Why We Love Our Pets

Have you ever wondered how people form such close relationships with their dogs? According to the article "Why We Love Our Pets: They're Just Like Us!", Melanie Greenberg explains that humans become close with their dogs because we tend to choose ones that are most like us, whether it be subliminally or intentionally. In order to objectively study the similarities between owners and their dogs, Greenberg looked at scientific findings and found out that some stereotypes about pet ownership turned out to be true.

One stereotype that was proven valid by the studies was that the more aggressive dogs belong to aggressive owners. Studies showed that aggressive dog breeds such as Rottweilers were most commonly owned by people who scored high on personality assessments that tested anger, aggression  and hostility. The author of this study noted that a possibility of this could be that people who live in bad neighborhoods are more aggressive and tend to choose guard dogs such as German shepherds.

Another stereotype that was proven true in a study is that dog owners and their pets look alike. In the study, researchers found that people were able to correctly match pictures of owners to their pets two-thirds of the time. The researchers believe that this may be an unconscious choice because humans have an "automatic distrust of dissimilar others." In the past, humans have had a tendency to trust other people who are similar to them and are "of their kind." Perhaps humans have a tendency to surround themselves with familiar nonhumans as well.

The reason behind all these similarities is simple. People tend to choose dogs that are like themselves just like we choose friends who we have similarities with. If people surround themselves with other people that are similar every day then why wouldn't they do the same when it comes to choosing a pet? What do you think? Do you think people tend to choose pets that are similar to themselves? If you have a dog, do you think you chose your particular dog based on possible similarities? Do you think you are anything like your pet? 

24/6

 From school, work, and college applications to sports and activities, IHA students certainly have busy lives. But is the constant activity actually hurting us rather than shortening our to-do list? In an interview with CNN Health, Dr. Matthew Sleeth explains that the mindset of 24/7 most people are living in now, is the reason our days feel too short to accomplish everything we want to. How many times have you heard someone in the hall say, “I didn’t have time to finish my homework” or “I got no sleep, I was up all night finishing my essay.” This hectic lifestyle can lead to depression, exhaustion, and anxiety, some of which we are familiar with at IHA. In his book, “24/6: A Prescription for a Happier, Healthier Life,” Dr. Sleeth explains why a “stop day” can solve most of these problems.

Not too long ago, life stopped on Sundays. Stores were closed and families had quiet days together; 30 years ago, “stop days” were common.  Now, life continues regardless of the day, and Dr. Sleeth believes this is the root of our problems. In Bergen County, stores selling non-essential items are closed, but everywhere else around us stores remain open. Each year there is a debate over the blue laws, and every year people vote to keep the malls closed on Sunday, but how long will this last and, really, how effective are the blue laws? Supermarkets are still open, the internet has made working from home over the weekend very easy, and students have universally declared that Sunday is homework day. If Sunday is no longer our “stop day,” what have we replaced it with?

We have replaced it with a 24/7 mindset, and a nation that has the highest rate of depression and highest number of work hours, according to the World Health Organization. We can think about it in terms of an IHA student. Monday through Friday we go to school, do our homework, and go to practice. Saturday, we go to practice, games, or rehearsal and then squeeze in time for friends. Sunday we do homework after sleeping late. This is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken by a “stop day.” This cycle, releases short-term and long-term hormones, meant to meet the stresses of everyday life. These hormones constantly keep us in the “fight or flight” mode and the continuous release of chemicals leads to depression and anxiety.  It’s as if you were given a large amount of adrenaline, which once it wears off leaves you completely exhausted. This is what we are doing to ourselves every day and the only way to stop it is to take a break. A real break, not the hour we take to watch our favorite show or the unavoidable nap we take once a week after school.

Dr. Sleeth believes that by taking a “stop day,” or stopping work for a day, we can reduce the amount of stress in everyday life and find that we really do have enough time to finish everything we need to. Snow days will then no longer seem like a God send and we can actually enjoy our breaks rather than just sleeping them away. Do you think a “stop day” is realistic for an IHA student? How effective do you think a “stop day” would be in terms of reducing stress and anxiety? Are there other ways to reduce stress and anxiety in our life, or is the answer really as simple as a taking a break?

New Year's Resolutions

        As we celebrated the New Year, we began to think about what our New Year's Resolution will be. Everyone usually comes up with an idea, but how many people are able to achieve their resolution? In the article "Solutions to Resolution Dilution," Sadie Dingfelder explores resolutions and ways in which we can stay true to them. 

