Emotions: Research Related to Happiness Expands
Happiness, or "subjective well being," includes such positive emotions as feelings of love, joy, and life satisfaction. Research reveals that factors like financial well being and success have a relatively small bearing on happiness in comparison to...
In the Driver's Seat: Motivating Workers
Too much emphasis on material rewards produces a kind of jadedness. Many business leaders overestimate the importance of pay. Such nonmaterial rewards as clear feedback, shared authority in decisions related to the work environment and plant operati...
Endless Questions: Measuring Correlations to Find Relationships
In order to determine interrelationships researchers measure the same two variables for each individual involved in a study. If naturally-occurring associations can be found between two different sets of data, one factor can be used to predict the...
Endless Questions: Future of Psychological Research, The
No one research method is best. Each approach has its pros and cons, and all are needed to understand human behavior. Psychology is becoming more of a serious science that builds on its own successes. The next generation must continue to push, a...
The Learning Machine: Use of Reinforcement and Punishment in Shaping a Child's Behavior, The
When a child throws a tantrum, a parent's sympathetic reaction may only serve to increase such outbursts. More appropriate behavior, though, can be strengthened through negative reinforcement, for example a reward for improvement in demeanor after a...
Codes of Life: Temperament Studies
Temperament, or behavioral style, seems to be genetically influenced, as parents with several children will attest. Jerome Kagan highlights three areas in which researchers find temperamental biases: reaction to things that are new or unfamiliar...
Endless Questions: Scientific Method, The
Research studies require measurements that can be replicated Deciding what to measure often begins with an idea or hunch and the development of an hypothesis. Researchers must create operational definitions, specifying how variables will be mea...