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They also found suggestive evidence that the augmented self-enhancement of the yoga practice played a key role in the well-being benefits of yoga through increases in self-esteem. Some psychologists have pointed out that the self-enhancement that occurs through spiritual practices can lead to the "I'm enlightened and you're not" syndrome and spiritual bypass, by which people seek to use their spiritual beliefs, practices and experiences to avoid genuine contact with their psychological "unfinished business." In one set of high-powered studies, Jochen Gebauer and his colleagues looked at both yoga and meditation practices. FEATURES A purported benefit of mind-body spiritual practices such as yoga, meditation and energy healing is that they will help "quiet the ego", providing an effective antidote to the exalted self. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES Who are you, and how did you become interested in free will? There are plenty of sensational claims about the brain science of free will out there and lots of back-and-forth about whether or not science disproves free will (e.g., "My brain made me do it"). The current neuroscience of free will traces its lineage back to an influential experiment by Benjamin Libet and his colleagues. [Extracted from the article]

FEATURES I GIVE A LOT OF TALKS TO EDUCATORS AROUND THE COUNTRY and am always fascinated by the gender imbalance. On average, both men and women were biased in their perception of different gender imbalances based on gender representation of the fields even after controlling for the earning potential of the fields. Others are sure to react that the lay perceptions are actually correct and that there is rightly more funding and resources directed toward correcting the gender imbalance in STEM fields than in HEED fields because of the historical oppression of women in these fields. [Extracted from the article]

Debates can be classified into two main types: (a) The description of sex differences, including both the size and variability of sex differences across a multitude of physical and psychological traits, and (b) the origins and development of sex differences, including the complex interplay among social, cultural, genetic and biological factors that influence sex differences. To be sure, there wasn't a perfect correlation between more developed, gender-egalitarian countries and sex differences (for example, Russia displayed the largest sex difference with D = 2.48). "minimizing the magnitude of important sex differences and discounting their biological origins can be just as damaging (for science and society at large) as exaggerating them and accepting simplistic biological explanations of sex differences at face value…. [Extracted from the article]

One recent survey found that among those who are highly engaged in politics, 70 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Republicans say they are "afraid" of the other party, and a near majority of Democrats and Republicans report being angry with the opposing party and see the opposing party as a threat to the nation's well-being. In one condition, the speaker criticized Democrats and was protested by the college Democrats; in the other condition, the speaker criticized Republicans and was protested by the college Republicans. For one, Elizabeth Simas and her colleagues did find a big upside to empathic concern: Whereas empathic concern increased dislike of the out-party, it increased comfort with out-party contact. [Extracted from the article]

In a new study, Shigehiro Oishi and his colleagues propose that psychological richness is a neglected aspect of what people consider a good life and set out to assess how much people around the world actually desire such a life. As Oishi and his colleagues conclude, "we believe that taking the psychologically rich life seriously will deepen, broaden and, yes, enrich our understanding of well-being." He has taught courses on intelligence, creativity, and well-being at Columbia University, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. [Extracted from the article]

Schweizer studies the role of cognitive processes (for example, emotion regulation) and their neural substrates in the develmaintenance of common mental health problems across the life span, with a particular focus on adolescence. That means we will be able to optimize our training protocols to improve emotion regulation, hopefully before people even start experiencing mental health problems related to poor emotion regulation. [Extracted from the article]