       If you had to guess, what do you think that the top three resolutions are? According to the article, the goals to "lose weight, quit smoking and exercise regularly" are the top resolutions every year. All of these goals require people to change their behavior, so behavior psychologists use New Year's Resolutions as a way to study habits that help to change peoples behavior. The success of achieving your resolution does not depend on your goal, but instead on the actions you take. 

       In the article, psychology professor John Norcross shares the ways in which to have most success with your resolution. Some ways to be successful include "stimulus control--for example, avoiding a smoky bar after resolving to quit smoking--and reinforcement, or behaviorally contingent rewards," planning ahead of time, and avoid high-risk situations.  Norcross also stated that self-efficiency, " the belief that one can effect and maintain change" and the willingness to accept change helps to predict whether or not you will be able to complete your goal. 

     These behavior changing techniques are part of the transtheoretical model (TTM) of behavior change. I thought it was interesting how the behavior changing model used in clinical programs is also very applicable to self-initiated change. As I begin to work on my New Year's resolution, I am going to try to use some of the tactics mentioned in this article in order to achieve my goal. Norcross' research has concluded that "nearly 60 percent of people will drop their resolutions by the six-month mark, perhaps due to the persistence of old habits as well as reversion to earlier stages of behavior change." 

 What was your resolution this year? How will you achieve your goal? Do you think the techniques that Norcross discusses would work in order to help you achieve your goal? What other techniques can you think of to help achieve your goal?

Does working hard have to be painful?

It is often said that in order for a fitness workout to be successful, it is necessary to endure pain. I'm sure that all of you have heard of the saying, "No pain, no gain," which is a popular belief among both men and women in terms of exercising. However, the necessity of pain during a workout is put into question in this article, Feeling Pain written by Pirkko Markula.  Markula focuses on the feminine aspect of the issue, in which he says that women have adopted male principles in that they often ignore and endure the pain they experience while exercising because they feel as if pain is an essential element of fitness. Many women think of pain as just being "part of the game," such as in running and other physically demanding sports. However, this article addresses the fact that women athletes must learn to differentiate between the different types of pain that one may endure.

There are two different types of pain that one may experience while exercising -- good pain and bad pain. Good pain refers to the everyday "hurt" that is associated with muscles  whereas pain in joints, ligaments, and bones indicate bad pain. One must have the ability to stop when they realize that they are enduring bad pain and when it becomes too much for his or her body to handle. While pain is considered an essential aspect of many sport women's experiences, it can become a problem when the female chooses to ignore pain and allow it to become "numb" to their bodily feelings, such as in dancing. In the article, the author talks about a study that he conducted of dancers and their experiences with pain. He found that dancers are known to accept pain as a necessary part of their culture and many have said that they need to be in pain in order to know that they are pushing their limits. They have some difficulty, however, trying to distinguish between pain and injury and thus, do not always realize when they pass from feeling pain to actually injuring their bodies. They have the determined mindset that as long as they have the ability to move, the pain can be ignored.

While exercising, it may be difficult to feel as if you are really working hard without enduring some kind of pain. However, this article supports that the most important part of exercising is learning when the pain has the capability of passing from just a simple "hurt" to a possible injury. Pain is an expected and accepted aspect of exercise culture. During physical activities, bodily pain is usually a sign that something is wrong. While dancers and athletes are aware of this fact, they feel as if they cannot afford to stop due to the requirements of their performance culture. So now, I am asking you for your thoughts. Does working hard have to be painful? Do you think that exercise needs to hurt in order to attain maximum performance? How can you distinguish between good and bad pain during an exercise? How is an exerciser to know when to push his or her body or when to stop?

Is being grateful the gateway to happiness?

With Thanksgiving just past the corner, I'm sure some of us all remember exactly what we said we were thankful for around the table. Family, friends, college acceptance- I think it's a pretty safe bet that we all took a moment to remember the things we're grateful for before digging into whatever kind of turkey and potatoes you had on the menu.

This really only happens once a year, though, we need a specific day to remember what we're thankful for, and oftentimes with some prompting. But what if we took time out of every day to remember what we're grateful for? This article by Mary MacVean says there's long lasting evidence that, if we took a second to stop and allow ourselves to feel grateful for what we have, we'd greatly decrease our chances of depression and stress-related illnesses.

The article says that being grateful leads to acknowledging that humanity is, in essence, good, and that thought alone can lead to a reduction of stress. Gratefulness allows us to remember that we have people in our lives to help us out if we need it, and that we wouldn't be the person we are if we'd been completely alone, that other people help to shape us.

