotions.

Other studies have also shown that people feel bad about feeling sad (Bastian, 2012).

When people perceive that others expect them to hide their sadness, they feel even worse.

As a result of societal pressure not to express negative emotions, people also evaluate themselves more negatively on top of feeling worse in the moment (Dejonckheere & Bastian, 2021).

Quite naturally, both these effects, on people’s thoughts and emotions, are linked to symptoms of depression (Dejonckheere et al., 2017).

One of the reasons seems to be that the culture of happiness increases people’s tendency to repeatedly think about their failures (McGuirk et al, 2018).

The study’s authors write:

“Humans value happiness.

Around the world, individuals share a similar aspiration to lead a satisfying and happy life, yet there is also an emerging recognition that this personal quest in itself may have well-being consequences.

Placing a premium on the value of positive emotion is known to paradoxically undermine our well-being, not only as a function of how we value happiness ourselves, but also as a function of how the society we live in emphasizes the importance of being happy.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Dejonckheere et al., 2022).

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Although normal narcissists are self-centred, they have a psychological edge.

‘Normal’ narcissists have a mental toughness that helps them succeed, research finds.

Normal narcissists are those that are more narcissistic than average, but are not clinical narcissists.

The study of 340 Italian adolescents found that, although young narcissists were self-centred, they did better on their exams than their IQ levels suggested.

Narcissists are not cleverer, but they are more assertive and confident — this allows them to make up for deficiencies elsewhere.

Dr Kostas Papageorgiou, who led the research, said:

“Narcissism is considered as a socially malevolent trait and it is part of the Dark Triad of personality traits — narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism.

Previous studies indicate that narcissism is a growing trend in our society but this does not necessarily mean that an individual who displays high narcissistic qualities has a personality disorder.

In our research, we focused on subclinical or “normal” narcissism.

Subclinical narcissism includes some of the same features of clinical syndrome — grandiosity, entitlement, dominance, and superiority.

Dr Papageorgiou explained the traits of a narcissist:

“If you are a narcissist you believe strongly that you are better than anyone else and that you deserve reward.

Being confident in your own abilities is one of the key signs of grandiose narcissism and is also at the core of mental toughness.

If a person is mentally tough, they are likely to embrace challenges and see these as an opportunity for personal growth.”

Dr Papageorgiou believes that mental toughness is the key:

“People who score high on subclinical narcissism may be at an advantage because their heightened sense of self-worth may mean they are more motivated, assertive, and successful in certain contexts.

Previous research is our lab has shown that subclinical narcissism may increase mental toughness.

If an individual scores high on mental toughness this means they can perform at their very best in pressured and diverse situations.

We should think in a more nuanced way about narcissism, says Dr Papageorgiou:

“It is important that we reconsider how we, as a society, view narcissism.

We perceive emotions or personality traits as being either bad or good but psychological traits are the products of evolution; they are neither bad nor good — they are adaptive or maladaptive.

Perhaps we should expand conventional social morality to include and celebrate all expressions of human nature.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Papageorgiou et al., 2018).

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Approaching 1 million people were included in the research.

Marriage can reduce the risk of developing dementia by 42 percent, research finds.

The conclusions come from 15 studies published over many years involving over 800,000 people in three continents.

The results showed that compared with married people, lifelong singletons were 42 percent more likely to develop dementia.

People who were widowed had a 20 percent increased chance of developing dementia.

Divorce, though, was not linked to an increased risk of dementia.

More recent studies included in the review suggest the benefit from being married is reducing, although it is not clear why.

The protective effect of marriage could be down to couples helping each other live healthier lives.

They may exercise more, eat a healthier diet and get more social stimulation.

The study’s authors conclude:

“Being married is associated with reduced risk of dementia than widowed and lifelong single people, who are also underdiagnosed in routine clinical practice.

Dementia prevention in unmarried people should focus on education and physical health and should consider the possible effect of social engagement as a modifiable risk factor.”

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (Sommerlad et al., 2018).

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The vitamin deficiency linked to increased belly fat.

Higher levels of vitamin D are linked to reduced belly fat, research shows.

The conclusions come from a study including thousands of people.

The researchers measured people’s total body fat and abdominal (belly) fat, along with their vitamin D levels.

The results showed that for both men and women vitamin D deficiency was linked to increased belly fat.

However, for women, low vitamin D levels were linked to both increased belly fat and increased total body fat.

For men, though, low vitamin D levels were linked to more belly fat and more liver fat.

More than half of people around the world may be deficient in vitamin D.

Dr Rachida Rafiq, the study’s first author, said:

“Although we did not measure vitamin D deficiency in our study, the strong relationship between increasing amounts of abdominal fat and lower levels of vitamin D suggests that individuals with larger waistlines are at a greater risk of developing deficiency, and should consider having their vitamin D levels checked.”

It is not yet known if low vitamin D levels are causing more fat to be stored or are a result of it.

Dr Rafiq explained:

“Due to the observational nature of this study, we cannot draw a conclusion on the direction or cause of the association between obesity and vitamin D levels.

However, this strong association may point to a possible role for vitamin D in abdominal fat storage and function.”

Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases and a higher chance of getting colds.

Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

That is why levels are typically lower in the body through the winter months in more Northern climes.

The study was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition (Rafiq et al., 2018).

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The study looked directly at levels of this vitamin in the brain, about which little is known.

Higher levels of vitamin D in the brain are linked to better cognitive function and less decline with age, a study finds.

Indeed, adequate vitamin D levels have repeatedly been linked to lower dementia risk (1, 2, 3) by research.

One study has even suggested that adequate levels of vitamin D could prevent almost one-in-five cases of dementia (Navale et al., 2022).

However, the link remains somewhat controversial, with other studies finding no connection (also: Owusu et al., 2018).

This research, though, looked directly at vitamin D levels in the brain, about which little is known.

Professor Sarah Booth, study co-author, said:

“This research reinforces the importance of studying how food and nutrients create resilience to protect the aging brain against diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias.”

Vitamin D markers

The study, which tracked the cognitive health of 290 seniors, analysed their brain tissue for vitamin D after they died.

Dr Kyla Shea, the study’s first author, said:

“Many studies have implicated dietary or nutritional factors in cognitive performance or function in older adults, including many studies of vitamin D, but all of them are based on either dietary intakes or blood measures of vitamin D.

We wanted to know if vitamin D is even present in the brain, and if it is, how those concentrations are linked to cognitive decline.”

The researchers found that people with higher levels of vitamin D in their brains had better cognitive function.

However, they found no link between vitamin D markers and other physiological signs of Alzheimer’s.

This means it is difficult to pinpoint the mechanism by which vitamin D might be beneficial.

Dr Shea said:

“Dementia is multifactorial, and lots of the pathological mechanisms underlying it have not been well characterized.

Vitamin D could be related to outcomes that we didn’t look at yet, but plan to study in the future.”

How much vitamin D?

Despite these findings, it is not recommended to take high levels of vitamin D as a preventative measure.

Recommended doses are 600 IU per day for people under 70 and 800 IU for those over 70.

Dr Shea said:

“We now know that vitamin D is present in reasonable amounts in human brains, and it seems to be correlated with less decline in cognitive function.

But we need to do more research to identify the neuropathology that vitamin D is linked to in the brain before we start designing future interventions.”

The study was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia (Shea et al., 2022).

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