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Why are we all so different? Here is a toolkit for finding out what people are really like IN THE 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, Aristotle's student and successor, wrote a book about personality. The project was motivated by his interest in what he considered a very puzzling question: "Why it has come about that, albeit the whole of Greece lies in the same clime, and all Greeks have a like upbringing, we have not the same constitution of character?" Not knowing how to get at the answer, Theophrastus decided to instead focus on categorising those seemingly mysterious differences in personality. The result was a book of descriptions of personality types to which he assigned names such as The Suspicious, The Fearful and The Proud. The book made such an impression that it was passed down through the ages, and is still available online today as The Characters of Theophrastus. The two big questions about personality that so interested Theophrastus are the same ones we ask ourselves about the people we know: why do we have different personalities? And what is the best way to describe them? In the past few decades, researchers have been gradually answering these questions, and in my new book, Making Sense of People: Decoding the mysteries of personality, I take a look at some of these answers. When it comes to the origins of personality, we have learned a lot. We now know that personality traits are greatly influenced by the interactions between the set of gene variants that we happen to have been born with and the social environment we happen to grow up in. The gene variants that a person inherits favour certain behavioural tendencies, such as assertiveness or cautiousness, while their environmental circumstances influence the forms these innate behavioural tendencies take. The ongoing dialogue between the person's genome and environment gradually establishes the enduring ways of thinking and feeling that are the building blocks of personality. This de

Build Will Power While Dieting

Buy Negative Google Reviews Assuming you are looking to buy negative Google reviews in an effort to improve your business's online reputation, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First and foremost, it is important to remember that when you buy negative Google reviews, you are essentially paying someone to lie about your business. As such, it is important to be very careful about who you purchase these reviews from. There are a lot of scam artists out there who will take your money and then either never deliver the promised reviews or deliver reviews that are so obviously fake that they do little to help your business. When looking for a company to buy negative Google reviews from, be sure to do your research. Read online reviews of the company you are considering using and look for any red flags. You should also make sure that the company offers a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the reviews they provide. Another thing to keep in mind when buying negative Google reviews is that you need to be realistic about the number of positive reviews your business has. If your business has a ton of positive reviews, then a few negative reviews are not going to have a huge impact on your overall rating. However, if your business has very few positive reviews, then even a few negative reviews can have a significant impact. As such, it is important to only purchase a few negative reviews if your business has a relatively good online reputation. If your business has a poor online reputation, you may want to purchase more negative reviews in an effort to offset the positive reviews. At the end of the day, buying negative Google reviews is a bit of a gamble. There is no guarantee that the reviews you purchase will be realistic or helpful. However, if you do your research and purchase from a reputable company, you should be able to get some negative reviews that will improve your business's online reputation. The world of online revie

Buy Negative Google Reviews Assuming you are looking to buy negative Google reviews in an effort to improve your business's online reputation, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First and foremost, it is important to remember that when you buy negative Google reviews, you are essentially paying someone to lie about your business. As such, it is important to be very careful about who you purchase these reviews from. There are a lot of scam artists out there who will take your money and then either never deliver the promised reviews or deliver reviews that are so obviously fake that they do little to help your business. When looking for a company to buy negative Google reviews from, be sure to do your research. Read online reviews of the company you are considering using and look for any red flags. You should also make sure that the company offers a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the reviews they provide. Another thing to keep in mind when buying negative Google reviews is that you need to be realistic about the number of positive reviews your business has. If your business has a ton of positive reviews, then a few negative reviews are not going to have a huge impact on your overall rating. However, if your business has very few positive reviews, then even a few negative reviews can have a significant impact. As such, it is important to only purchase a few negative reviews if your business has a relatively good online reputation. If your business has a poor online reputation, you may want to purchase more negative reviews in an effort to offset the positive reviews. At the end of the day, buying negative Google reviews is a bit of a gamble. There is no guarantee that the reviews you purchase will be realistic or helpful. However, if you do your research and purchase from a reputable company, you should be able to get some negative reviews that will improve your business's online reputation. The world of online revie

Buy Negative Google Reviews Assuming you are looking to buy negative Google reviews in an effort to improve your business's online reputation, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First and foremost, it is important to remember that when you buy negative Google reviews, you are essentially paying someone to lie about your business. As such, it is important to be very careful about who you purchase these reviews from. There are a lot of scam artists out there who will take your money and then either never deliver the promised reviews or deliver reviews that are so obviously fake that they do little to help your business. When looking for a company to buy negative Google reviews from, be sure to do your research. Read online reviews of the company you are considering using and look for any red flags. You should also make sure that the company offers a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the reviews they provide. Another thing to keep in mind when buying negative Google reviews is that you need to be realistic about the number of positive reviews your business has. If your business has a ton of positive reviews, then a few negative reviews are not going to have a huge impact on your overall rating. However, if your business has very few positive reviews, then even a few negative reviews can have a significant impact. As such, it is important to only purchase a few negative reviews if your business has a relatively good online reputation. If your business has a poor online reputation, you may want to purchase more negative reviews in an effort to offset the positive reviews. At the end of the day, buying negative Google reviews is a bit of a gamble. There is no guarantee that the reviews you purchase will be realistic or helpful. However, if you do your research and purchase from a reputable company, you should be able to get some negative reviews that will improve your business's online reputation. The world of online revie

A dystopian film. " THE MASTER" For some time I was occupied by a search for a title for this review of 'The Master'; Paul Thomas Anderson's 70 mm film homage to post war alienation and deceit. Anderson is a student of film history while his being an auteur is essential to understanding his intent. He stands on the shoulders of earlier filmmakers, influenced by them and seeking to relate his version of the "American Dream".

