This is genuinely good news! According to a new study we want to help others!
The two say altruism is something that makes people feel good, lighting up a primitive part of the human brain that usually responds to food or sex.
Grafman and Moll have been scanning the brains of volunteers who were asked to think about a scenario involving either donating a sum of money to charity or keeping it for themselves.
Without consciously thinking we, as humans, will find ourselves engaged in a way of thinking that has inadvertently been altered by our surroundings. This could be good, or it may not be, I have no idea. Either way, what is good is that we can become aware of the ways that our thinking may be affected – there are at least 26 reasons what you think is right is wrong.
11. Hyperbolic discounting – the tendency for people to have a stronger preference for more immediate payoffs relative to later payoffs, the closer to the present both payoffs are.
12. Illusion of control – the tendency for human beings to believe they can control or at least influence outcomes which they clearly cannot.
13. Impact bias – the tendency for people to overestimate the length or the intensity of the impact of future feeling states.
Life is complicated, confusing, and often fun. Now you can ensure taht you have a wonderful life by following these 5 steps. (There are actually 6 reasons but the headline says 5.)
A sample:
3. Educate Yourself
Education builds over time. It might feel like the bits of wisdom you acquire don’t mean much, but over the years they add up to form a wiser, kinder, more interesting person.
Apparently drinking coffee lowers your risk of getting the gout. I’m going out for some coffee right now!
In this study, American and Canadian researchers tracked almost 46,000 men for 12 years. The men were ages 40 to 75 at the start of the study and had no history of gout.
The researchers found that men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day were 59 percent less likely to develop gout than those who never drank coffee, while the risk was 40 percent lower for men who drank four to five cups a day.
We all know some negative people who walk this planet, and frequently we have to talk with them. Luckily we can now refer to a handy list to help ourselves from becoming a negative ninny – a how to guide for dealing with negative people.
3. Say, “Now tell me something positive.â€
Right after they’ve finished telling you some tragic story, say to them, “now tell me a positive story”.
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9. It’s not your fault
You may be feeling that you have to solve the problems of the energy drainer. You’re not responsible for the person’s life nor their negativity. You don’t have to feel guilty for them being unhappy.