Author: Debbie Curtis
Staking Self-Worth on Financial Success Backfires
The pursuit of money is, in itself, not a bad thing. But when we base our sense of self-worth on our financial success, it can be. We become more vulnerable to negative psychological consequences.
Self-Esteem Threatened? Hide the Credit Cards!
Some people attempt to repair their sense of self-worth by purchasing luxury items when their egos are threatened because they performed a task poorly or because they were told that they’re not as good as they hoped (or expected). And worse, they’re more likely to use credit cards to pay for these self-indulgences.
Since various studies have established that parting with cash can actually be psychologically painful, one study investigated whether people might be more likely to use a credit card when feeling badly about themselves (Pettit & Sivanathan, 2010).
Compassion: The Moral Barometer
In our daily lives, the misfortunes of others may trigger feelings of compassion, but we may not always act on them. We pass a beggar on the street without stopping to give him money. We avoid stopping to help a stranded motorist. Perhaps we’re in a hurry, perhaps we’re too focused on our own troubles, or perhaps we simply don’t want to engage with these individuals.
Whatever the excuse, we walk on, assuming that suppressing our compassion won’t cost us anything. But one recent study shows quite the opposite. Researchers found that after people suppress compassionate feelings, they lose a bit of their personal commitment to morality (Cameron & Payne, 2012).
27 Human Emotions Revealed (Not 6!)
In The Emoji Movie, multi-expressional emoji Gene, who lives inside a teenager’s phone, finds himself unable to stick to just the one emotion assigned to him. He is determined to be a malfunction that must be deleted so he embarks upon a journey to become a normal “Meh” emoji like his parents. But Gene, the emoji who couldn’t help but express multiple emotions, may have been on the right track all along.
Emotion, it turns out, is far more nuanced than even human experts have historically assumed.
Are Selfies Decreasing Your Self-Esteem?
Most of us probably don’t give much thought to how the selfies we post on social network sites like Facebook affect the people who may view them, but it turns out we may not be doing any favors for viewers who are feeling lonely, unpopular, or unsatisfied with their lives.