Articles by Melissa E. Malka
Articles & Studies | By December 25, 2008 | By Melissa E. Malka | 1 Comment
Happiness is Contagious, If Not For a Fleeting Moment
According to a twenty-year longitudinal study of over 4000 individuals, happiness is indeed contagious. Dr. Nicholas Christakis, professor at Harvard University, compared the spread of happiness to a “ripple effect” that could affect others up to three degrees of separation away; a friend of a friend of a friend, so to speak.
The study did not actually determine the mechanisms of how happiness could be spread, but there were several hypotheses presented from happy people sharing their good fortune to simply exhibiting genuinely contagious emotions. Friends, spouses, live-in partners, roommates, siblings, and neighbors; all of these people would have an effect on their social circles’ happiness. Read more →
- A Special Thanks – Remembering a Man Who Remembered No One
- How Much Social Capital Do You Have?
- School Bullies – Is the Amygdala to Blame?
In a way it is ironic, how many researchers, psychology students, and cognitive neuroscientists worldwide will remember Mr. Henry G. Molaison and he did not remember a single person he met after his brain surgery, circa 1953.
Henry G. Molaison, formerly known to all as simply HM was one of the most widely studied patients in the field of cognitive neuropsychology for over fifty years. His participation in several studies provided significant contributions to the understanding of brain function and memory. HM passed away on December 3, 2008 in Hartford, Connecticut. Read more →
If you were starting a business, you’d hope to acquire as much capital as you could: property, relevant tools, employees, and so on. As individuals, we strive to improve our human capital, or our economic value. We earn college degrees, take continuing education courses, attempt to expand our knowledge and master our respective fields. The more we know, the more we’re worth and it makes perfect sense (and boosts our pay!).
Yet, perhaps more attention should be paid to the value of social capital. Read more →
Countless studies have focused on the subject of bullying, and the latest even suggest an interesting paradox: is bullying caused by a lack of empathy for others or, surprisingly, by too much empathy? Because, although all of us react in some way to seeing others in pain, we don’t all react in the same way. Scientists are asking, could an empathic response to others in pain cause enough emotional distress in some adolescents to actually cause them to respond aggressively? Here lie the two big hypotheses and they’re rather contradictory. Read more →
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
- Religion - A "Natural" Phenomenon?
- Creating an Artificial Brain
- How Culture Shapes Our Mind and Brain
- Sex, Violence and The Male Warrior Hypothesis
- The Secret to Good Health – Listen to the Data
- If Herbal Medicine is Medicine, Shouldn't it be Treated as Such?
- Too Much Information?
- Swine Flu - A Lose-Lose Situation for Public Health Authorities
- Logging On for Psychotherapy
- The Neural Basis of the Self
- Income Inequality and Health Outcomes
- Ginkgo Biloba Ineffective... Again
- The Evolution of Depression
- Post-Partum Psychosis - Rare but Real
- Worried Well on the Web
- Is Your Doctor Happy or Burnt-Out?
- Journal Retracts Autism Research
- How Young is Too Young to Diagnose Depression?
- In Sickness and Mental Health
- Health Insurance for All - A Weighty Issue
- “I Feel Your Pain” – The Neural Basis of Empathy
- Speaking in Tongues – A Neural Snapshot
- Neuro Case 1 – Using Transcranial Doppler for Basilar Artery Occlusion
- Journal Retracts Autism Research
- Crossing the Line from Physician to Journalist
- Ginkgo Biloba Ineffective… Again
- The Smart Ones are Living Longer
- Too Much Information?
- Drugs and Pharmacology, Nineteenth Edition
- Coping with Trauma – Lessons from Resilient Individuals
- Worried Well on the Web
- Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Neuroscience Conferences for 2010
- One Puff Forward, Two Pounds Back
- Income Inequality and Health Outcomes
- Farewell 2009, Welcome 2010
- When the Drugs Don’t Work, or Just Make it Worse
- Is a Slim Santa Claus Coming to Town?
- Stimulants May Offer Protection in ADHD
- Sex, Violence and The Male Warrior Hypothesis
- Is Time on Your Side?
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