"We don't have as much of an opportunity to consider solitude as a neutral thing, or even as a positive experience in our lives.” — Netta Weinstein
BRAIN WAVES
Happy days. Happiness is changing. For decades, when researchers measured and mapped life satisfaction, it was U-shaped: life satisfaction was high in younger years, dipped during mid-life, then increased again as people aged. But this has changed, according to a working paper by economist David Blanchflower and colleagues. It showed that in recent years, life satisfaction looks more like a line that steadily moves upward. At first glance, this sounds like a good thing – happiness is increasing with age, even in mid-life-- but it’s actually because the bar is lower. Young people are reporting being more dissatisfied with life than before, and it’s a trend that seems to exist globally. Could the trend be driven by use of cell phones and social media? That’s what Blanchflower seems to suggest. “What you need [to make the case for other explanations] is something that starts around 2014 or so, is global and disproportionately impacts the young—especially young women,” he told Scientific American. “Anybody that comes up with an explanation has got to have something that fits that. Other than cell phones, I don’t have anything.”
More money, more problems. Let’s say you would mow someone’s lawn for $50. It stands to reason that you’d then do it for $250, right? Maybe not. In a series of studies, researchers found that financial incentives can sometimes backfire. “Overly generous offers lead people to infer ‘phantom costs’ that make them less likely to accept high job wages, cheap plane fares, and free money,” according to the study. For example, in one experiment, researchers told people to imagine they were freelance truck drivers who typically earned $20 an hour. They then presented people with fake job postings with randomly assigned wages between $20 and $250 an hour. People were more likely to take the job when it was around $40 an hour, but beyond that, they were actually less likely to take the job the more money it paid. “Thus, offering a little too much increased job taking, but offering way too much money backfired,” the study concluded. The researchers wonder if it has to do with those phantom costs – in other words, people are skeptical that there must be a hidden downside when incentives are too high.
Chatter. You know that negative voice that goes round and round in your head, keeping you up at night? When that negative inner voice gets switched on, it’s hard to think about anything else. So how can we keep this voice from taking over? Listen to learn more.
ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST
How To Be Alone: We’re always told to reach for that next ring, work that third job, go to that boisterous party after a long day at work. You only live once … right? But psychologist Netta Weinstein says that when we constantly engage in achievement and distraction, we lose something essential about ourselves. This week, she makes a case for solitude, and examines what happens when we seek a quieter, more reflective interior life.
ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST
Frances Brissey’s Story: When Frances was injured in a car accident, a truck driver came over to help.
Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.
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MIND GAMES
A man got into a ship and could see more than four continents at the same time. How is this possible?
LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE
A tree doubled in height each year until it reached its maximum height over the course of ten years. How many years did it take for the tree to reach half its maximum height?
Answer: Nine years
A MOMENT OF JOY
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