1998 Ig Nobel Biology Prize — The prize was awarded to Peter Fong of Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for contributing to the happiness of clams by giving them Prozac. The research is documented in the study “Induction and Potentiation of Parturition in Fingernail Clams (Sphaerium striatinum) by Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs),” Peter F. Fong, Peter […]
This short film, “Happiness,” by Steve Cutts, appears to sum up generations of psychology research on the topic. Its full of rats, and except fleetingly, devoid of happiness. (Thanks to Fariba Houman for bringing this to our attention.)
This study is packed with tasty subtleties and interconnectivities: “Too Impatient to Smell the Roses: Exposure to Fast Food Impedes Happiness,” Julian House [pictured below], Sanford E. DeVoe, and Chen-Bo Zhong [who rose to fame with his study about the MacBeth Effect — see yesterday’s blog item about that; he is pictured here, at right], Social […]
Some might jump to the conclusion that ruminating about death and destruction is a major downer – with potentially deleterious consequences for individuals and society at large. But a joint US/Dutch research team have published findings which shine a positive beam of light into this potentially murky area. With the sombre implications of Terror Management […]
Does the weather affect people’s happiness? If so, how? Two researchers, professor Katrin Rehdanz from the Centre for Marine and Climate Research, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany (now at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel) and professor David Maddison from the Department of Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark (now at the University of Birmingham, UK) co-authored the […]
Catherine Douglas, co-winner of the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in veterinary medicine for determining that cows who have names give more milk than cows that don’t, has now done research on the happiness of pigs. In this inverview with the BBC, she explains that a glockenspiel figured prominently in the research: (Thanks to investigator Scott […]
“Workers, even those with interesting high status jobs, really are happier on the weekend” – that’s the finding of a new research project from Richard Ryan, Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, & Education and colleagues at the University of Rochester NY. The team set up an experiment which tracked the mood of 74 working adults over […]
“Beyond Initial Attraction: Physical Attractiveness in Newlywed Marriage,” James K. McNulty, Lisa A. Neff, and Benjamin R. Karney, Journal of Family Psychology, vol. 22, no. 1, February 2008, pp. 135–43. (Thanks to Ron Josephson for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are variously at University of Tennessee, University of Toledo, and University of […]
“Taking a Shower in Youth Hostels: Risks and Delights of Heterogeneity,” Christina Matzke and Damien Challet, Bonn Graduate School of Economics Discussion paper, January 2008. (Thanks to Peter Buch for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, affiliated variously with the University of Bonn, Germany; the Institute for Scientific Interchange, in Torino, Italy; and the […]