Goal Directed or Avoidance Directed?
Science is showing us that the left prefrontal cortex activates more with individuals who are goal-directed, and the right prefrontal activates more with individuals who are avoidance-directed. Consider this ad: “Floss regularly to avoid gum disease” vs. “Floss regularly to have healthy gums”. The first ad will motivate the avoidance-directed people, and the second ad […]
Biased by Smell – You’ll be Amazed at how Easily You are Influenced!
In studies, unpleasant odors that either preceded or happened simultaneously with facial expressions (Scientific American Mag) or as subjects read short paragraphs (Eagleman, Incognito) caused individuals to feel disgust in relation to the action they were witnessing or engaged in. Bad smells activate the insula, a center of the brain that registers disgust, and […]
Seeing in Black and White…Not Just a Metaphor
We sometimes refer to perspectives as “black and white” where there’s little room for moral negotiation. This is actually more than just a metaphor. Recent studies show that when one reads information on a black and white background, such as a newspaper, the information is perceived to have less moral wiggle room as information read […]
Conflicting Truths
“David Eagleman, neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, says in his book Incognito: Secret Lives of the Brain that the brain functions like a democracy–where different factions make overlapping decisions then battle it out until a dominating opinion wins and thus controls and directs behavior. We have conflicting truths running concurrently all the time in […]
Anti-depressants vs. Meditation
IF you are on antidepressants…PLEASE understand this post is not meant as a critique of your healing process. Based on many studies, including one published in JAMA in 2010 by Fournier, antidepressants were no more effective in changing serotonin levels than the placebo in mild to moderate depression. HOWEVER, both the placebo and drugs had […]
Us and Them
“As the world has sped up and become more efficient, we have the luxury of time in which to think, reflect, ponder, stew, and even fester. how I define me derives from a story I constantly tell myself, and the premise this: I am a unique individual separate from “you”. To me, this is our […]
