Adoree Durayappah

Story telling is a universal human trait, spanning cultures, civilizations, and time.  We love a good story, and since we have been telling stories for thousands of years, we know what makes for a good story and exciting experience.

Or do we?

One of our favorite parts of a good story is the ending, and we go through great lengths just to avoid overhearing the ending of a movie we haven’t seen or a book we haven’t read, and when we unfortunately do overhear the end we feel that our experience is now spoiled. After all that’s why they call them “spoilers”.

But as it turns out, poor little spoilers have been given a bad rap this whole time. The latest research published in the journal Psychological Science shows that knowing the ending of a story before you read it doesn’t hurt the experience of the story. It actually makes you enjoy the story more. This is the “Spoiler Paradox”.

Researchers Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt from the University of California, San Diego’s psychology department conducted three experiments with twelve short stories (from authors such as John Updike, Agatha Christie, and Anton Chekhov). The stories included ironic-twists, mysteries, and evocative literary stories. In two of the conditions they gave away the endings of the stories. One of those conditions gave away the ending with the spoiler as independent text preceding the story, and in the second condition the spoiler was incorporated as an opening paragraph for the story. The last condition had no spoiler.

The findings of the study indicated that in each type of story (ironic-twist, mystery, and evocative story), the participants preferred the spoiled versions over the unspoiled ones, and they preferred the stories even more when the spoiler was included as introductory text separate from the story.

This finding completely topples over our conventional wisdom of stories and raises one big question:

WHY?

In 1944, Fritz Heider and Mary-Ann Simmel from Smith College conducted an elegantly simple yet powerful study. The researchers showed participants an animation of two triangles and a circle moving around a square. You can see the animation for yourself here.

When watching the demonstration it is hard not to add your own dialogue to explain what is going on in the scene. The study found that most participants described the circle and blue triangle as being “in love” with the “big-bad” grey triangle “trying to get in the way”. The participants were using narratives to describe the actions and described the scene as if the objects had intentions and motivations.

This study demonstrates the human instinct for storytelling, which implies that storytelling fulfills or facilitates a basic human function. Humans are social animals and stories are an important tool to help us understand human behavior and to communicate our understanding to others.

This has to do with what psychologists call “theory of mind”. Having a theory of mind means that we have the ability to attribute thoughts, desires, motivations, and intentions of others, and we use this to predict and explain actions and behaviors of others. Because we have the ability to attribute intention to others and understand how that intention can cause behavior, stories are important because they allow us to communicate this cause and effect relationship. This is important to remember because this means that a story is good if it fulfills its function: effectively communicating information to others.

This is why a “spoiled” story (where we know the ending beforehand) is more engaging than stories that leave us hanging. Spoiled stories are easier to follow and understand than stories where the ending is unknown. In their study, the authors describe how “suspense regarding the outcome may not be critical, and could even impair pleasure by distracting attention from relevant details and aesthetic attributes”.

You have probably witnessed how a good story is one that can be repeated over and over again with the same engagement. A story where the ending is known forehand makes for a good story because it can be processed with ease, facilitating communication, and also ensuring the likelihood that it can be repeated.

Think of stories that have stood the test of time, stories such as Oedipus to the Trojan Horse. Even though the ending is well known (e.g. Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother; the Greeks will hide in a giant hollowed out wooden horse in order to gain access into the walled city of Troy), this does not decrease the engagement of listening to the story. “So it could be,” said Leavitt, co-author of the study, “that once you know how it turns out, it’s cognitively easier – you’re more comfortable processing the information – and can focus on a deeper understanding of the story.”

This is important since we use stories to communicate complex ideas, from religious beliefs to societal values. Take the story of Job found in the Old Testament. The Israelites used this story to understand why a good pious man could still suffer and experience misfortune. Or take the childhood story of the “Boy Who Cried Wolf”. This story teaches us the moral lesson that if you tell fibs—especially when communicating important information—no one will believe you when you are telling the truth.

We transmit these complex ideologies through stories because they can be processed and retained with greater ease than through straight text. In fact research has shown that not only do we respond more positively to information when it is in narrative form than simple text (Escalas, 2007), but information labeled as “fact” versus “fiction” increases critical analysis (Green et al, 2006). This suggests that we are more receptive to information in narrative form.

As we can see, stories are an effective way to communicate sophisticated bodies of knowledge. Think about this: with a word you understand one term or concept, but with a story you can communicate an entire causal sequence of events, understand human intentions, moral rules, philosophical beliefs, and societal conventions.

