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Your genes give you blue eyes.  Your genes give you dark hair.  Your genes, in some cases (no pointing fingers!), also make you fat. But did you know they can determine how many friends you may have?   According to newswise.com, r esearchers have found that the genes that regulate oxytocin, the supreme human social hormone, are associated with the sociality of young individuals. Why some individuals seek social engagement and friendship while others shy away, may well be dependent on the expression and sequence of two genes in their bodies, the web site reports. These genes appear in people who   have more close friends and show greater social skills.The hormone released by these genes in humans are involved in primary social behaviors such as pair-bonding, mating and child-rearing, to more sophisticated behaviors such as empathy, trust and generosity. “We believe that studying the expression of genes captures more information than simple structural studi...

Now here's a scary thought. What do your c o-workers think of you? A new study says, people who don't like you, you might not have a clue. “We looked at whether people understood what other people in the workplace thought of them,” says Hillary Anger Elfenbein, professor of organizational behavior, at newswise.com. “You tend to know who likes you. But, for negative feelings, including competitiveness, people had no clue.” Researchers initially surveyed salespeople at a Midwestern car dealership where competition was both normal and encouraged. A second study included surveys from more than 200 undergraduate students in 56 separate project groups. All were asked similar questions about their co-workers, and what they assumed those people thought of them. When the responses about competition were analyzed, the results were striking: While there were those who were pretty detached the their co-workers, they completely canceled out. In other words, co-workers have...

You may think your friends feel about you the same way you feel about them.   But guess what?  Maybe not. A new study says that someone you think might be your friend might really not be so keen about you, according to The New York Times. The study analyzed friendship ties among 84 people and found that the feelings were mutual about 53% of the time (good, right?) but their expectation of reciprocity was a whopping 94%.  Why the disconnect?  And why does it feel so bad? The article says that the possibility of non-reciprocal friendship challenges one's self-image. Who wouldn't feel bad to know the friend whose (bratty) kids you took for a weekend so she and her husband could go away really doesn't even consider you a close connection? Friendship has become somewhat commoditized, experts say, these days.  How could it not, when "friend" has now become a verb?  And we try to collect as many as we can when we're on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn? Qu...

So what's the one four-letter word nobody likes to hear?  No, it's not that one. A new study says it's "busy."  Probably because that implies that the person who is doesn't really have any time for you.  You're just not that important.  The study claims this word is a friendship killer.  I'm not so sure.  Telling your best friend not to tell anyone that your husband's having an affair and her repeating it anyway.  That's a friendship killer.  The friend the one having the affair with your husband?  Now that's a friendship killer.  Decorating your family room with neckties and your friend copying you?  Maybe not so much. These days, yahoo.com says, being busy is being alive.  I suppose so.  But as a Type A personality myself, if I have a free minute, I go running.   Or vacuum.  Or play soccer with my son (hate that).  I can't stand to sit still.  (I suppose I'll live longer.  Other studies ...