On Foreign Accents and Blinking in Black or White

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A new study from the University of Chicago shows that a foreign accent undermines a person’s credibility in ways that the speaker and the listener don’t consciously realize.

“The results have important implications for how people perceive non-native speakers of a language, particularly as mobility increases in the modern world, leading millions of people to be non-native speakers of the language they use daily,” said Boaz Keysar, a Professor of Psychology at the University ...

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Good Parents May Plant Bad Seeds

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“I know now, so there’s no sense in lying any more,” said Mrs. Penmark to her daughter Rhoda. “You hit him with the shoe: that’s how those half-moon marks got on his forehead and hands.”

Rhoda moved off slowly, an expression of patient bafflement in her eyes; then, throwing herself on the sofa, she buried her face in a pillow and wept plaintively, peering up at her mother through her laced fingers. But the performance was not at all convincing, and ...

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Glass Menagerie: A Modern Story of Feminine Vampirism

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Looking for something to watch during my far infrared sauna session, I stumbled upon The Glass Menagerie, based on Tennessee Williams’s play. I suddenly remembered that this play was referenced in Barbara Hort’s book, Unholy Hungers, in the context of the feminine vampire archetype. Although the label “vampire” may sound too drastic, it is actually very appropriate because the book is basically about psychic feeding ...

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The Psychopath as a Medical Doctor

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I walked into a bookstore of a small Canadian town in 2005 and asked for a true crime story where a doctor was involved. I thought that perhaps it would help me to understand better pathological personalities and how insidious they are in our society, including the medical community. A few seconds later the guy brought me, Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell by Jack Olsen, which won the ...

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Killing in a Small Town: Repressed Anger

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As I mentioned yesterday, the misuse of anger can be hazardous to your health, but it can also have disproportionate consequences for those people around you. An example of this last case might be Killing in Small Town which I saw recently. The movie is about a brutal ax murder where the killer strikes her victim 41 times. The murderer is a reserved woman who repressed her anger in ...

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Dissociation and Changes in Brain Structure

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Dissociation is a learned program which “protects” us from a cruel environment; like a trip to the moon which buffers us from an uncomfortable reality. Moments of stress reminds us of bad times during our childhoods and makes us dissociate from our surroundings.

Dissociation may take many forms, some people get tough and repressed, others are shy, others are paranoid and afraid, others are upset and cranky, still others are dreaming awake, etc, etc. ...

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Omega-3 fats and the psychological wellbeing of menopausal women

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Omega-3 fats, eicosapentanoic acid (EPA)and docosahexanenoic acid (DHA), are essential for our brain and body function. They are extremely helpful for preventing heart disease, psychiatric and neurological conditions, cancer, immune deficiencies, and eczema among others. 60% of the brain consists of DHA and if there is a lack, your brain can’t function. These fats are essential for growth and overall health of blood vessels and nerves. They also help heal inflammation and promote numerous ...

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Where There Is Evil

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One of my most interesting readings as of lately is Where There is Evil by Sandra Brown which is the author’s account of a young girl’s disappearance, Moira Anderson, from a small town of Coatbridge near Glasgow in 1957. Sandra’s quest to find out what happened to Moira began nearly 30 years later, at a family funeral, when her father confessed that he had been involved in the girl’s disappearance.

Sandra’s father was ...

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Cold Blooded Doctors

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Doctors Did you know that the risk of being sued for malpractice has very little to do with how many mistakes a doctor makes? Studies of malpractice lawsuits have revealed that that there are highly skilled doctors who get sued a lot, and doctors who make lots of mistakes that never get sued. It seems that what makes the difference for a patient in deciding whether to file a suit is… their ...

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