So this means that a spoiler is not really a spoiler at all. It takes a complex story and simplifies it, allowing you to process it easier. The ability to process it easier allows you to be more engaged in the story and understand it to a deeper level. And think, just maybe, if that “spoiled” story is good enough, it can last for thousands of years exposing it to future generations of readers.

***

Adoree Durayappah, M.A.P.P., M.B.A., is a writer and psychologist with an addition to academia. Learn more at AdoreeDurayappah.com.

References:

Escalas, Jennifer Edson (2007), “Narrative versus Analytical Self-Referencing and Persuasion,” Journal of Consumer Research, v. 34, n. 4 (March), pp. 421-429.

Green, M.C., Garst, J., Brock, T.C., & Chung, S. (2006). Fact versus fiction labeling: Persuasion parity despite heightened scrutiny of fact.  Media Psychology 8(3), 267-285.

Jonathan D. Leavitt and Nicholas J. S. Christenfeld (2011) ‘Story Spoilers Don’t Spoil Stories’, Psychological Science.

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Playing hard to get. Should you do it? Does it help you when dating? Turns out science can shed some light on how playing hard to get could actually benefit you. In a recent study published in Psychological Science, women were more attracted when they were uncertain if a guy liked them a lot than when they were sure a guy really liked them.

In psychology we have learned about the reciprocity principle: we tend to like someone if they like us. But what if we don’t know if someone really likes us or not? How does uncertainty affect how we feel about someone else? And, why would we be more attracted to someone who we weren’t even sure was really interested in us?

Researchers Erin R. Whitchurch and Timothy D. Wilson of the University of Virginia and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University recruited 47 female undergraduates. The participants were told that male students from two other universities had looked at the Facebook profile of several college women, including their own profile. The women were then shown the profiles of four men. One group was told that they were looking at men who had liked their profile the most, the second group was told that they were viewing the men who had given them an average rating, and the last group (the uncertain condition) was told that they were viewing men who liked them either the most or had given them average ratings.

The results indicated that participants were more attracted to men who liked them a lot than men who liked them an average amount—consistent with the reciprocity principle. However, participants were more attracted to men when they were unsure if the men liked them best than men who they knew liked them the most.

Playing Hard To Get

So does that mean that playing hard to get is always the way to go?

Not necessarily. The jury is still out from social psychology. Prior research has found that men were most attracted to women who expressed interest in them but not other guys. The men were less attracted to women who were viewed as “hard to get,” meaning they just didn’t want to date anyone. The men were also less attracted to women who were considered “easy to get,” meaning they were open to dating several men.

However, what is interesting about this study is the uncertainty of attraction to that person in particular. The women were kept guessing if the men liked them the best or not. Often we have heard from friends that when dating someone, it is best not to be too enthusiastic in the beginning and reveal all of your feelings. Turns out, there might be something to that.

Frequency of Thought

But why would keeping someone guessing about your feelings make that person more attracted to you? The answer might have something to do with salience. Salience is a fancy word for how frequently you think about something.

Salient information (you frequently think about it) strongly influences our evaluations of our emotions and feelings. Thus, one hypothesis is that uncertainty about one’s interest in you keeps you guessing about if they like you a lot or not. Because you keep wondering about the other’s interest in you, you end up thinking about that person more than if you knew, off the bat, that they liked you a lot. The authors explain that we might often interpret frequent thoughts of the other person as an indication that we like them. For instance, we might suppose, “I must be really interested in that person if I can’t get ‘em out of my head.”

The present study supports the hypothesis that uncertainty causes people to think more about the person. The researchers found that the women in the uncertain condition reported thinking about the men the most, followed by participants in the average-liking group, and then the participants in the liked-best group.

Uncertainty

It makes sense that if something is uncertain we think about it more. Uncertainty interests us, not only because we can’t stop thinking about the possible outcomes, but also because we cannot adapt to it.

Let’s explore what this means. Prior studies have shown that uncertainty about a positive event often can produce more positive feelings than if the positive event was certain. When the positive event is certain, we experience strong positive feelings, but then we adapt to it. However, when the event is uncertain we spend more time thinking about if the event will occur, trying to interpret it and understand it. The result is that we are unable to adapt to the event because the outcome is undetermined. This could be another reason why uncertainty makes us more interested in something or someone.

We must keep in mind that this study looked only at female participants, that the participants did not meet the men in person, and that this was at the start of a relationship. Thus, we are uncertain if women keeping men guessing about their interest increases attraction or if keeping one’s partner guessing as the relationship develops would be advised. My personal hunch is that keeping one’s partner guessing about one’s interest during a growing relationship probably isn’t the best strategy for building a close connection.
Attention Gentlemen:

But, guys, at least you know that when starting to date someone, not showing all of your feelings at the very beginning, and creating a bit of uncertainty about how much you like the girl, will make her think more about you thus increasing her interest in you.

