Tag: Persuasion

Facts about happiness reveal the thoughts and behaviours that are proven to make people happier.

People taught the basics of happiness science consistently report better mental health, research finds.

University students who did an online ‘Science of Happiness’ course fared better mentally than their peers who did not take the course, the study found (Hobbs et al., 2022).

Facts about happiness

There is a longer description of the study at the bottom of this article, but here are the facts about happiness taught on the course, (relevant studies are linked):

It is based on the latest research into the thoughts and behaviours that are proven to make people happier.

1. Talking to strangers makes us happier, despite a majority of us shying away from such encounters (see: why you should talk to strangers).
2. Social media is not bad for everyone, but it can be bad for those who focus on their reputation (1, 2).
3. Loneliness is linked to a weakened immune system.
4. People who are optimistic tend to live longer.
5. Giving gifts to others activates our own reward centres in the brain—often providing more of a happiness boost than spending money on yourself (why spending money on others promotes your happiness).
6. Sleep deprivation impacts how well we are liked by others (people feel socially unattractive when they don’t get enough sleep).
7. Walking in the countryside deactivates part of the brain related to negative ruminations, which are associated with depression (As little as 10 minutes spent in nature is enough to make people feel happier).
8. Kindness and happiness are correlated (acts of kindness really do boost happiness).

More facts about happiness

Here are some more interesting facts about happiness, as revealed by psychological research.

9. Most people are happy most of the time

Maybe you don’t need to do anything at all to feel happy…

People are, on average, in a mildly good mood most of the time all around the world, a study finds.

Researchers have reviewed evidence drawn from many different nations — rich and poor, stable and unstable.

As long as people have not just experienced a strong emotional event, even those in poor circumstances are likely to be in a mild positive mood.

10. The mid-life dip is normal

Life satisfaction dips in middle age, after which it starts going up again beyond the age of 54, a study of worldwide well-being finds.

The dip in life satisfaction occurs around the age of 45 until 54, and is seen across many wealthy English-speaking countries, including the United States, Canada, the UK and Australia.

Professor Angus Deaton, one of the study’s co-authors, said:

“This finding is almost expected.

This is the period at which wage rates typically peak and is the best time to work and earn the most, even at the expense of present well-being, so as to have increased wealth and well-being later in life.”

11. Take a tip from seniors

With increasing age, people get more pleasure out of everyday experiences; while younger people define themselves more by extraordinary experiences, a study finds.

The study asked over 200 people between the ages of 19…

Keep reading here

Episode 1926 Scott Adams PART2: Let’s Talk About Election System Credibility, If That Is Still Legal, More

Content:

• If President Trump develops a fentanyl plan
• FTX crypto creator Bankman-Fried
• Why TikTok isn’t going to be banned
• Delayed election vote counts
• Arizona election system
• Why midterms didn’t go as predicted
• If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Keep reading here

Episode 1927 Scott Adams PART1: Are We Headed Toward The Most Entertaining Election Outcome? Maybe Yes

Content:

• A conversation with your AI aged self
• Busted with 20,000 Fentanyl pills
• WEF’s government penetration
• Elon Musk vs Senator Ed Markey
• Dave Chappelle on SNL
• Checking if you voted
• If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Keep reading here

Fear and anxiety are emotions that can trap you, but facing them can help, explains a clinical psychologist.

Phobias and anxieties, such as social anxiety, are best dealt with by facing them.

It is not easy, but if done step-by-step most people can learn to deal with anxieties and fears — even overcome them.

Dr Suma Chand, a clinical psychologist who helps people with phobias, says:

“The most reassuring thing I can say to anyone about fear is this: All emotions change.

You will never stay in a panicky state for the rest of your life.

Persevere, and the fear will dissolve.”

Fear and anxiety are emotions that can trap you, says Dr Chand:

“The more you feed it, the stronger it grows.

Fear traps people.

Fear puts you in a box.

Your world gets smaller and smaller.

