MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'human nature'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:56:33 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181901&cid=t_249090_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F30%2Fwhy-a-hurricane-filled-me-with-gratitude%2F Like much of the East Coast, New York City was hit by Hurricane Irene. On Saturday, we checked our flashlights, loaded up on food, filled the bathtub, and hoped for the best. We were extremely lucky. The hurricane didn’t affect us much — we didn’t even lose power. And I’m very, very grateful for that. The hurricane was a good reminder about gratitude. For one thing, it reminded me that I have so much to be grateful for that it seems a bit preposterous that I need to remind myself to be grateful — but I do. When life is taking its ordinary course, it’s so easy to take everyday life for granted. Also, the hurricane made me much more mindful of how much I love my apartment and my city, and how safe and secure I generally feel. It’s a sad foible of human nature that ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181901 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:53:47 +0100 5181901 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008310&cid=t_249090_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F05%2Fa-quick-shot-of-happiness-thanks-to-winston-churchill%2F One of the great joys of my life was writing my biography of Winston Churchill. What a pleasure it was to write that book! I had so many complicated things (both praise and blame) to say about Churchill, and the problems of biography, and human nature, and I felt that I managed to express them all — to my own satisfaction, anyway. When I feel a little blue, I often console myself by thinking of some of my favorite passages of Churchill’s writing. So many examples stand out in my mind. One, for instance, is the extraordinary eulogy to Neville Chamberlain. Another is a passage from Their Finest Hour, the second volume in Churchill’s six-volume history of World War II. Of a visit to a very poor London neighborhood that had been devastated by the Blitz, he wrote: Already litt... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008310 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:12:27 +0100 5008310 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693333&cid=t_249090_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F08%2Fthe-forbidden-fruit-in-relationships%2F A long-term, stable romantic relationship with a committed, caring partner has many psychological benefits, which we know from the oodles of psychological research published about them. So it’s a good thing to try and protect one’s relationship from external influences. One of the most difficult to recover from and damaging influences is cheating. If cheating will harm a relationship (and cheating appears to be one of the primary reasons cited in many, if not most, relationship breakups), what can be done to minimize it? After all, isn’t it human nature — and the nature of temptation — to constantly look for desirable alternatives? One of the ways people look to protect their long-term relationship is to simply remain inattentive to those alternatives. Researc... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693333 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:30:13 +0100 4693333 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4361066&cid=t_249090_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2F18%2Fhow-to-detect-lies-be-trusting%2F Humans can be an untrusting race. People are often very cynical about human nature, tending to think that strangers will happily lie to us if there is something in it for them. In a world filled with liars, lack of trust in others is often thought to be a sensible precaution. And to protect ourselves, we need to be suspicious of people we don’t know. Certainly we have an intuitive belief that people who are more suspicious of others’ motives are likely to be better at detecting lies. Or so Nancy Carter and J. Mark Weber found when they asked a group of MBA students whether people high or low in trust would be better at detecting lies in others (Carter & Weber, 2010). The results were as we’d expect: 85% thought low trusters are better than high trusters at lie detect... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4361066 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:03:26 +0100 4361066 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4053285&cid=t_249090_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007559.html Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen have been arguing with each other about how humans evolve. Tyler sees better looking people who are less creative and less driven. Let us assume that scientific progress continues. My view is that parents don't so much like "difference," unless it is very directly in their favor. Using technology, parents will select for children who are taller, smarter in the way that parents value, better looking, and perhaps also more loyal to their families. The people in the wealthy parts of the world will look more like models and movie stars, but they will be quite recognizable. These children may also be less creative and some of them will be less driven. It's a bit... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4053285 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0100 4053285 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3644730&cid=t_249090_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007238.html Neuroticism and extraversion are being selected for in countries with the highest birth rates. The study, which was published yesterday (7 June 2010) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that women with higher levels of neuroticism and more extravert men, are likely to give birth to a larger number of children in societies with traditionally high birth rates. I'd really like to know which personality traits are being selected for in Western industrial societies. Natural selection has not stopped. But in industrial societies selective pressures change. Since more educated people have fewer kids intelligence is being selected against. But what other cognitive traits are selected for or against? Women with higher neuroticism were also less able... (Source: FuturePundi... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3644730 Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3644730 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3563929&cid=t_249090_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007175.html Tibetans carry several genetic variants that adapt them better to high altitude living. SALT LAKE CITY—Researchers have long wondered why the people of the Tibetan Highlands can live at elevations that cause some humans to become life-threateningly ill – and a new study answers that mystery, in part, by showing that through thousands of years of natural selection, those hardy inhabitants of south-central Asia evolved 10 unique oxygen-processing genes that help them live in higher climes. In a study published May 13 in Science Express, researchers from the University of Utah School of Medicine and Qinghai University Medical School in the People's Republic of China report that thousands of years ago, Tibetan highlanders began to genetically adapt to prevent polycythemia... (Source: FutureP... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3563929 Wed, 12 May 2010 23:00:00 +0100 3563929 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3420538&cid=t_249090_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F03%2F30%2Fthe-trust-gap-why-people-are-so-cynical%2F How do people come to believe that others are so much less trustworthy than themselves? Much as we might prefer otherwise, there’s solid evidence that, on average, people are quite cynical. When thinking about strangers, studies have shown that people think others are more selfishly motivated than they really are and that others are less helpful than they really are. Similarly in financial games psychologists have run in the lab, people are remarkably cynical about the trustworthiness of others. In one experiment people honored the trust placed in them between 80 and 90 percent of the time, but only estimated that others would honor their trust about 50 percent of the time. Our cynicism towards strangers may develop as early as 7 years old (Mills & Keil, 2005). Surprisingly peop... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3420538 Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:00:16 +0100 3420538 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2473244&cid=t_249090_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F006282.html UCSF urologist Michael Eisenberg finds that among virgins aged 25 to 45 church attendance and college education increased the odds of virginity. His team's survey found that 13.9 per cent... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2473244 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:00:00 +0100 2473244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1868552&cid=t_249090_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F005614.html The Pleistocene era that ended 10000 years ago saw the development of human societies less hierarchical that other ape societies. How did this happen? A mathematical model of human social... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1868552 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1868552 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1750150&cid=t_249090_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F005501.html David Friedman says that while Leftists generally accept that evolution occurred they reject all implications evolution has for human nature. People who say they are against teaching the theory of... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1750150 Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0100 1750150 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=945505&cid=t_249090_109_f&fid=35677&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainBasedBusiness%2F%7E3%2F168727245%2Fwatch_wisemans_video_for_tellt.html Ah … the mind is far more fascinating than most realize. Did you know that people would rather wear a jersey that was dropped in dog plop, for instance,  than don a near-new sweater once owned by a mass murderer? Or are you aware that people born in summer months are happier and more open to new ventures than those born in winter? It’s all laid out … from luck to the paranormal …  in Dr. Richard Wiseman’s new book, Quirkology.  A spotlight on human behavior … the book sketches quirky samples from the science of everyday life.Check out a video of quirks this British psychologist observed over ten years compiling from studying people and the mind. The author describes tell-tale signs that reveal truths about a liar &hellip... BrainBasedBusiness blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=945505 Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:10:17 +0100 945505