hotmedfax2018

After this horrendous week, it might shock you to know what lies behind most -- I didn't say criminals' -- need to commit political violence ? Thrill-seeking.  That's right.  People like it because it gets their adrenaline rolling, according to a new study as reported by newswise.com.   What drives someone to support or participate in politically or religiously motivated acts of violence, and what can be done to prevent them? While one factor may be a search for meaning in life, research published by the American Psychological Association suggests people may be further driven by an increased need for excitement and feeding that need with thrilling but non-violent alternatives may curb the desire. Tell that to the MAGABomber and the mass murderer in the synagogue. “Recently, scholars have discussed how youths are lured to join political or religious movements,” the web site quotes Birga Schumpe, PhD, a social psychologist at New York University Abu Dhabi an...

We all know the reasons stress is bad for us.  It creates the inability to sleep, to concentrate, to be a human being to our family and friends. But did you know it also shrinks your brain ? That's right.  A new study has found that middle-aged people who undergo major stress (or maybe even just a little) lose brain size and memory , according to newswise.com. The web site reports that middle-aged people with high levels of a hormone called cortisol in their blood have impaired memory when compared to those with average levels of the hormone, even before symptoms of memory loss started to show, according to a study published in the October 24, 2018, online issue of  Neurology ® , the medical journal of the   American Academy of Neurology .  People with high levels of the hormone also had lower brain volume than those with regular cortisol levels. Cortisol, produced by the adrenal glands, helps the body respond to stress. It can also help reduce inflamm...

I've had jobs that paid me a lot.  And jobs that paid me very little (or not at all).  But the jobs I've loved best were those that brought me job satisfaction . And now a new study says that best practices , not individual preferences, bring job satisfaction. How so? According to newswise.com, " T hough employees may like their work to cater to their individual preferences, they are predictably more satisfied when the organizational culture matches a set of widely preferred characteristics that provide a fair, supportive and stable work environment." Through a study of more than 700 participants working in occupations ranging from customer service, to accountants, information technology and administration, researchers found people typically prefer a similar organizational culture, the web site reports. “Although having your organization accommodate personal preferences might increase your job satisfaction, what really makes a difference is if your organizat...

Who hasn't tried to help a coworker having trouble with a task?  (Or a husband, or child, for that matter!) And don't we all know that people need to figure things out for themselves?  I'm guilty.  I get so frustrated with my helpless (on purpose?) husband and lazy child that I do most of what needs to be done, myself. Now a new study says you should not offer unless someone asks. For over-controlling self-starters like me, that's a tall order. According to newswise.com, i f you thought that proactively offering help to your co-workers was a good thing, think again.  New workplace research  from Michigan State University found that when it comes to offering your expertise, it’s better to keep to yourself or wait until you’re asked, the web site reports. Building upon  previous findings  that showed how helping colleagues slows one’s success , management professor Russell Johnson looked more closely at the different kinds of help in which pe...

This isn't much of a surprise.  But did you know that men in leadership gain from psychopathic behavior , while women are punished? A new study has found that p eople with psychopathic tendencies are slightly more likely to be a company boss, but a new study finds men are allowed a pass for those inclinations while women are punished, according to newswise.com. . The study finds concern over psychopathic tendencies in bosses may be overblown, but that gender can function to obscure the real effects, the web site adds. “Aggressive behavior is seen as more prototypical of men, and so people allow more displays of that kind of behavior without social sanctions,” says  Dr. Peter Harms , associate professor of management at The University of Alabama. “If women behave counter to gender norms, it seems like they get punished for it more readily.” Duh. A psychopathic personality has three characteristics, including boldness in asserting dominance over others, being ...

Does this surprise anyone?  Women are less likely to be r ewarded for their innovations than men, according to a new study as reported by newswise.com. Recent research by  Derek R. Avery , professor and the David C. Darnell Chair in Principled Leadership at the Wake Forest University School of Business, showed both men and women managers can struggle from a “think innovation—think male” bias that affects performance reviews. Sadly, female employees receive more favorable performance ratings when their levels of innovative work behaviors were lower than when they were higher. Avery can talk about how organizations can help managers overcome their own biases. “Being aware is a start,” says Avery, “but the workplace is an extension of society, which has long undervalued women as innovators.” Women win by putting their best idea forward first.   Communications professor  Rebecca Gill  says women can better position themselves to lead change in the workp...

We've all been there.  The boss who forgets you told him a week ago about having to leave early for your kid's play and creates a new deadline for a project so you can't. Or, how about the one who invites everybody in the department to lunch except you? (That actually happened to me.) If you’ve ever worked for an impulsive or vengeful boss, these headlines may not seem so far-fetched: “CEO is the profession with the most psychopaths,” or “1 in 5 CEOs is a psychopath, study finds.” Numerous headlines making similar claims caught the attention of Iowa State University and University of Alabama researchers who questioned if there may be more to the story, according to newswise.com. "They started digging into the science and found such claims to be overblown. Contrary to public perception, they say the relationship between leadership and psychopathy is weak," the web site reports. “We found people with psychopathic tendencies were somewhat more likely to beco...

Nice guys finish last, right?  Now, nice people do it with money, too. According to a new study, agreeable people who place less value on money (count me in, unless you're talking about spending!), guess what?  Are at a financial disadvantage. As newswise.com reports, n ice people may be at greater risk of bankruptcy and other financial hardships compared with their less agreeable peers, not because they are more cooperative, but because they don’t value money as much, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. “We were interested in understanding whether having a nice and warm personality, what academics in personality research describe as agreeableness, was related to negative financial outcomes,” says Sandra Matz, PhD, of Columbia Business School and lead author of the study. “Previous research suggested that agreeableness was associated with lower credit scores and income. We wanted to see if that association held true for other fin...

Now who does this sound like? Fake news.  Alternative facts.  The truth isn't always the truth. The sad truth is that, even when people are presented with facts , supported by evidence , some of them still choose not to believe them. In the case of the president, that's because he doesn't always like the facts.  But when you're talking about other people, i n an era of fact-checking and "alternative facts," many simply choose not to believe research findings and other established facts, according to a new paper co-authored by a professor at Indiana University's  Kelley School of Business , as reported by newswise.com . "A growing body of evidence suggests that even when individuals are aware of research findings supported by a vast majority of studies, they often choose not to believe them," writes  Ernest O'Boyle , ssociate professor of management and entrepreneurship, and two co-authors in the Journal of Management. "There...

Your kid takes your car and crashes it into a tree.  He's ok but the car is totaled.  Now what?  You take away the car keys. Cause and effect. But in many cases, the way we interpret cause and effect "fails to accurately describe reality," newswise.com reports. Scientists led by Albert C. Yang, MD, PhD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, introduced a new approach to causality that moves away from this temporally linear model of cause and effect, the web site explains. “The reality in the real-world is that cause and effect are often reciprocal, as in the feedback loops seen in physiologic/endocrine pathways, neuronal regulation, ecosystems, and even the economy,” says Yang, a scientist in the Division of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Biotechnology, at newswise.com. “Our new causal method allows for mutual or two-way causation, in which the effect of a cause can feed back to the cause itself simultaneously.” Causality is what connects one process with ano...