For more articles and information, please visit: AdoreeDurayappah.com

Reference:

E. R. Whitchurch, T. D. Wilson, D. T. Gilbert. “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not . . . “: Uncertainty Can Increase Romantic Attraction. Psychological Science, 2010; 22 (2): 172 DOI: 10.1177/0956797610393745

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What’s The Secret to Staying Madly in Love?

Is it even possible to feel madly in love with someone after five, ten, twenty years together?

Due to recent neurological research, we are a bit closer to answering these perplexing questions and demystifying the secrets behind achieving intense, lasting, romantic love.

A recent study published online in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, investigated, for the first time, which brain regions are associated with long-term romantic love.

Researchers compared the brain scans of long-term married individuals to the scans of individuals who have recently fallen in love. Surprisingly, the results revealed similar activity in specific brain regions for both long-term, intense romantic love and couples in early-stage romantic love. These particular brain regions could be the clue to why certain couples stay madly in love years, even decades, later.

A group of researchers, led by Drs. Bianca Acevedo and Arthur Aron of the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University, used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of happily married individuals (10 women and 7 men) reporting intense romantic love for their partner after an average of 21 years of marriage.

The Characteristics of Intense Romantic Love

Intense romantic love typifies symptoms (common to being newly in love) including:

1. Craving for union
2. Focused attention
3. Increased energy with the partner
4. Motivation to do things that make the partner happy
5. Sexual attraction and thinking about the partner when apart

The objective of the study was to investigate how brain system activity in individuals in a long-term intense passionate love compared to the brain system activity of individuals newly in romantic love.

In order to investigate these neural activity areas, participants, while in the fMRI, viewed facial images of their partners, as well as control images including a close friend, a highly-familiar acquaintance, and a low-familiar person. The brain activity of the participants viewing the facial images was then compared to the fMRI results of individuals in a previous experiment, who reported being madly in love with their partner within the past year.

Additionally, the neural activity of the participants reporting long-term romantic love was compared with results based on questionnaires they took measuring passion, obsession, closeness, friendship, inclusion of the partner in the concept of the self, and sexual frequency.

Researchers were interested in one brain region in particular, the ventral tegmental area (VTA). The VTA is of specific interest because it is a dopamine-rich reward system that has been reported in many studies of early-stage romantic love.

Being Madly in Love Can Last!

The results of the study indicate that the feeling of intense passion can last in long-term relationships. “We found many very clear similarities between those who were in love long-term and those who had just fallen madly in love,” says Dr. Aron. “In this latest study, the VTA showed greater response to images of a long-term partner when compared with images of a close friend or any of the other facial images.”

This means that the VTA is particularly active for romantic love. “Interestingly, the same VTA region showed greater activation for those in the long-term couple group who scored especially high on romantic love scales and a closeness scale based on questionnaires,” Dr. Acevedo explains.

Previous studies have shown that activity in dopamine-rich areas, such as the VTA, are engaged in response to rewards such as food, money, cocaine, and alcohol. Additionally, studies have demonstrated the role of the VTA in motivation, reinforcement learning, and decision making. This research suggests that the VTA is important for maintaining long-term relationships and that intense romantic love commonly found in early-stage love can last through long-term relationships by engaging the rewards and motivation systems of the brain.

The results revealed many other fascinating findings, uncovering some keys to maintaining lasting love.

Sexual Frequency

A common questions that most couples wonder is if sexual frequency and interest can be maintained through long-term relationships. The answer is YES! The participants in long-term romantic love reported high sexual frequency. And higher sexual frequency was linked to activation in a particular brain region. This area is the very sexy left posterior hippocampus. Additionally, the results indicate that participants in long-term love, who scored high on scores measuring passion, showed greater activation in the posterior hippocampus.

Prior studies have shown neural activity in the posterior hippocampus of couples who have recently fallen madly in love. The results prove that the feelings of intensity, passion, and sexual desire, commonly found in early-stage love, can be maintained into long-term love. To understand how and why this is possible, we must first increase our understanding of the role of the posterior hippocampus. This is a bit tricky to do since little is known about this mysterious brain region.

Some studies have linked activation of the posterior hippocampus with hunger and food cravings, with higher neural activity in obese individuals. Other studies have shown that lesions in the hippocampus of rodents impair the ability to distinguish feeling hungry from feeling full. We know that the hippocampus is very important for memory. So, perhaps this area is important for remembering the stimuli associated with certain rewards.

Because the posterior hippocampus is related to feelings of cravings and satiating desires, this brain region can hold the key to understanding how some couples stay sexually interested and passionate in long-term relationships.

