interesting…

Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.

That’s what unhappy people do.

You can get more about this study from the New York Times

but she made me do it

Research from two economists out of England suggests that becoming overweight may be a phenomena associated with “keeping up with the Joneses.”

They acknowledge that in a Darwinian society, in which people compete for status, being overweight carries a stigma. But as more people become obese the perception of what constitutes being overweight changes. ‘Thus when my neighbour gets a little fatter, I … become a little fatter (since it is now not necessary to be so slim in order to compete),’ Blanchflower and Oswald write.

Data suggests that people living in developed countries are approximately 10kg heavier than they were a few decades ago. The two economists found that, among European women, ‘there is evidence that perceptions of being overweight depend not just on a person’s own Body Mass Index, but also on their BMI relative to other people’.

I found this very interesting, too:
Their findings are supported by similar socio-economic analyses. Studies have suggested that it is psychologically preferable to be jobless in areas where there is significant unemployment. ‘This is presumably for reasons of reduced stigma,’ Blanchflower and Oswald write. ‘For equivalent reasons, it may be easier to be fat in a society that is fat.’ They also suggest an individual’s perception of whether they are overweight depends on their socio-economic characteristics and that ‘highly educated people hold themselves to a thinner standard’.

You can find the whole article HERE

Must See TV

very interesting lecture. Please dedicate 15 minutes to watch this lecture from Daniel Gilbert on The Psychology of Global Warming.

The first one is 8 minutes:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiz3XARUNeM]

this one is 7 minutes:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTnkT2pcV3s&feature=related]

Daniel Gilbert is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book “Stumbling on Happiness”.