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You might think this has nothing to do with you -- wingsuit flying, that is.  That's where crazy people strap on wings and attempt to fly in wind currents. But there's a lesson here in those who push themselves to the limit . Researchers from Leeds Beckett University are challenging the myth that extreme sports enthusiasts push themselves to the max and take risks no matter what the consequences. Wingsuit flying is a relatively new parachute sport which involves a specifically designed jumpsuit that facilitates forward motion and directional control, according to newswise.com. It is considered the most dangerous parachute sport as it involves flying close to structures at speeds of over 200 mph, where a mistake or accident would most likely result in death, the web site maintains. “When you think of the people involved in such extreme sports, you tend to think of risk takers who push themselves to the limit," says  Dr Eric Brymer, a Reader in the Carnegie School of

You wouldn't know it from our current crook- er - commander-in-chief but it pays to be humble , new research is showing. It’s good to be humble when you’re the boss – as long as that’s what your employees expect, according to newswise.com. Researchers studying workplaces in China found that some real-life teams showed more creativity if the employees rated their bosses as showing more humility. “Whether leader humility is a good thing really depends on the team members’ expectations,” says  Jia (Jasmine) Hu , lead author of the study and associate professor of  management and human resources  at The Ohio State University’s  Fisher College of Business . Humble leaders are most effective when team members expect a low degree of distance between the leaders and followers, Hu explains. When there is "low power distance" (I assume, this means when the boss is humble), employees share power with their boss in a collaborative way. But humility may be seen as a weaknes

Would you rather spend time alone reading, or immerse yourself in a crowd at a party?   Though my gig is public relations, and I've had to make nice for years at corporate events and affairs (and I'm pretty good at it), I've begun to realize that my most fun activity is simply being by myself to think, or dream, or just, well, cogitate (look it up, millennials!). Now a new study says social withdrawal is not necessarily a bad thing.  According to newswise.com, though s pending too much time alone can be unhealthy and there is growing evidence that the psychosocial effects of too much solitude can last a lifetime,  newly published research by a University at Buffalo (UB) psychologist suggests that not all forms of social withdrawal are detrimental.  In fact, the research findings suggest that one form of social withdrawal, referred to as unsociability, is not only unrelated to negative outcomes, but linked positively to creativity, the web site reports. “Motivatio

Listen up.  Even if you're one of those people who get up before dawn to go stand in line, then shove your way through the crowd, on Black Friday , you're probably going to spend more than you intend, anyway, according to newswise.com. The web site reports that n ew research suggests some types of discounts encourage shoppers to overspend. That's why I usually stay home on Black Friday.  I don't need any more reasons to spend more! Researchers  explored promotional credit deals and how they can lead to fallacious thinking in consumers.  “Let’s say you went to Ann Taylor Loft, you bought a sweater for $50 and received $10 of Loft credit to spend in the future," says  University of Delaware’s Andong Cheng . "This purchase feels like it’s only $40 instead of $50. And then later, you spend the $10 on another shirt and feel like the shirt is free, because you’ve only been spending that merchandise credit instead of more money out of your pocket.” In this sc

For all of you out there who got straight A's and scored high on your SAT (if you can remember back that far!), it doesn't necessarily mean that you can  learn the visual skills needed to excel at tasks like matching fingerprints, interpreting medical X-rays, keeping track of aircraft on radar displays or forensic face- matching. Your visual intelligence is not the same as your IQ, according to newswise.com. That is the implication of a new study which shows for the first time that there is a broad range of differences in people’s visual ability and that these variations are not associated with individuals’ general intelligence, or IQ. “People may think they can tell how good they are at identifying objects visually,” says  Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology  at Vanderbilt University, who headed the study. “But it turns out that they are not very good at evaluating their own skills relative to others.” In the past, research in visual object reco

Now think about this.  You know how we're all doing away with punctuation o n our texts?  Well, a new study says that that very thing is what now stands in for the visual cues we used to get in face-to-face conversation. ‘Textisms’ convey meaning in absence of spoken conversation, says newswise.com. Emoticons, irregular spellings and exclamation points in text messages aren’t sloppy or a sign that written language is going down the tubes  — these “textisms” help convey meaning and intent in the absence of spoken conversation, according to newly published research from Binghamton University, State University of New York. “In contrast with face-to-face conversation, texters can’t rely on extra-linguistic cues such as tone of voice and pauses, or non-linguistic cues such as facial expressions and hand gestures,” says Binghamton University Professor of Psychology Celia Klin. “In a spoken conversation, the cues aren’t simply add-ons to our words; they convey critical inform