Closeness and Union

Romantic long-term love activates the dopamine-rich brain regions. The recruitment of this dopamine system, which controls reward and motivation, suggests that romantic love is a desire and a motivation to unite with another.

Additionally, during long-term love the activation of the dorsal striatum, the area of the brain involved in motor and cognitive control, suggests romantic love is a goal-directed behavior. Since romantic love is a desire for a union with another, behaviors such as wanting to be close to one’s partner or do things to make the partner happy, are enacted to maintain closeness and union.

Often closeness with a partner is measured by the Inclusion of the Other in the Self (IOS) scale. In the study, the IOS scores of the participants were positively related to the areas in the brain involved in self-referential processing. This means that often closeness and union with another involves incorporating that person in our concept of our self.

Attachment

The results of the study uncovered some fascinating findings on attachment. The brain scans of participants show that the same parts of the brain that are active for long-term romantic love have been known to be engaged for maternal attachment. These brain regions, such as the thalamus and the substantia nigra, have a high density of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors. Oxytocin and vasopressin receptors are interesting because they have been shown to regulate social behavior, monogamy, and bonding.

Feeling Safe and Secure

Another interesting finding that emerges from this research concerns the body’s regulation of pain and stress and its relationship to romantic love. The research shows that certain areas of the brain, such as the dorsal Raphe, are activated in intense romantic love. The dorsal Raphe is involved in the body’s response to pain and stress. Past research has suggested that the goal of the attachment system is to feel a sense of security. Research indicates that association with an attachment figure reduces pain and stress. What we can gather from this research is that feeling safe and secure is an important criteria in long-term intense romantic love.

Friendship-Based Love vs. Romantic Love

The research evidences a surprising difference between romantic love and friendship-based love. In order to understand these differences, we must first understand the distinction between “wanting” and “liking.” Research has suggested that wanting and liking are two different motivations, which are mutually exclusive. The results of the study show that romantic/passionate love is associated with the dopamine-rich systems characteristic of wanting, while friendship-based love related to the brain areas high in opiates characteristic of liking. The data suggest that romantic love is a motivation or a drive based on wanting, focused on a specific target, rather than a feeling or emotion.

Long-Term Romantic Love vs. Early-Stage Love

While long-term romantic love exhibits patterns of neural activity similar to early-stage romantic love, the study shows that for long-term romantic love, many more brain regions are affected than in early-stage love. The brain scans reveal activity in the opioid and serotonin-rich brain regions, which was not active in early-stage love. These regions are involved in regulating anxiety and pain. This suggests that one pivotal distinction between long-term love and early-stage love is a sense of calmness, characteristic of the former.

Additionally, the study shows that unlike findings for newly in love individuals, long-term love shows activation in the brain regions associated with attachment and liking. As we have seen, liking is very important to friendship-based love. Thus, long-term romantic love that is both intense and close is sustained through the co-existence of wanting motivations and rewards, as well as through liking and attachment bonding. Previous studies have suggested that it can take almost two years to form enduring attachment bonds. This could explain why individuals newly in love do not reflect the same neural activity for liking and attachment as for individuals in long-term romantic love since bonds take time to develop.

So What Have We Learned?

From this study, we have learned that the neural activity of individuals in intense romantic long-term love share remarkable similarities to the neural activity of individuals newly in love. (Interesting.) We have learned that romantic love can be sustained in long-term relationships. (Phew, that’s a relief !) And that intense, passionate long-term love is a dopamine-rich activity maintained by sustained rewards. (Come again?)

Okay. The key to understanding how to sustain long-term romantic love is to understand it a bit scientifically. Our brains view long-term passionate love as a goal-directed behavior to attain rewards. Rewards can include the reduction of anxiety and stress, feelings of security, a state of calmness, and a union with another. In long-term relationships, when we reference the self, we slowly incorporate our partner into our notion of our self. As we move from early-stage love to long-term love, our bond attachment grows. And when we perform actions that make our partner happy, we enhance and maintain the relationship by working towards our goal of sustaining the rewards aforementioned.

While we might be a way off before having an Idiot’s Guide For Staying Madly In Love, at least we are one step closer. And, hey, just knowing that it’s scientifically possible to stay intensely, madly, passionately in love year after year…after year…is pretty damn promising!

Reference:

Acevedo BP, Aron A, Fisher HE, Brown LL. (2011) Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love. Social Cognition and Affective Neuroscience. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq092 First published online: January 5, 2011

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Remember when your mother would tell you, “STAND UP STRAIGHT”?

Turns out, Mama ain’t no fool!

