周五 (11/27)1.他人 如何影響我們的快樂 2.新聞的影響

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他人 如何影響我們的快樂

How Others Influence Your Happiness
University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority
 
UW Health psychologist Shilagh Mirgain explains how other's happiness affects our own
 
 Is your happiness dependent on your neighbor’s? To some degree, yes.
 
“Happiness isn’t just a personal experience, it is actually affected by the individuals around you,” explains UW Health psychologist Shilagh Mirgain, PhD.
 
Mirgain uses the description of a ripple effect. Like when a pebble is dropped into the water causing ripples – our words, actions and feelings affect those around us, who in turn affect individuals who come into contact with them, and so on.
 
 “How an individual feels can ripple through his or her social groups and actually influence how the group feels in general,” she says. “In some ways, our emotional states are like a virus – we can spread the positive and negative experience to those around us, even with strangers.”
 
 
She points to research done over a period of time that found the happiness of an individual extends up to three degrees of separation (that is - our level of happiness impacts the happiness levels of the friends of our friends’ friends.) Similarly if you have a friend, relative or neighbor who lives within a mile and becomes happy, this increases the probability that you will be happy by 25 percent.
The Impact of Negative Emotions
 
 
Think about how your own mood can be impacted by a sales clerk who smiles, is helpful and kind versus one who is rude and unhelpful. In one case, the clerk’s happiness creates a positive connection between you, while the other experience may leave you feeling frustrated or even angry. In both cases, a complete stranger’s attitudes influenced your own and you may in turn, pass that attitude along to others – either through your good mood or your irritation.
 
 
In the case of negative emotions, Mirgain explains that they can actually have a greater impact than positive ones. When comparing the effects of a positive relationship to a negative one, the de-energizing connection (or negative) has an impact that is four to seven times greater than a positive or energizing relationship. One place where this is easily seen is in the workplace.
 
 
“Research has shown that a ‘toxic’ co-worker – someone who is always negative, gossips about others or has a poor attitude – can actually be damaging to a workplace,” she says. “The negativity may lead to an environment where there is less information sharing, more conflict among team members, less trust and a lower performance by all members overall.”
 
 
Dealing with a negative co-worker can leave others feeling emotionally tired, unhappy and dissatisfied, which is why it’s important to address the negativity rather than try to ignore it. The same is true when dealing with a negative friend or family member. In both cases, it may not be possible to stop all interactions, but it’s important to have a strategy for when you do need to interact. Mirgain explains that it starts by creating physical and emotional distance from the individuals.
Facebook Live: Owning Your "Ripple Effect"
Dr. Mirgain recently held a Facebook Live session to talk about owning our "ripple effect."
 
“Consider the ways you can minimize interactions with the person and set boundaries,” she says.
 
 
Managers may consider reassigning projects to limit the interactions the individual has with the overall team. Co-workers can consider not engaging the individual beyond the minimum necessary. And if it is a friend or family member, limit conversations to those topics you known won’t trigger the negativity.
 
 
“It can be challenging, but don’t let yourself get sucked into the negativity by joining in with it, such as complaining, gossiping or even by dwelling on the person’s behavior. It will only bring you down,” Mirgain comments. “Remember that the other person’s behavior has very little to do with you – they are dealing with their own issues.”
Tips for Staying Positive
 
 
While it may seem like we’re at the mercy of others’ attitudes, Mirgain notes that we do have some control – we can choose how we respond. To start, she offers some tips:
 
 
Share Your Feelings
 
 
When something gets under our skin, we can spend a lot of mental energy thinking about it. Instead, Mirgain suggests finding someone you trust and sharing your thoughts and feelings. It can take the sting out of the hurt and help you get moving in a positive direction again.
 
 
Talk to Yourself
 
 
Think about what words you can tell yourself to help gain some perspective on the situation or that can help calm you down when a “hot button” issue gets brought up. A simple phrase to remind yourself like “let it go” or “breathe deep” can help refocus your thoughts.
 
 
Surround Yourself with Positivity
 
 
Your time is a valuable and limited resource. Just like any investment, choose wisely how you are going to spend it. Limit the time you spend with negative people and situations and instead, focus on the positive. It may mean you limit the amount of time you spend with someone, which can be particularly difficult when it is a loved one. But negative emotions – like positive ones – can impact your overall health and sense of well-being. While it may feel selfish on some level, you are taking the steps you need to care for your own health.
 
