Fascinating short article, which reports on a new study that suggests that "simply handling money can dull physical and emotional pain." Previous studies show that social exclusion and physical pain share (and trigger) common neural reactions, and it appears "that money and physical pain are linked to one another." The new study looks at this connection "as well as the connection money has to social distress."
more fromwww.technologyreview.com
From the article's "snapshot":
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Research proves attractive things work better. How we think cannot be separated from how we feel. The next time a boss, client, or co-worker scoffs at the notion that beauty is an important aspect of interface design, point their peepers here.
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more fromwww.alistapart.com
The title is quite misleading since only the first half of Lehrer's article chronicles the city's stressful effects on the brain, while the second half describes urbanism's benefits, and that that it's a question of designing cities so that nature continues to intervene and refresh/ calm / regenerate the brain.
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Given the myriad mental problems that are exacerbated by city life, from an inability to pay attention to a lack of self-control, the question remains: Why do cities continue to grow? And why, even in the electronic age, do they endure as wellsprings of intellectual life?
Recent research by scientists at the Santa Fe Institute used a set of complex mathematical algorithms to demonstrate that the very same urban features that trigger lapses in attention and memory -- the crowded streets, the crushing density of people -- also correlate with measures of innovation, as strangers interact with one another in unpredictable ways. It is the "concentration of social interactions" that is largely responsible for urban creativity, according to the scientists. The density of 18th-century London may have triggered outbreaks of disease, but it also led to intellectual breakthroughs, just as the density of Cambridge -- one of the densest cities in America -- contributes to its success as a creative center. One corollary of this research is that less dense urban areas, like Phoenix, may, over time, generate less innovation.
The key, then, is to find ways to mitigate the psychological damage of the metropolis while still preserving its unique benefits. Kuo, for instance, describes herself as "not a nature person," but has learned to seek out more natural settings: The woods have become a kind of medicine. As a result, she's better able to cope with the stresses of city life, while still enjoying its many pleasures and benefits. Because there always comes a time, as Lou Reed once sang, when a person wants to say: "I'm sick of the trees/take me to the city."
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more fromwww.boston.com
The Economist article on Dutch research that indicates a heightened tolerance for crime & social disorder once "broken windows" set it.
more fromwww.economist.com
Creating new habits = essential for innovation; old habits remain, but can be lessened (if bad,eg.) by new habits.
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...brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.
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This reminds me very much of SEED magazine's 2006 article, The Reinvention of the Self," by Jonah Lehrer, which profiled the work of Prof. Elizabeth Gould.
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/02/the_reinvention_of_the_self.php?page=all&p=y
more fromwww.nytimes.com
Very true and very "LOL" column by The Brazen Careerist on "self discipline" and the "happiness" movement. Maybe I'd be have more energy if I just succumbed to my rudderless inner slob...
more fromblog.penelopetrunk.com
References to a "creative underclass" and "roiling Schadenfreude" of course set off bells for anyone familiar with the Victoria BC scene, which has long sustained itself on highly creative (often volatile) people living on substandard wages. True, that might be the only thing Victoria and NYC have in common, but the socially determined psychology suggested by the author's intro makes me want to read this with an eye on our local scene. We have in this city "a huge cheering section for failure," as a local commentator once put it, and maybe Grigoriadis's article will shed light on how that happens.
more fromnymag.com
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