Your mother carped about your posture as a kid because she wanted you to become a successful adult. See, Mama knows that posture plays a pivotal role in whether you feel, and subsequently act, powerful.

According to a recent study published in the January 2011 issue of Psychological Science, “posture expansiveness”—using one’s posture to open up the body and occupy space—activates a sense of power in the mind, making people feel and behave as if they are in charge. Interestingly, the sense of power produced by posture expansiveness is not contingent on one’s actual position of power, such as rank or title.

In the study, researchers Adam Galinsky, professor at Kellogg School of Management and Kellogg PhD candidate Li Huang, along with professor Deborah Gruenfeld, professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Stanford PhD candidate Lucia Guillory, studied the behavioral effects of having a high-power role versus being in a high-power posture.

The researchers found that posture is more important to a person’s sense of power than one’s actual title or position. “Going into the research we figured role would make a big difference, but shockingly the effect of posture dominated the effect of role in each and every study,” Huang explains.

In the first two experiments, the researchers placed individuals in either high- or low-power roles while sitting in either an expansive (open) or constricted (closed) body posture.

An expansive posture means that the participants sat in a chair with one arm on the armrest and the other arm on the back of a neighboring chair with their legs crossed so that the ankle of one leg rested on the thigh of the other leg and extended beyond the leg of the chair. For the constricted posture, participants sat with their hands under their thighs, shoulders dropped low, and legs together.

Researchers found that only posture—not role—activates power-related behaviors. For example, during these experiments participants completed word exercises and a blackjack game. Participants with an expansive posture thought about more power-related words and took more action than those in the constricted posture.

When the participants reported how powerful they felt during the study, the people in a high-power role reported feeling more powerful than those in the low-power roles. Yet, this sense of power from the high-power role had little effect on action.

The role of power, as well as posture, both—independently—affect a person’s sense of power, but posture is more important in activating the power-related behaviors. This means that a high-power role can make you feel powerful but doesn’t mean you will act in charge. In order to act in charge, you need a high-power posture.

The third experiment in the study provided further support for this finding. In this experiment participants recalled a past experience of being in a high- or low-power role while siting in either an expansive or constricted posture. While in their respective postures, researchers asked the participants if they would take action in three different scenarios. The researchers discovered that posture had a stronger influence on action than remembering being in a high- or low-power role.

You might have known that standing up straight helps you look the part—confident and in charge—but Mama knew that it makes you think powerfully and take action.

So, why don’t you straighten that spine? Pull those shoulders back. Arch that chest. Reach out those arms and pick up that phone. Dial your mother and, in your big girl or big boy voice, tell her:

Thank you, Mommy…for helping me enhance my sense of potency and activate my power-related behaviors!

Powerful postures versus powerful roles: which is the proximate correlate of thought and behavior? Psychological Science. 2011 Jan 1; 22(1): 95-102.

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With 2011 here, we all have our New Year’s Resolutions that we are simply adamant about keeping, right?

And I bet, like most, you have tried practically every strategy for sticking with your resolutions and staying motivated through the year.

Yet, there is one successful strategy that you might not have tried — intentionally, that is — and that’s Anger.

A study out of Utrecht University of Netherlands, published in Psychological Science, describes how anger makes people actually want things more.

In this study, participants watched a computer screen that displayed common objects (pens, cups, etc.). However, unbeknownst to the participants, right before they would see an image of the object, a subliminal image of a face would flash rapidly on the screen. The images of the faces included a neutral face, an angry face, and a fearful face.

After seeing the set of images, in the first experiment, each participant was asked to report how much they wanted each object. In the second experiment, participants were told to squeeze a handgrip if they wanted the object and the harder they squeezed the more likely they were to win the object.

The objective of the experiment was to tie an emotion to an object. Researchers found that participants wanted the objects associated with angry faces over the objects associated with neutral or fearful faces. Additionally, individuals put more effort (squeezed the handgrip harder) to try to win the objects associated with angry faces.

What this means is that anger is a very powerful motivation.

The reason for the connection between anger and motivation probably has to do with evolution. Think about competing for a limited resource like food. “If the food does not make you angry or doesn’t produce aggression in your system, you may starve and lose the battle,” explains Henk Aarts, one of the authors of the study.

Yet, the study demonstrates that we have no idea that the reason for wanting an object can come from anger. “When you ask people why they work harder to get it, they say, ‘It’s just because I like it,’ ” says Aarts.

Even though we might not recognize it, we are all familiar with the powerful motivation of anger. I like to call this the High School Reunion Phenomenon. We all have some desire to return to our High School Reunion either richer, slimmer, or curvier. And, a big factor behind wanting that is the anger that percolates when thinking about that bully or girl or guy that tormented you in high school.