After a while, you’re avoiding the discomfort of the fear itself, rather than the thing you fear.

When you avoid the things you fear you feel safe and comfortable and you don’t want to do anything that will shake this safe cocoon of comfort.

However you pay a heavy price – your freedom to live your life like the way you really want to live.”

One of Dr Chand’s patients had exactly this experience:

“I saw an elderly lady who had a fall and broke her hip.

It was very traumatic for her.

After she recovered, she didn’t want this experience to repeat itself.

She became very cautious and avoided walking anywhere where there was a possibility for falling.

Although the fear had initially translated into rational attempts to exercise caution it turned into avoidance as she went overboard with being cautious.

The avoidance made her feel safe but caused her fear to grow.

She stopped going to the store, the mall and to yoga, all of which she had enjoyed.

Her social interactions became restricted as she began to stay home more, and avoided her favorite activities, because she was overly fearful about falling.

She began to feel low and hopeless as she saw her isolated, limited existence stretch ahead of her.

While the treatment is to face the fear, it is done in a manner that does not overwhelm the patient.

The graded approach made this patient feel less overwhelmed and also more willing to face her fear.

Once she began to attain success in facing her fear and recognized that what she feared was not happening, it was like a switch was turned on, and she went faster.

Soon, she was fine and back to her old activities again.”

Dr Chand describes when to address fears:

“The time to address a fear is when you find that it is causing you a lot of distress and it is affecting your life in a significantly negative way.

For example, many people fear snakes, which of course can be dangerous.

But they are not preoccupied with this fear and they don’t find that it is impairing their lives very much.

On the other hand, some people fear cats, which are unlikely to cause much harm.

They may find themselves regularly panicked by visits to friends’ homes if they have cats and so begin avoiding…

Keep reading here

Beards and facial hair can be attractive — it depends what you want from a relationship.

Women judge fully bearded men to be a better bet for long-term relationships, one study finds.

This might be because it makes men look more ‘formidable’.

Certainly, beards make men look older and more aggressive.

Beards are also often judged to make men look like they have higher social status.

However, for short-term relationships, women judge stubble to be most attractive, the research found.

Are beards really attractive?

However, whether or not beards are attractive to women is a big area of controversy in beard-related psychological research.

Some studies find that bearded men are more attractive to women than the clean-shaven, others not (e.g. Reed & Blunk, 1990; Muscarella & Cunningham, 1996).

The most recent research goes against both beards and being clean-shaven and is starting to show the benefits of stubble.

But do women prefer light stubble or heavy stubble?

The jury is still out, with one study suggesting light stubble (Neave & Shields, 2008) and another heavy stubble (Dixson & Brooks, 2013).

Facial hair study details

The study showed pictures of men with different levels of facial hair to over 8,000 women.

Men’s faces were also ‘masculinised’ and ‘feminised’ by computer manipulation to see what effect this would have.

Here is an example of the feminised male faces along with different beard growths:

Here are the masculinised faces with different beard lengths:

The results showed that the more faces were masculinised or feminised, the less attractive they were.

Stubble is attractive

Stubble was most attractive to women in a short-term context and full beards most attractive when considering a long-term relationship.

The study’s authors explain:

“…beards may be more attractive to women when considering long-term than short-term relationships as they indicate a male’s ability to successfully compete socially with other males for resources.

Interestingly, a longitudinal analysis of men’s facial hair fashions in London from 1871 to 1972 revealed that beards became more common when the marriage market was more male-biased and the degree of intrasexual competition to attract mates was augmented.”

Beards and facial hair not universally attractive

Remember that all these are ‘average’ findings across thousands of people.

There are, obviously, both beard-lovers and beard-haters out there.

The study is the latest in a long and illustrious line of important beard-related research.

Not all studies agree on whether beards are more attractive, although stubble does seem to be emerging as a strong favourite, especially for shorter term relationships.

The study was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology (Dixson et al., 2016).

