Thursday, November 01, 2012

 

willpower - rediscovering the greatest human strength 2011 book
[Intro Chapter in Google Docs and http://dotheknowledge.com/downloads/willpower.pdf]
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2012/01/20120124t1830vSZT.aspx
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/books/review/willpower-by-roy-f-baumeister-and-john-tierney-book-review.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

From pg. 17 "Why Will Yourself to Read This?" section of Introduction
"The result, after dozens of experiments in Baumeister’s lab and hundreds elsewhere, is a new understanding of willpower and of the self. We want to tell you what’s been learned about human behavior, and how you can use it to change yourself for the better. Acquiring  self-control isn’t as magically simple as the techniques in modern self-help books, but neither does it have to be as grim as the Victorians made it out to be. Ultimately, self-control lets you relax because it removes stress and enables you to conserve willpower for the important challenges. We’re confident that this book’s lessons can make your life not just more productive and fullling but also easier and happier. And we can guarantee that you will not have to endure any sermons against bare ankles."

posted by Sastry Rama 3:25 PM

 

Self-Control Relies on Glucose as a Limited Energy Source: Willpower Is More Than a Metaphor
[Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2007, Vol. 92, No. 2, 325–336]
Abstract:

The present work suggests that self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source. Laboratory tests
of self-control (i.e., the Stroop task, thought suppression, emotion regulation, attention control) and of
social behaviors (i.e., helping behavior, coping with thoughts of death, stifling prejudice during an
interracial interaction) showed that (a) acts of self-control reduced blood glucose levels, (b) low levels
of blood glucose after an initial self-control task predicted poor performance on a subsequent self-control
task, and (c) initial acts of self-control impaired performance on subsequent self-control tasks, but
consuming a glucose drink eliminated these impairments. Self-control requires a certain amount of
glucose to operate unimpaired. A single act of self-control causes glucose to drop below optimal levels,
thereby impairing subsequent attempts at self-control.

[also saved in Google Docs]

posted by Sastry Rama 3:15 PM

 

The pursuit of meaningfulness in life.

Baumeister, Roy F.; Vohs, Kathleen D.

Snyder, C. R. (Ed); Lopez, Shane J. (Ed), (2002). Handbook of positive psychology., (pp. 608-618). New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press, xviii, 829 pp.

Abstract

1. Human beings begin life as animals and remain tied throughout life to natural cycles of birth and death, eating and sleeping, reproduction, danger and safety, and more. Yet to this natural dimension of human life must be added a cultural one. Humans use their thinking capacity to transcend their immediate environment and their natural urges and responses. Thinking usually involves meaning, as in the use of language, symbols, and connections between concepts. The authors discuss the pursuit of the meaningfulness in life. The aim of positive psychology is to catalyze change in psychology from a preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building the best qualities in life. The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about positive subjective experience: well-being and satisfaction (past); flow, joy, the sensual pleasures, and happiness (present); and constructive cognitions about the future--optimism, hope, and faith. 

[copy in Google Docs - Chap. 44 of Handbook]

posted by Sastry Rama 3:10 PM

 

Notes from "Understanding the Search for Meaning in Life: Personality, Cognitive Style, and the Dynamic Between Seeking and Experiencing Meaning"

Journal of Personality 76:2, April 2008
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00484.x

Michael F. Steger,1 Todd B. Kashdan,2
Brandon A. Sullivan,3 and Danielle Lorentz3
1University of Louisville
2George Mason University
3University of Minnesota

[Source: http://itari.in/categories/higherpurpose/understanding_the%20_search.pdf  ; also a copy in Google Docs]

posted by Sastry Rama 3:07 PM