Anger is a very interesting emotion, being both negative AND positive.

Anger is generally categorized as a negative emotion, yet it has some characteristics of a positive emotion.

Anger actually activates the left side of the brain that is associated with many positive emotions. We are taught from a young age not to get angry. But anger, as we have learned, motivates people. “People are motivated to do something or obtain a certain object in the world because it’s rewarding for them. Usually this means that the object is positive and makes you happy,” explains Aarts.

So, To Recap:

1. We seek objects that are positive and will make us happy.
2. Anger makes us want those objects more.
3. Thus, anger makes us happy :)

So this year while reading over your resolutions, remember: Think Angry Thoughts!

Wishing all my readers a Very Happy, Angry New Year!!!

References:
H. Aarts, K. I. Ruys, H. Veling, R. A. Renes, J. H. B. de Groot, A. M. van Nunen, S. Geertjes. The Art of Anger: Reward Context Turns Avoidance Responses to Anger-Related Objects Into Approach. Psychological Science, 2010; 21 (10): 1406 DOI: 10.1177/0956797610384152

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If asked to rate your driving skills compared to the driving skills of others, would you say you are in the top 50% or bottom 50%?

Most likely you would say the top 50%. In fact, the classic study in 1981 by Swenson revealed that in the US sample 93% of participants placed themselves in the top 50% (above the median).

This inflated evaluation of our abilities transpires not only in driving assessment but in evaluations of intelligence, personality, and health as well.

Self-evaluations tend to be flawed, specifically towards the positive. Let’s face it; very often we think that we are better than we actually are.

But don’t worry. Everyone does it.

This bias is known as the “above-average” effect. When comparing the self to other people, research has shown that self-evaluations are predictably more positive than warranted by external standard.

A recent study published in the journal NeuroImage explains the role of the frontal lobe in these glowing self-evaluations. The study’s findings indicate that the less activity there is in the frontal lobe, the more likely we are to see ourselves through rose-colored glasses.

In the first study, researchers Jennifer Beer and Brent Hughes of the University of Texas at Austin scanned the brains of 20 participants while they answered questions about how they compared to their peers on positive traits (e.g. tact, modesty, likability, and maturity) and negative traits (e.g. materialism, messiness, unreliability and narrow-mindedness).

The results indicated that above-average evaluations were negatively correlated with activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and, to a lesser extent, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC).

Orbitofrontal Cortex

This means that the more participants viewed themselves as more desirable than others, the less they used their OFC and dACC.

These findings make sense considering that OFC damage impairs the ability to reason about social behavior. Patients with OFC damage tend to judge their social behavior more favorably “in the moment” when compared to other people’s perceptions of their behavior.

In the second study, the researchers investigated mental load on positive self-evaluations. Subjects that were required to answer quickly (mental load) saw themselves in far more of a positive light than those that had unlimited time to answer (no mental load).

This finding suggests that frontal lobe activation permits one to deliberately process the information to arrive at a more accurate assessment.

If self-serving evaluations are based on heuristics (quick assessments), then perhaps more time to make a judgment allows us to recruit the OFC and dACC since these regions have been known to correct or override heuristic approaches to evaluations.

I should say that I summed up that study better than average!

Um, on second thought, perhaps I should take a second and let my orbitofrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex weigh in on the judgment.

References:
Beer, J. S. and Hughes, B. L. (2009). Neural systems of social comparison and the ” above-average” effect. NeuroImage.

Swenson, O. (1981) “Are we all less risky and more skillful than our fellow drivers?” Acta Psychologica, Volume 47, Issue 2, February 1981, Pages 143-148

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Ever noticed how there are basically two types of smiles: a genuine smile and a fake one?

This distinction has been of interest to researchers for quite sometime now. In fact, the genuine smile has a name. It’s called the “Duchenne smile,” named after the French physician Guillaume Duchenne, who studied the physiology of facial expressions in the nineteenth century.

The Duchenne smile involves both voluntary and involuntary contraction from two muscles: the zygomatic major (raising the corners of the mouth) and the orbicularis oculi (raising the cheeks and producing crow’s feet around the eyes).

A fake smile or, as I like to call it, a “Say Cheese” smile involves the contraction of just the zygomatic major since we cannot voluntarily contract the orbicularis oculi muscle.

This is interesting, but why is it so? What’s going on upstairs that creates these two different smiles?

Scientists have discovered that these two types of smiles are actually controlled by two completely different parts of our brain.

When a patient with damage to the motor cortex on the brain’s left hemisphere attempts to smile, the smile is asymmetrical, with the right side of the smile not moving as it should. However, when that same patient spontaneously laughs, the smile is normal with no asymmetry. This means that the genuine smile is controlled by some other part of the brain.