Keep reading here

One trait is linked to a worse score in intelligence tests.

People with unstable emotions tend to get lower scores on IQ tests, studies find.

This may, though, be down to nervousness while taking the test.

In fact, people who are neurotic may have higher IQs than the standard test reveals.

Neuroticism, one of the five major personality traits, encompasses unstable emotions, anxiety, self-consciousness and irritability.

People who are higher in neuroticism may also sleep poorly, the study’s authors explain:

“High scorers tend to be sensitive, emotional, worrying, moody, frequently depressed, often sleep badly and may suffer from various psychosomatic disorders.

Low scorers tend to be secure, hardy and generally relaxed even under stressful conditions.”

The conclusions come from two studies, the first of which was conducted on 646 Dutch twins.

The results showed that people higher in neuroticism got lower scores on an IQ test.

The link is down to genetics, the researchers concluded.

However, a second study gave IQ tests to 213 people and split them into two groups depending on how anxious they were.

The results of this study showed that the more nervous people were, the lower their IQ scores.

By statistically removing the effects of anxiety, though, the researchers were able to show that highly neurotic people are just as intelligent.

The authors conclude:

“Neurotics become more anxious under testing conditions, and this anxiety affects their performance on the IQ tests.

It is therefore proposed that Neuroticism is not related to intelligence per se, but to intelligence test performance, which has been proposed in the past (Eysenck, 1971).

This suggestion implies that IQ tests may underestimate the true intelligence of Neurotic individuals.”

The studies were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Bartels et al., 2012; Moutafi et al., 2006).

Keep reading here

Episode 1927 Scott Adams PART2: Are We Headed Toward The Most Entertaining Election Outcome? Maybe Yes

Content:

• A conversation with your AI aged self
• Busted with 20,000 Fentanyl pills
• WEF’s government penetration
• Elon Musk vs Senator Ed Markey
• Dave Chappelle on SNL
• Checking if you voted
• If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Keep reading here

Episode 1928 Scott Adams: It’s A Super Newsy Day So Today’s Show Will Be Extraordinary. Join Us!

Content:

• Kari Lake lost to the person counting the votes?
• Accept the result, question the credibility
• FTX loop?
• People who could stop Trump from running
• Fentanyl war options
• If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Keep reading here

Episode 1929 Scott Adams PART1: Let’s Talk About Trump’s Announcement, War With The Cartels And More

Content:

• President Trump understands risk of TikTok
• Twitter employees criticizing Elon Musk
• President Trump’s announcement
• Fentanyl war suggestions
• Celebrities who lost money with FTX
• If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Keep reading here

Two personality traits that lead to a happier and more satisfying life.

Young adults who are more outgoing go on to lead happier lives, research finds.

Being more emotional stable also predicts happiness in later life, psychologists discovered.

The study looked at data from 2,529 people born in 1946.

They first answered a series of questions about their personalities at 16 and 26-years-of age.

Forty years later, in their early sixties, they were asked about their well-being and satisfaction with life.

Dr Catharine Gale, the study’s first author, explained the results:

“We found that extroversion in youth had direct, positive effects on wellbeing and life satisfaction in later life.

Neuroticism, in contrast, had a negative impact, largely because it tends to make people more susceptible to feelings of anxiety and depression and to physical health problems.”

High extroversion is linked to being more sociable, having more energy and preferring to stay active.

High neuroticism is linked to being distractible, moody and having low emotional stability.

Increased extroversion was directly linked to more happiness.

Greater neuroticism, meanwhile, was linked to less happiness via a susceptibility to psychological distress.

Dr Gale said:

“Understanding what determines how happy people feel in later life is of particular interest because there is good evidence that happier people tend to live longer.

In this study we found that levels of neuroticism and extroversion measured over 40 years earlier were strongly predictive of well-being and life satisfaction in older men and women.

Personality in youth appears to have an enduring influence on happiness decades later.”

The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Gale et al., 2013).

Keep reading here