But is taking time our of our daily lives to be grateful too much of a stretch? While Thanksgiving is a specific day meant to be used to express our thanks, even it is being pushed under the rug in favor of consumeristic events, like Black Friday, and the rush to Christmas. Is it really feasible for us to use this idea of taking time out of our days to think of what we're thankful? Or are we always going to be too caught up in the here and now than to stop and think.

What do you think? Could you see yourself doing it, or is being grateful always going to be overshadowed by thoughts of the things we need or want, rather than what people have already helped us achieve? Even simpler than that- do you think it makes sense that being grateful could help relieve stress and ward off depression?

Can Eight Minutes Change Your Day?

           I’m almost positive that everyone has had one of those horrible days when it seems like your world is close to ending. You might think that there’s no possible way you could be happy after failing a test, forgetting a project or just having too much to do after school. Think again, according to psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, forty percent of our happiness may be within our power to control. In the article “The Happiness Diet,” she explains a recent study, she found that found people who thought about happy life events for eight minutes every day for three days felt increased life satisfaction four weeks later than they had prior to the study. She calls this theory the “40 Percent Solution. In her book, "The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want,” she lists various activities to make yourself happy. Psychologists have been using these “happiness activities” to help their clients achieve true happiness in their lives.

            Lyubomirsky mainly focuses on the differences between happy people and unhappy people and how to increase the number of the happy ones. She looks at happiness as a diet. You can’t eat healthy one day and expect to lose ten pounds; you have to work at it. Just like a diet, you need to work on your happiness all the time as well. You can’t do one happiness exercise and expect to be happy for the rest of your life. You have to do it every day and really put effort into boosting your own happiness. I know you may be thinking that you barely have time to breathe during the day…where are you supposed to find the time to make yourself happy. Just remember it only takes about eight minutes of your day and it will probably help make you motivate and more productive with your work.

            Many people believe the myth that weather can add to your happiness. That people in Florida where it is always warm and sunny are happier than people in Maine where it is usually cold. Weather actually has nothing to do with it because you become adapted to the weather wherever you live. However, if you move to Florida you may have an increase in your happiness for a little bit because the warm and sunny weather is new to you. But after a while you will adapt to it and that happiness will return to normal. This is one reason why people like to go on vacation so much: change of scenery. Variety changes the way we look at things and that helps us to truly enjoy what we have.

            Happiness not only will give you a new outlook on life but it can improve relationships, creativity, social life and leadership skills. Happiness has so many benefits to it, why live a life controlled by all the negatives. So I challenge you to ask yourself: What makes you happy? Do you think that eight minutes can change your whole day? How can you change up your everyday routine? Would you look at things differently if you were in a better mood?

Shop 'til You Drop

As Christmas approaches, most of us will be spending more and more time shopping and in this article, "Consuming Passion: Human psychology shapes the shopping experience" Kay Randall explains the tendencies of shoppers. Randall also describes the different types of products and methods used my different groups of people based on age and gender.

Randall differentiates the two methods based on gender. Men are more goal-orientated thinkers who decide what they need before going to the store, as soon as they arrive they find it and check out. Women, however, shop for the experience and usually for nothing in particular, they are waiting for an item to spark their interest. And females tend to take much longer shopping than men because we love to try things on.

Not only are women better at coordinating outfits from items throughout the store, but they are quite more capable than men. Men have difficulty pairing a shirt and pant together unless it is displayed for them, otherwise they will purchase only one of the products and move on. That is why it is important for retailers to place outfits in the same display for men while women do not need that aid. Also, stores tend to place candy and gum on the lower shelves, like at the check out at pharmacies, so children are tempted to grab it and beg their parents to purchase it. Even elderly people are targeted in stores, by sales on certain products at certain times of the day because most elderly people do not work and have a fixed income, they also spend time shopping because of their retirement.

Randall also presents the different types of products in a store, such as pain killers or cough medicine have minimal display because people will purchase these utilitarian products when necessary and will not leave a store without it. But luxury items like Godiva chocolate or fancy electronics are displayed to attract attention and interest. If successful, these displays will draw people to purchase these hedonic items, but people will take in to consideration the price and quality of the good more so than if it were a necessity.

There are a lot of factors that draw people to purchase goods: the store ambiance and aroma and customer service are just two examples. Retailers know how to get your attention and mainly your money, especially during the holiday season.

Do you agree with Randall's research? How do you complete your Christmas shopping? What process works best for you? Do you find yourself easily tempted by the candy and gum at the cash register of CVS, do you think this method is productive in business?