Now, when a patient with damage to the anterior cingulate (part of the limbic system) in the left hemisphere attempts to smile, there is no asymmetry. The smile is normal. However, when that same patient tries to smile spontaneously, the asymmetry appears.

Limbic System

Thus, the Say Cheese smile is controlled by the motor cortex while emotion-related movements, like the Duchenne smile, is controlled by the limbic system (the emotional center of the brain).

But, does it truly matter if your smile is contrived or authentic?

Apparently, it matters a great deal to your life satisfaction and quality of marriage.

Researchers Dacher Keltner and LeeAnne Harker from the University of California, Berkeley analyzed the smiles in 141 photos from the 1960 Mills College yearbook. They divided the photos by Duchenne smiles, Say Cheese smiles, and the non-smilers.

The researchers followed up with these women at age 27, 43, and 52 and asked them questions about their life satisfaction and status of their marriage. They found that the Duchenne smile predicted positive outcomes in marriage and well-being up to 30 years later.

So remember, a genuine smile will probably make you happier than you think.

And as for me…

Well, in the words of the brilliant Will Ferrell, who played Buddy in the holiday movie Elf:

I just like to smile! Smiling’s my favorite.

References:
Damasio, A. (2006). Descartes’ Error. Vintage (Rand).

Harker, L. and Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions of positive emotion in women’s college yearbook pictures and their relationship to personality and life outcomes across adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1):112-124.

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Just in time for New Year’s Eve, a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, reveals that champagne, like red wine, is good for your heart and blood circulation.

The study from the University of Reading finds that drinking champagne in moderation (two glasses a day) has a positive effect on the way blood vessels function reducing the risks of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke.

The beneficial factor in champagne comes from polyphenol, a plant chemical found in red and white grapes. When you drink champagne, polyphenols get absorbed in your blood stream.

Polyphenols slow down the removal of nitric oxide from the blood. High nitric oxide levels in the blood increase blood flow and can decrease blood pressure and blood clotting. Thus, it can possibly reduce the risks of suffering from heart disease and stroke.

I don’t think you need an excuse to break out the bubbly this holiday season. But, if you do, you can count it towards your New Year’s Resolution to stay healthy.

Cheers!

References:

David Vauzour, Emily J. Houseman, Trevor W. George, Giulia Corona1, Roselyne Garnotel, Kim G. Jackson, Christelle Sellier, Philippe Gillery, Orla B. Kennedy, Julie A. Lovegrove and Jeremy P. E. Spencer. Moderate Champagne consumption promotes an acute improvement in acute endothelial-independent vascular function in healthy human volunteers. British Journal of Nutrition, 2009

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Has this ever happened to you? You shovel the last bite of your delicious yet oversized meal into your mouth. As you loosen a notch on your belt buckle — wondering why you didn’t wear stretchy pants — the waiter walks by and hands you the dessert menu. You know you are full. You know you should not get the triple-layer chocolate cake. But, you do. And, you eat the whole thing. Then you wonder why you just did that.

New research from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center suggests that ghrelin, the hormone that your body secretes when you are hungry, might also act on the brain influencing the hedonic aspects of eating behavior. The result being that we continue to eat “pleasurable” foods even when we are full.

Researchers Jeffrey Zigman, Mario Perello, and Michael Lutter suggest that ghrelin increases specific rewarding aspects of eating. Previous studies have linked ghrelin levels with the pleasurable feelings one gets from alcohol and cocaine.

Zigman explains that rewards give us sensory pleasure and motivate us to work to obtain them. Additionally, they facilitate the reorganization of our memory in order to remember how to obtain the rewards.

In order to study the effects of ghrelin on overeating, the researchers conducted two studies with mice. In the first study, the scientists observed whether mice that were satiated preferred a room where they previously found high-fat pellets versus a room that had regular bland food. When the mice were injected with ghrelin, they preferred the room with the fatty food. The mice without the ghrelin administration had no preference.

The researchers suggest that the mice with ghrelin pursue the fatty food because they remember how pleasurable it was. When researchers blocked the action of ghrelin, they found that the mice spent less time in the room that previously contained the high-fat pellets.

In the second study, the researchers measured how long the mice would continue to poke their heads into a hole to receive a pellet of high-fat food. They found that the mice that received ghrelin spent more time poking their heads in the hole, whereas the mice without ghrelin gave up sooner.

So the next time, you reach for the dessert menu, remember that just because your brain is telling you to get the triple-layer chocolate cake, ask yourself if it is really you wanting the cake or just ghrelin making you think that you do.

