Troy University researcher Linda Vanderbleek reports that, "Couples who exercise in tandem resolve conflicts faster and communicate better... The coordinated effort can also create more intimacy between couples."
Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist, offers an explanation: "When people are in sync bodily, they feel a deeper connection."
Why?
Exercise increases the brain's output of endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine. In other words, it makes you feel really good.
That is followed by "transfer of affect." We unconsciously attribute that good feeling to the person we are exercising with. We like them a little better!
Because we like them better, we work harder on making the relationship work!
Oops, I gotta go. My wife is waiting on me to walk around the block with her.
March 9, 2010
March 8, 2010
Star Trek Rules... I Mean Ruins
Okay, this just struck me as being funny. And, because I am a Star Trek fan, I don't get it.
Why don't more females choose career paths in computer science?
Because they are not as good at math as males? Shake your head "no."
Because they are worse at science? No.
Because they don't like computers? Again, no.
Genetics? Still, no.
According to research by Sapna Cheryan, PhD, at the University of Washington, reported in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it is because when female students visit the work places for computer science they find them filled with things like "Star Trek posters, video game boxes and Coke cans... Women had a lower regard for the profession after seeing the stereotypically male work areas."
Here's the lesson, guy geeks: if you want females to join you in your work place, clean up all of the "guy stuff" decorating the office!
Why don't more females choose career paths in computer science?
Because they are not as good at math as males? Shake your head "no."
Because they are worse at science? No.
Because they don't like computers? Again, no.
Genetics? Still, no.
According to research by Sapna Cheryan, PhD, at the University of Washington, reported in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it is because when female students visit the work places for computer science they find them filled with things like "Star Trek posters, video game boxes and Coke cans... Women had a lower regard for the profession after seeing the stereotypically male work areas."
Here's the lesson, guy geeks: if you want females to join you in your work place, clean up all of the "guy stuff" decorating the office!
March 7, 2010
Pasa me el pan, por favor, y la mantequilla
That is the only phrase I remember from 9th grade Spanish class. I have no "ear" for foreign languages, so I studied two "dead" languages in college - Koine Greek and ancient Hebrew. Why? You only have to read them, not speak or hear them.
As my excuse, I use humans' "sensitive period" for learning language that closes at puberty. That means learning language is easier for children than adults. Between 18 months and 6 years, children learn an average of 11 new words a day. Could you easily learn 11 new words by tomorrow? Shake your head "no."
What about hyperpolyglots? (That's an English word that comes from the Greek. Hyper = above; poly = many; glot = tongue/language. Wow! Studying Greek DID help me in real life.)
Hyperpolyglots are those people who know more than one glot, more than a few glots. They know many, many glots.
For example, the Brazilian linguist, Carlos Do Amaral Freire, knows 60 languages. Emil Krebs understood 100 languages and learned Armenian in nine weeks.
What's with these people? Are they geniuses? No. Average IQ. Are they Savants? No. Savants have unlearned abilities. Polyglots learn languages through hard work.
Are their brains different? Hmmm. Now that's an interesting question. According to a Psychology Today article by William Adams, German neuroscientists examined the brain of Emil Krebs after his death and "found that the area of Kreb's brain that governed speech did not have the same asymmetry as most monoligual speakers. Skilled musicians have also been known to have unusual brain wiring in auditory areas."
But hold on there, partner. Don't jump to the conclusion that the brain differences caused the polyglotism. The polyglotism may have caused the brain differences.
According to the article, "What neuroscientists don't know is whether language-learning changes the brain - which studies show is likely -- or whether some people are born with this quality."
Determining cause and effect is difficult. Brain wiring causes behaviors, but behaviors also change brain wiring.
I am recommending to my granddaughter that she study Spanish in college instead of Greek. Why? 1,000,000,000 people in the world today speak Spanish. She may run into some of them and need to communicate. 0 speak ancient Greek. So the only time she may ever use it is if she becomes a Blogger and wants to use a Greek word to impress her readers.
CHALLENGE: Be the first to leave a comment on this post, translating its title, and win an intrinsic prize.
As my excuse, I use humans' "sensitive period" for learning language that closes at puberty. That means learning language is easier for children than adults. Between 18 months and 6 years, children learn an average of 11 new words a day. Could you easily learn 11 new words by tomorrow? Shake your head "no."
What about hyperpolyglots? (That's an English word that comes from the Greek. Hyper = above; poly = many; glot = tongue/language. Wow! Studying Greek DID help me in real life.)
Hyperpolyglots are those people who know more than one glot, more than a few glots. They know many, many glots.
For example, the Brazilian linguist, Carlos Do Amaral Freire, knows 60 languages. Emil Krebs understood 100 languages and learned Armenian in nine weeks.
What's with these people? Are they geniuses? No. Average IQ. Are they Savants? No. Savants have unlearned abilities. Polyglots learn languages through hard work.
Are their brains different? Hmmm. Now that's an interesting question. According to a Psychology Today article by William Adams, German neuroscientists examined the brain of Emil Krebs after his death and "found that the area of Kreb's brain that governed speech did not have the same asymmetry as most monoligual speakers. Skilled musicians have also been known to have unusual brain wiring in auditory areas."
But hold on there, partner. Don't jump to the conclusion that the brain differences caused the polyglotism. The polyglotism may have caused the brain differences.
According to the article, "What neuroscientists don't know is whether language-learning changes the brain - which studies show is likely -- or whether some people are born with this quality."
Determining cause and effect is difficult. Brain wiring causes behaviors, but behaviors also change brain wiring.
I am recommending to my granddaughter that she study Spanish in college instead of Greek. Why? 1,000,000,000 people in the world today speak Spanish. She may run into some of them and need to communicate. 0 speak ancient Greek. So the only time she may ever use it is if she becomes a Blogger and wants to use a Greek word to impress her readers.
CHALLENGE: Be the first to leave a comment on this post, translating its title, and win an intrinsic prize.
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