A controversial video, that shows a couple having sex while they were skydiving, ignited the flame of US Aviation authorities' investigation.

While so much about sexuality is brazenly public these days, we haven't advanced very far in our ability to talk about our sexual fears and anxieties.

The author conducted a partial replication of Stanley Milgram's (1963, 1965, 1974) obedience studies that allowed for useful comparisons with the original investigations while protecting the well-being of participants. (Abstract only for non-subscribers)

I'm having a hard time thinking this is a good idea. I'd prefer to move toward less reliance on drugs rather than more.

"In this article, we propose actions that will help society accept the benefits of enhancement, given appropriate research and evolved regulation. Prescription drugs are regulated as such not for their enhancing properties but primarily for considerations of safety and potential abuse. Still, cognitive enhancement has much to offer individuals and society, and a proper societal response will involve making enhancements available while managing their risks."

In this work, we address an important but unexplored topic, namely the neural correlates of hate. In a block-design fMRI study, we scanned 17 normal human subjects while they viewed the face of a person they hated and also faces of acquaintances for whom they had neutral feelings. A hate score was obtained for the object of hate for each subject and this was used as a covariate in a between-subject random effects analysis. Viewing a hated face resulted in increased activity in the medial frontal gyrus, right putamen, bilaterally in premotor cortex, in the frontal pole and bilaterally in the medial insula. We also found three areas where activation correlated linearly with the declared level of hatred, the right insula, right premotor cortex and the right fronto-medial gyrus. One area of deactivation was found in the right superior frontal gyrus. The study thus shows that there is a unique pattern of activity in the brain in the context of hate. Though distinct from the pattern of activity that correlates with romantic love, this pattern nevertheless shares two areas with the latter, namely the putamen and the insula.

According to Dr. Youtz, sightless reading is possible because black print absorbs more heat and is warmer than the surrounding white page, which reflects heat very efficiently. While this may account for people 'seeing' with their fingertips or elbows, it does not explain how people such as Kuda Bux or Margaret Foos could see objects without coming in contact with them. This type of eyeless sight remains a fully documented - but so far inexplicable - mystery.

For example, the researchers tracked which students responded to questions posed to the class as a whole, not one particular student. At the beginning of the semester, female students were much less likely than male students (9 percent vs. 23 percent) to respond to such questions, regardless of the gender of the instructor. But as the course progressed, female students became much more likely to respond to such questions posed by female instructors (46 percent of female students were responding) than to male instructors (only 7 percent of female students were responding). Likewise, a larger percentage of male students answered questions posed by female instructors (42 percent of men) than by male instructors (only 26 percent of men). Notably, however, the impact of having a female instructor vs. a male instructor was much greater for women. The researchers tracked other measures as well. At the beginning of the courses, there were not notable differences in whether female students approached female instructors (12 percent did) or male instructors (13 percent did) with questions after class. But as the course progressed, the percentage of female students approaching female instructors stayed constant, while the number approaching male instructors dropped -- all the way to zero.

19-01-2011 Medical evidence has shown that long-term solitary confinement is a form of torture. Dr Joost J den Otter, Medical Director at the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), adds that while there is no doubt about the damage caused by long periods of isolation, solitary confinement for a short period may also cause psychological harm. Dr den Otter highlights the fact that many qualitative and quantitative scientific studies have documented how solitary confinement in prison has damaging health effects. He asserts that the scientific debate on solitary confinement as a method of torture has been settled for many years, but that it seems there is still confusion among policy makers, prison authorities, and the general public. A recent commentary published by the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law about solitary confinement and mental illness in U.S. Prisons, the authors, Jeffrey L. Metzner and Jamie Fellner, support Dr den Otter's judgment. "Isolation can be psychologically harmful to any prisoner, with the nature and severity of the impact depending on the individual, the duration of confinement, and particular conditions (e.g., access to natural light, books, or radio). Psychological effects can include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, obsessive thoughts, paranoia, and psychosis". In August 2010, Physicians for Human Rights published a report (Experiments in Torture) which added to the growing body of evidence that solitary confinement causes psychological harm consistent with torture. In an interview with 'Life's Little Mysteries', Dr Scott Allen, one of the authors of the paper, said that solitary confinement "can lead to anxiety, depression, certainly disorientation, [and] it can even lead to thought disorders including psychotic thoughts." He added "The consequences can be significant." This backs up researcher Peter Scharff Smith, of The Danis

