Hot MedFax

We all know them.  You know, those blowhards who tell you their kids clean their rooms, or eat anything you put in front of them.  Or wash the car after they use it (I'm still waiting for that).  Or the politician (we won't name him) who won't have a meal with a female not his wife. But now new research, according to newswise.com, finds that this  "holier than thou" or self-righteous behavior really isn't -- big duh! -- the mark of truly "good" people. Studies in the past discovered that  people "tend to believe that they are more likely than others to donate blood, give to charity, treat another person fairly, and give up one’s own seat in a crowded bus for a pregnant woman." And usually, if you followed them onto that bus, they won't. Even more astonishing, a widely cited U.S. News and World Report survey asked 1,000 Americans to indicate the likelihood that they and a long list of celebrities would go to heaven. The vast ma...

It should come as no surprise.  But did you know that m essages with moral  or emotional content go viral quicker than just about anything? According to newswise.com, t weets about political topics that include moral and emotional language are more likely to spread within the ideological networks of the sender, a team of researchers has found. Its study, which examined Twitter messages related to gun control, climate change, and same-sex marriage, points to both the potential and limits of communicating on social media. “The content that spreads the most may have the biggest impact on social media, so individuals, community leaders, and even political elites could see their influence enhanced by emphasizing morality and emotion in their online messaging,” explains William Brady, the lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in New York University’s Department of Psychology at the web site. “However, while using this type of language may help content proliferate wi...

I found this surprising. Well, maybe not.  But maybe not.  According to a new study, parents are raising their kids to achieve or be happy, the Washington Post relates. What's wrong with that?  They're not valuing caring for others. About 80 percent of the youth in the study said their parents were more concerned with their achievement or happiness than whether they cared for others. The interviewees were also three times more likely to agree that “My parents are prouder if I get good grades in my classes than if I’m a caring community member in class and school.” Why is this important? Because if we want our children to be moral people, we have to, well, raise them that way, right?  We've certainly seen enough of the kids who make fun of others for being different, or because they don't wear the right sneakers, or live in the right neighborhood.  And isn't this, at the head of it all, where bullying comes from? I guess you can't teach moralit...

Want to influence someone's opinion? Just tell them it's moral . According to a new study, if you want to strengthen your opinion, the way to do it is to imply you are taking the moral path.  But, as Dr. Phil would say, do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy? Newswise.com reports that simply telling people that their opinions are based on morality will make them stronger and more resistant to counterarguments, the new study suggests. Researchers found that people were more likely to act on an opinion – what psychologists call an attitude – if it was labeled as moral and were more resistant to attempts to change their mind on that subject. The results show why appeals to morality by politicians and advocacy groups can be so effective, says Andrew Luttrell, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in psychology at The Ohio State University. “The perception that an attitude we hold is based on morality is enough to strengthen it,” Luttrell say...

I know I can sometimes seem holier-than-thou.  My family thinks I'm self-righteous but I just consider it moral.  I've even gone so far as to call the cops when I saw a young woman pack in a handicapped space, then hop out and run in to get her hair cut.  (She got a ticket.) Now a new study is saying that moral sticklers are actually seen as more trust-worthy, according to newswise.com. The website gives as an example a person who agrees to kill one innocent person to save the lives of five others.  New research suggests people perceive those who hold fast to these moral rules – even when breaking them might lead to better overall consequences – as more trustworthy and valued social partners than those who would be willing to override the rules for the sake of the greater good.  Thankfully, I've never had to make that choice.  But in the study, which involved a series of experiments in which participants were given information about how anoth...

If you're lying, it must be afternoon.  No, I'm not implying that you're a liar.  But if you are, you most likely do it in the afternoon, according to a new study . Researchers conducted tests on college students where they would earn money if they answered questions a certain way.  Initially the students didn't know that they would receive anything .But once they found out, they, of course, answered that way even when the answer they chose they knew was wrong. What was learned? Students who participated in the morning session - between 8 am and noon - cheated less, compared with the group who participated between noon and 6 pm. The researchers called this occurrence the "morning morality effect.," m edicalnewstoday.com reports. In another experiment, the researchers presented morning and afternoon participants with word fragments, including "_ _ R A L" and "E _ _ _ C _ _." "Students in the morning group were more likely to spe...