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Watch The Incredible Shrinking Woman [Video]
"Big" me. "Little" me. Watch these two versions of me--which are really the same size--explain why I appear petite in one place on screen and large in another.
Stories by Ingrid Wickelgren
The Education of Character: Jumping Jacks for the Mind [Video]
One of the hardest aspects of school for young children is in some ways the simplest: sitting still. Recess is the time worn antidote to such restlessness.
The Education of Character: Your Brain in a Coke Bottle [Video]
Emotion is a powerful driver of behavior, sometimes too powerful. Virtually everyone has had the experience of reacting in the heat of the moment only to later regret his or her words or deed...
The Education of Character Stoking Memory with Stones
In MindUP, a social and emotional learning program pioneered by actor Goldie Hawn, children learn to be mindful—that is, attuned to the present without judgment.
The Education of Character: Carefully Considering Craisins [Video]
Mindfulness, the practice of being present and in the moment, is easier for some people than for others. But it is a skill that many believe is worth cultivating—some say, starting with children...
Schools Add Workouts for Attention, Grit and Emotional Control
Scientists, politicians and celebrities are remaking schools as gyms for the brain where teachers build the mental brawn for attention, perseverance and emotional control
The Education of Character: Teaching Control with a Cotton Ball
We think of school as a place where children learn new skills and knowledge. Young people come to class more or less ready to learn, their aptitude and readiness determined by genetics and environment...
Scientists Scan Children s Brains for Answers to Mental Illness
In a room tucked next to the reception desk in a colorful lobby of a Park Avenue office tower, kids slide into the core of a white cylinder and practice something kids typically find quite difficult: staying still...
Minding Our Children s Minds
One of the toughest parts of raising children is helping them leap the emotional and intellectual hurdles of life. As parents, we try to ease their pain when friends snub them.
Educating Character and Other Lessons from Scientific American MIND
I am happy to be breaking my silence of recent weeks with a preview of the September/October issue of Scientific American Mind . As the summer begins its slow resignation and people anticipate the start of school, our pages revive the ongoing societal debate about the best way to teach our kids...
Quiz: How Nice Are You?
Answer these 10 simple questions to find out if you benefit from being highly agreeable
Star Filmmakers Found in Unlikely Spot
In Tyson Schoeber’s class at Nootka Elementary School in Vancouver, 15 fourth through seventh graders struggle to read, write or do math at a level near that of their peers in other classes...
When Sleeping Turns Deadly and Other Strange Tales from Scientific American MIND
The July/August issue of Scientific American Mind made its debut online late last week. Here I divulge some of the more surprising and useful lessons from its pages.
Why Wearing Fakes Makes Us Cheat More [Excerpt]
Think donning an Armani knockoff or phony Prada only hurts the fashion industry? Take another look in the mirrorBy Dan Ariely* This e-book chapter is excerpted from The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty, by Dan Ariely (HarperCollins Publishers, 2012)...
Why Are There No Biological Tests in Psychiatry?
Part 5 of a 5-part seriesBy Allen Frances*When the third edition of psychiatry’s manual of mental illness, the DSM-III, was published 30 years ago, there was great optimism it would soon be the willing victim of its own success, achieving a kind of planned obsolescence...
The Gloom-and-Doom Disease: Should Woody Allens Have a Home in the Manual of Mental Illness?
Part 4 of a seriesDepression and anxiety are like a pair of warring siblings. Both are disruptive and trying. They don’t want each other’s company, but are stuck together by virtue of the same parentage...
Trouble at the Heart of Psychiatry s Revised Rule Book
By Edward Shorter*Part 3 in a seriesOne might liken the latest draft of psychiatry's new diagnostic manual, the DSM-5, to a bowl of spaghetti. Hanging over the side are the marginal diagnoses of psychiatry, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, important for certain subpopulations but not central to the discipline.At the center of the spaghetti bowl are the diagnoses at the heart of psychiatry: major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder.There has been enormous commentary in the media and in professional journals about proposed changes in the strands hanging over the side, such as lumping different forms of autism together in an autism spectrum diagnosis...
Science Remains a Stranger to Psychiatry's New Bible
By Ferris Jabr*Part 2 of a seriesIn the offices of psychiatrists and psychologists across the country you can find a rather hefty tome called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM).The current edition of the DSM, the DSM-IV, is something like a field guide to mental disorders: the book pairs each illness with a checklist of symptoms, just as a naturalist's guide describes the distinctive physical features of different birds...
Psychiatrists Are About to Shift the Boundaries between Sane and Insane
We will soon find ourselves plagued by new forms of distress. No, it’s not the economy. It’s not that we are all becoming socially isolated because of Facebook (though it’s possible we are)...
The Importance of Being Social
Guest Blog by Leonard Mlodinow*One advantage of belonging to a cohesive society in which people help each other is that the group is often better equipped than a set of individuals to deal with threats from the outside...