References:

Mario Perello, Ichiro Sakata, Shari Birnbaum, Jen-Chieh Chuang, Sherri Osborne-Lawrence, Sherry A. Rovinsky, Jakub Woloszyn, Masashi Yanagisawa, Michael Lutter, Jeffrey M. Zigman. Ghrelin Increases the Rewarding Value of High-Fat Diet in an Orexin-Dependent Manner. Biological Psychiatry, 2009.

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The Dalai Lama said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” We know that forgiveness and compassion are important for a meaningful, happy life. Yet, it is much easier to understand the importance of forgiveness than to be motivated enough in the heat of the moment to actually practice it. Every once in a while, you hear a story that makes you want to change and gives you the inspiration to practice forgiveness. Recently, I heard such a story:

Six months ago, a man wielding a baseball bat entered the convenience store of Mohammad Sohail of Shirley, New York. “Give me the money” the robber yelled. Mohammad quickly reached for his rifle and pointed it at the robber’s face, forcing the man to drop the bat. (Little did the robber know that Mohammad never loads his gun.)

The robber dropped to his knees and began to cry, pleading with Mohammad saying, “I’m sorry, I have no food. I have no money. My whole family is hungry. Don’t call the police. Don’t shoot me.” When Mohammad saw the man crying, he knew that this was not just a typical robbery.

Mohammad told the man that he would not call the police but to promise never to rob anyone ever again. The man agreed. Mohammad then handed the man $40 and a loaf of bread. Mohammad went to the back of the store to get him some milk, but when he returned the man had fled the store with the $40 and bread.

Mohammad hoped that the man would keep his promise.

About one month ago, Mohammad received an envelope with no return address. Inside he found a $50 bill and a note that read, “At the time I had No money No food on my table No Job, and nothing for my family. I know that it was wrong, but I had know (sic) choice. I needed to feed My family. When You had That gun to my head I was 100% that I was going to die.”

The letter from the would-be robber continued by stating, “Now I have a new child and good job make good money staying out of trouble and taking care of my family. You gave me forty dollars thank you for sparing my life Because of that you change my life.”

“I am very happy that somebody got to change his life,” Mohammad said. “When you do good things for somebody, it comes back to you. I gave him $40 and he sent me back $50. It was a good investment.”

Compassion and forgiveness are investments, which can feel risky at times. But, they are investments that pay off – not just for the recipient of the compassion but for the donor as well.

Michael McCullough, professor of psychology at the University of Miami, and author of Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct, says that in order to understand our human potential for compassion there are three essential truths about revenge and forgiveness we must know:

Truth #1: The Desire for Revenge is a Built-In Feature of Human Nature

We should not be ashamed for wanting revenge at times. The desire for revenge is a human instinct.

McCullough describes the work of evolutionary biologists Martin Daly and Margo Wilson who looked at the desire for revenge in 60 diverse societies all across the globe. They found that 57 of the 60 societies had some reference to blood feuds or capital punishment.

Revenge is a part of our human nature and evolutionarily has helped prevent future aggressors from inflicting harm upon victims.

Truth #2: The Capacity for Forgiveness is a Built-In Feature of Human Nature

While revenge is a human instinct, so is forgiveness. Forgiveness is as equally ubiquitous as is revenge. McCullough describes how in his own research he has found that in the same 60 societies that Daly and Wilson studied, 93% percent of those societies include concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation.

If we have the instinct to desire revenge but also have the capacity to forgive, what motivates us to choose one over the other?

McCullough says that under the right social conditions, we will choose forgiveness over revenge, which leads us to inquire, “what are the right social conditions?”

Truth #3: To Make the World a More Forgiving, Less Vengeful Place, Don’t Try to Change Human Nature-Change the World!

McCullough explains that while revenge and forgiveness are human instincts. They are sensitive to context.

When a society is replete with crime and police enforcement is weak, people tend to use revenge in order to punish aggressors and discourage cheaters. Yet, more forgiveness is shown in societies where there are efficient police and judicial systems and where people depend on cooperative relationships.

Our culture can also shape the rates of forgiveness and revenge. McCullough states that often we learn when revenge and forgiveness is appropriate from our culture.

It is important to remember that we cannot change billions of years of evolution and that revenge and forgiveness are adaptive solutions to a problem.

Although we might feel the desire for revenge as our heartbeat quickens and our blood begins to boil, we must remember that we also have the instinct to forgive. We can choose which type of solution we want to employ. Like Mohammad Sohail, we can choose to use forgiveness and compassion, and experience their rewards.

References:

Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct. Copyright © 2008 by Michael E. McCullough

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