A new study suggests that a single dose of psilocybin -- the active ingredient in "Magic Mushrooms" -- can result in improved personality traits over the long term. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that individuals who received the drug once in a clinical setting reported a greater sense of "openness" that often lasted 14 months or longer, according to study published this week in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. The study defined openness as a personality trait that "encompasses aesthetic appreciation and sensitivity, imagination and fantasy, and broad-minded tolerance of others' viewpoints and values." It is one of five main personality traits that are shared among all cultures worldwide. Of the 51 participants, 30 had personality changes that left them feeling more open. Other personality traits (extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness) were not impacted. Only the participants who said they had a "complete mystical experience" while on the drug registered an increased sense of openness. "The mystical experience has certain qualities," lead author Katherine MacLean said. "The primary one is that you feel a certain kind of connectedness and unity with everything and everyone." Because personality traits are generally considered to remain stable throughout a persons lifetime, researchers are excited about therapeutic implications of the study. "[T]his study shows that psilocybin actually changes one domain of personality that is strongly related to traits such as imagination, feeling, abstract ideas and aesthetics, and is considered a core construct underlying creativity in general," study author Roland R. Griffiths told USA Today. "And the changes we see appear to be long-term."     

In what may feel like a flashback to the porn wars of the '60s, a new study investigates the link between a country's relative gender equality and the degree of female "empowerment" in the X-rated entertainment it consumes. Researchers at the University of Hawaii focused on three countries in particular: Norway, the United States and Japan, which are respectively ranked 1st, 15th and (yikes) 54th on the United Nations' Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). To simplify their analysis, their library of smut was limited to explicit photographs of women "from mainstream pornographic magazines and Internet websites, as well as from the portfolios of the most popular porn stars from each nation." Then they set out to evaluate each image on both a disempowerment and an empowerment scale, using respective measures like whether the woman is "bound and dominated" by "leashes, collars, gags, or handcuffs" or "whether she has a natural looking body." Their hypothesis was that societies with greater gender equity will consume pornography that has more representations of "empowered women" and less of "disempowered women." It turned out the former was true, but, contradictory as it may sound, the latter was not. "While Norwegian pornography offers a wider variety of body types -- conforming less to a societal ideal that is disempowering to the average woman -- there are still many images that do not promote a healthy respect for women," the researchers explain. In other words, Norwegian porn showed more signs of female empowerment, but X-rated images in all three countries equally depicted women in demeaning positions and scenarios. This, the researchers surmise, "suggests that empowerment and disempowerment within pornography are potentially different constructs." So, gender equality is accompanied by sexual interest in a broader range of beauty types but not a decrease in porn's infantilization of females, use of dominating fetish gear on women or any of the other characteristics th

interesting experiment to find this out...

It is said in the 18th century the American general Israel Putnam once invited a British general to a novel test of nerves. Both were to sit on barrels of gunpowder, and the fuses were to bit lit. The last man to run away would be the winner. The unnamed British general accepted Putman's challenge. But as the fuses burned, he became increasingly fidgety while Putnam sat calmly, smoking his pipe. At the last moment the British general fled. Putnam stayed seated; he knew that both barrels were filled with onions. For several hundred years the Tower of London was home to a menagerie of wild animals, including a number of lions that later became the basis of a hoax. Dawk's News-Letter for April 2, 1698, announced: "Yesterday being the one April several persons were sent to the Tower of London to watch the annual lion-washing ceremony." This fictitious event continued to attract gullible visitors. Indeed, 158 years later, in 1856, many bought tickets to attend the ceremony. They were unaware of the significance of the date, April 1, or that the lions had been moved to the London Zoo 21 years before.

While the killing of Osama bin Laden is being enthusiastically celebrated throughout America and parts of the world, to say that such merriment is out of order will surely be considered heresy. Nonetheless, I'm saying it -- because it needs to be said. What I am tempted to say is this: Get a grip, celebrators. Have you so little decency?

Fats in foods like potato chips and french fries make them nearly irresistible because they trigger natural marijuana-like chemicals in the body called endocannabinoids, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, have found. The researchers discovered that when rats tasted something fatty, cells in their upper gut started producing endocannabinoids, while sugars and proteins did not have this effect. How fats create, like, a buzz It starts on the tongue, where fats in food generate a signal that travels first to your brain, and then through a nerve bundle called the vagus to your intestines. There, the signal stimulates the production of endocannabinoids, which initiates a surge in cell signaling that prompts you to totally pig out - probably by initiating the release of digestive chemicals linked to hunger and satiety that compel us to eat more. And that leads to obesity, diabetes and cancer, the researchers said. But they suggest it might be possible to curb this process by obstructing endocannabinoid activity: for example, by using drugs that "clog" cannabinoid receptors. The trick: bypassing the brain to avoid creating anxiety and depression (which happens when endocannabinoid signaling is blocked in the brain). I'm guessing McDonald's won't be adding that drug to their fries. Ref.: Daniele Piomelli, et al., An endocannabinoid signal in the gut controls dietary fat intake, PNAS, 2011; in press