 
Get Some Sleep
 
 
Mirgain points to two studies on the effects of poor sleep and a couple’s ability to resolve conflict in their relationship. Essentially, couples who experienced poor sleep experienced more conflict in their relationships,were less empathetic toward the other person when trying to resolve the issue and less likely to achieve resolution. When you’re tired, you don’t have the mental energy needed to redirect negative emotions and can more easily be overwhelmed by them. So get the sleep you need so you have the energy to deal with any issues.
新聞的影響
You Asked: Is It Bad for You to Read the News Constantly?
Markham Heid  time.com
 
A recent survey from the American Psychological Association found that, for many Americans, “news consumption has a downside.”
 
More than half of Americans say the news causes them stress, and many report feeling anxiety, fatigue or sleep loss as a result, the survey shows. Yet one in 10 adults checks the news every hour, and fully 20% of Americans report “constantly” monitoring their social media feeds—which often exposes them to the latest news headlines, whether they like it or not.
 
Of course, many people feel it’s important to stay informed. And it’s understandable that news you find concerning could produce stress and anxiety. But recent changes to the way everyone gets their news—coupled with the style of news that dominates today—may not be good for mental and even physical health.
 
“The way that news is presented and the way that we access news has changed significantly over the last 15 to 20 years,” says Graham Davey, a professor emeritus of psychology at Sussex University in the UK and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Experimental Psychopathology. “These changes have often been detrimental to general mental health.”
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Davey says today’s news is “increasingly visual and shocking,” and points to the inclusion of smartphone videos and audio clips as examples. These bystander-captured media can be so intense that they can cause symptoms of acute stress—like problems sleeping, mood swings or aggressive behavior—or even PTSD, he says.
 
Some of Davey’s research has shown that negative TV news is a significant mood-changer, and the moods it tends to produce are sadness and anxiety. “Our studies also showed that this change in mood exacerbates the viewer’s own personal worries, even when those worries are not directly relevant to the news stories being broadcast,” he says.
 
While increased anxiety and stress are reason enough to be wary of overdoing it when it comes to the news, these and other mental health afflictions can also fuel physical ailments. Stress-related hormones, namely cortisol, have been linked to inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and other serious health concerns.
 
So if the evidence suggests the news can stress people out, why do they keep going back for more? For one thing, it’s entertaining, Davey says. The human brain is also wired to pay attention to information that scares or unsettles us—a concept known as “negativity bias“.
 
“In a state of nature, our survival depends on finding rewards and avoiding harm, but avoiding harm takes priority,” says Loretta Breuning, a former professor of management at California State University, East Bay and author of Habits of a Happy Brain.
 
Breuning explains that the human brain is attracted to troubling information because it’s programmed to detect threats, not to overlook them. “This can make it hard for us to ignore the negatives and seek out the positives around us,” she says. “Our brain is predisposed to go negative, and the news we consume reflects this.”
 
While your brain may find the latest news enthralling, it’s hard to argue that all of that news is truly illuminating. Breuning says much of the opinion and commentary that passes for news analysis is the equivalent of lunchroom gossip. “There’s this idea of following the news in order to be an informed citizen, but a lot of what you see today is gossip elevated to a sophisticated level,” she says. And if the news you consume is getting you worked up or worried—and some would say this is exactly the goal of much of today’s coverage—it’s probably not doing your health any favors, she says.
 
But other experts say the effect news has on a person’s health varies from one individual to another.
 
“News is not an infectious and contagious pathogen like anthrax or the Ebola virus that impacts humans in relatively predicable ways,” says Chris Peters, an associate professor of media and communication at Aalborg University Copenhagen. “It’s extremely complicated—if not impossible—to predict how people in the aggregate will respond to news.”
 
He says we shouldn’t focus on the amount of news we consume each day, but rather on the ways in which we engage with news in relation to our everyday lives and the people who fill them. If you find your news habit is messing with your relationship or well-being, some changes to the ways you interact with the news may be helpful.
 
“Try to be aware of how [the news] changes your mood or makes your thoughts more negative,” Davey advises. If you notice a news-induced surge of pessimism, taking a breather with mood-lifting activities like listening to music, exercising or watching something that makes you laugh may all help counteract those dark vibes.
 
You could also pare back your news habit. “Most of us these days have news alerts set on our smartphones, and 24-hour news on continuously in the background,” he says. “That’s probably far too much.”
 
Breuning agrees, and recommends limiting your news consumption to one block of time each day—say, at lunch or before dinner—if not less. At the very least, don’t watch or read the news before bed, she says.
 
Staying aware and informed is a good thing. But when it comes to your health, too much news can spell trouble.