Pride is golden and radiant, and seventeen things more! Pride is the passion of a great, strong soul that feels its power; vanity is only the pleasure for a small, weak soul that overestimates petty things beyond merit. (Karl Julius Weber) 1. Pride is biologically adaptive. The evolutionary function of pride is to communicate social status nonverbally. An erect, expansive posture with a glowingly confident smile signals a high rank in the social hierarchy. With an authentic expression of … [Read more...]
Willpower Fatigue Impairs Athletic Performance
Ego depletion is the theory that your willpower is a limited global resource that can be temporarily depleted. For example, when you must control your anger at incompetent drivers on your way to the gym, you'll have less willpower to hit the weights hard. I've recently discussed new scientific evidence that did not support this theory. However, just as recently, Englert (2016) has reviewed the relevant studies that were published over the past six years—again highly supportive of the ego … [Read more...]
How to Alleviate Stress: Physical Exercise vs. Biofeedback vs. Meditation
How to alleviate stress: If you want to reduce stress and anxiety, should you rather be more physically active, practice meditation, or use a biofeedback device? (If you want to learn about emotion regulation in general, check out this article! I've also discussed how biofeedback enhances sports performance here.) Van der Zwan and her colleagues in Amsterdam tackled this question in 2015 with a controlled intervention study. 76 participants kept up their daily home exercise for 5 weeks, … [Read more...]
How to Have Freedom Without Free Will
I know, there's a lot of buzz about "free will" in science and philosophy. I've studied both and all I can say is that the entire debate is ridiculous—nothing but an intellectual's chance to act out his desire for public mental masturbation. Sure, freedom exists, and sure, everyone has a will. But putting these two concepts together doesn't make any sense. As Schopenhauer said, "Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills." That's all there is to it. The whole debate should've … [Read more...]
Kinesthetic Imagery Can Make You Physically Stronger
Although your mind's powers are highly limited, thinking alone can strengthen your body. Mental Imagery —that's the key concept here: the conscious mental rehearsal of movement. If used as a regular practice, mental imagery can improve your physical strength even without performing any actual movement. You can literally sit at home on your couch and grow stronger by merely thinking about lifting weights. Experimental Studies Most studies on motor imagery follow an experimental design … [Read more...]