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Now here's one for you. Did you know our brains evolved to be so large as a result of sizing each other up? According to a new study, humans have evolved with a disproportionately large brain because we've learned to size each other up in large cooperative, social groups. Newswise.com reports that the challenge of judging a person's relative standing and deciding whether or not to compete with him has promoted the rapid expansion of the brain over the last 2 million years. The study found that evolution favors those who prefer to help others out who are at least as successful as they are. That;s kind of interesting when you think about our dog-eat-dog world today. "Our results suggest that the evolution of cooperation, which is key to a prosperous society, is intrinsically linked to the idea of social comparison -- constantly sizing each other up and making decisions as to whether we want to help them or not," write the authors.  "We've shown...

Here's an interesting thought.  If your friend were sick, would you help him?  What about if he was unemployed? If you'd only be willing to help where illness is concerned, join the crowd.  A new study says that, though illness and unemployment are two types of ordinary risks to which we are all exposed, from a historical perspective, unemployment and illness represent two very different types of risks. Unemployment came about as a result of industrialization, while illness is something the human species has faced for millions of years. This difference is reflected in current-day political attitudes, according to newswise.com. Why do people generally prefer helping the ill and not the unemployed?" This is the question posed by two professors in political science, Carsten Jensen and Michael Bang Petersen, from Aarhus University. Using techniques to uncover people's implicit intuitions, the researchers explored the fundamental differences behind our atti...

There was a bomb scare at my son's high school yesterday.  Fortunately it turned out to be false but the anxiety and panic and sheer terror are still with me (and I suspect, my son, too) today. The kids, all 2,000 of them, were immediately told to evacuate to the large field behind the school.  The principal left parents a message last night saying they all filed out well and followed directions but I'm learning on Facebook that it was mass pandemonium instead. A new study says, however, that we all have a social hormone that promotes cooperation in risky situations. I couldn't reach my son because he was told to leave everything behind, including his phone (wonder if it's still there?  it's just stuff, I keep reminding myself).  Finally a friend loaned him his phone and he was able to text me that he was fine.  The friend's mother came and got them both. I threw my arms around him and burst into tears when he came through the door. Now we have a plan...

Why does this not surprise me?  Apparently six percent of marriages end in divorce when the wife gets sick. We're not talking tonsillitis or the flu, but major, serious  illness, like heart attack or cancer. I should know.  I was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago, and though my husband went with me to the appointment where we discussed treatment, all I remember is him saying, "This is nothing," as we walked through the parking lot to Tully. Of course, as the surgeon talked on, telling us that though my cancer was non-invasive, it was the highest grade, which meant they weren't totally sure it hadn't spread outside the milk duct, he kept looking at me.  (Thankfully, it turned out not to.)  Walking out of the office, Larry said, "You were right.  It's something." I don't remember much about that time.  We had a three-year-old and I was more concerned about taking care of him (and making sure he didn't notice anything was wrong) ...

A while back I wrote about how, in some parts of the country, people were " paying it forward " -- paying for the coffee of the person behind them at Starbucks or at the drive-up window. But a new study has found that it may hurt to be too generous.   According to The New York Times, " if you receive or observe an act of help, you become more likely to help others, even if your own action won’t be directly reciprocated or rewarded,"  demonstrating that the effect of a single act of kindness can in fact ripple through a social network, setting off chains of generosity that reach far beyond the original act.   But observing people doing too much for others can backfire, the study discovered.   " We found that receiving and observing generosity can both significantly increase your likelihood of being generous toward a stranger, but that if you observe a high enough level of generosity, your willingness to help suffers — you become a 'bystander' w...

A wonderful new family link, and depression, of all things, has been found in a new study , according to newswise.com. Relationships between grandparents and adult grandchildren can prevent depression in both. The study shows that grandparents and grandchildren have real, measurable effects on each other’s psychological well-being long into grandchildren’s adulthood, newswise.com reports. “We found that an emotionally close grandparent-adult grandchild relationship was associated with fewer symptoms of depression for both generations,” newswise.com quotes Sara M. Moorman, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and the Institute on Aging at Boston College.  “The greater emotional support grandparents and adult grandchildren received from one another, the better their psychological health.” Interestingly, the grandparents who received support from their grandkids but were not able to return it were the most depressed.  “There’s a saying, ‘It’s better ...

Let's hear it for helicopter parenting.  Well, maybe not. I admit, I'm one who practices it.  My son is nearly 12 and I'm still trying to arrange play dates (only now they call it "hanging out"). I'm obsessed with his homework and don't relax till it's done (yes, I let him do it). Also, who he's talking to on Skype.  And, I admit it, try to get him to eat his vegetables. But an essay in The New York Times' Sunday Review stopped me dead in my tracks.  Eli J. Finkel and Grainne M. Fitzsimons quoted studies that have found that the more helicopter parenting we do, "the less satisfied college students feel with their lives." I'm a little ways away from college but still it got to me.  The two reported that "certain forms of help can dilute recipients’ sense of accountability for their own success."  Duh.  If Mom and Dad do everything, why  bother? Now I'm not nearly as bad as the parents who, trying to get the...