What to Do and Not to Do to Boost Self-Control

More and more research sug­gests that our brains have dif­fi­cul­ty dif­fer­en­ti­at­ing between observ­ing an action and actu­al­ly par­tic­i­pat­ing in it. Empa­thy, for exam­ple, seems to hinge in part on our abil­i­ty to “take on” anoth­er’s emo­tions through vic­ar­i­ous expe­ri­ence. I always think of this when watch­ing a come­di­an fall flat. I can feel the embarrassment…

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Developing self-regulation at school

Excel­lent arti­cle in the New York Times on learn­ing, self-reg­u­la­­tion and exec­u­tive fuunc­tions: The School Issue: Preschool: Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Con­trol? (New York Times) — “Over the last few years, a new buzz phrase has emerged among schol­ars and sci­en­tists who study ear­­ly-child­­hood devel­op­ment, a phrase that sounds more as if it…

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Can You Outsmart Your Genes? An Interview with Author Richard Nisbett

While the debate over intel­li­gence rages on many fronts, the bat­tle over the impor­tance of hered­i­ty rages loud­est. It’s easy to see why. If the camp that argues intel­li­gence is 75 to 85 per­cent genet­i­cal­ly deter­mined is cor­rect, then we’re faced with some tough ques­tions about the role of edu­ca­tion. If intel­li­gence is improved very…

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Philosophy as the Missing Link in Our School’s Curriculum

A read­er and writer sent us over the week­end the arti­cle below as “an OpEd sub­mis­sion”. We are not a news­pa­per, and don’t have a for­mal OpEd sec­tion, but are delight­ed to pub­lish thought­ful, research-based pieces on top­ics relat­ed to life­long cog­ni­tive devel­op­ment and health. Here you are: —- Phi­los­o­phy as the Miss­ing Link An Eye-Opening…

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