Want to Lower Your Healthcare Costs? Here’s How

Jim Windell

How You Overcame Past Challenges Can Help You Process Negative Experiences

 Jim Windell

Are All Mass Shooters Mentally Ill?

By Jim Windell

A Happy Childhood Translates into a Mentally Healthy Adulthood, Right?

 By Jim Windell

Can You Buy Happiness?

By Jim Windell

             If you keep playing the lottery hoping to win millions, are you doing this because you are convinced that having a massive amount of money will bring you happiness?

Do Words Have Consequences?

By Jim Windell

Why Some People are Able to Stand Up to a Bully

 By Jim Windell

             Since the presidential election on November 3, 2020, we have seen the President of the United States use his office and his political and personal power to cajole, influence and bully political leaders, lawmakers and citizens to support his efforts to overturn the election he lost. Some of the people he put tremendous pressure on – such as both the governor and the secretary of state of Georgia – stood up to his intense bullying and threats. Others – such as many Republican congressman – caved to the pressure.

A Potential Change in Your Diet You May Actually Like

By Jim Windell

The Three Pillars of Mental Health

 By Jim Windell

Structural Racism Costs Lives

By Jim Windell

           Given the growing strength of the Black Lives Matter movement, there is also a growing recognition that racism is a durable feature of U.S. society – and that racism and that it has health consequences for people of color.

The Roots of Mother’s Empathy

 By Jim Windell

Off-Label Drug May Reduce Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms

 By Jim Windell

It’s Not Whether You Use it; It’s How You Use it that Makes a Difference

By Jim Windell

            We all use social media. At least to one extent or another. Technology is supposed to make our lives better – more efficient, more connected and giving us access to the whole world. But does social media help us to feel better? Does it bring happiness?

Is There any Benefit to Combining Exercise and Nutritional Supplements?

By Jim Windell

Retiring Early Not a Good Idea?

By Jim Windell

Resilience, Posttraumatic Growth and Cancer

 By Jim Windell

Okay, maybe you see this as: “Really, you needed a study to prove THIS?”

Alright. I get it. But it is always good to have our beliefs and attitudes backed up by evidence.

That is exactly what some scholars in Belgium set out to do. In a recent study published in the journal Emotion, these researchers took a look at whether there are psychological attributes that go along with political ideology.

That is, these researchers wanted to know if the psychological characteristics are different for those who espouse left-wing versus right-wing political viewpoints.

In two studies, the researchers assessed the emotional abilities and political ideology of 983 Belgian undergraduate students. The second study also examined the participants’ cognitive ability. Emotional ability was measured with three tests: The Situational Test of Emotional Understanding, the Situational Test of Emotion Management, and the Geneva Emotion Recognition Test.

The researchers found that individuals with weaker emotional abilities — particularly emotional understanding and management — tended to score higher on a measure of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. Right-wing authoritarianism is a personality trait that describes the tendency to submit to political authority and be hostile towards other groups. Social dominance orientation is a measure of a person’s preference for inequality among social groups.

We all know about the power of positive thinking. If you think positive thoughts, you will be healthier and happier. We all agree about that, right? Don’t we?

Maybe not.

As has been said by many people recently, we live in a time of a racial pandemic. Race and policing are a critical aspect of the racial issues that in some respects are both dividing and uniting our society.

More specifically, it is the use of excessive – sometimes – lethal force by the police that has caused weeks of protests and a sudden unifying of diverse groups in our country. Everyone, in one way or another, is dealing with the fallout from years of police use of force and young people (for the most part) who are fed up and crying out for justice for Black people who, it seems based on media reports, to be on the victim side of excessive use of force. Not only is
everyone thinking about these issues, which are by no means new or suddenly recognized, but they are being discussed. If you are going to be thinking and talking about racism and excessive use of force, then you need to have as many facts as possible at your disposable.