Scientific American Mind - September/October 2013 (gnv64)

Scientific American Mind - September/October 2013
English | True PDF | 80 pages | 12.2 mb

FEATURES
COVER STORY
26>> Letting Go of Self-Esteem
If your self-worth depends on success, you may be in for a fall. To feel good about yourself, think less about you and more about others.BY JENNIFER CROCKER AND JESSICA J. CARNEVALE
34>> Listening to Voices
A student’s journey from “normal” to “schizophrenic” and back highlights shortcomings in how our society deals with mental health.BY ELEANOR LONGDEN
40>> What a Hoax
Conspiracy theories offer easy answers by casting the world as simpler and more predictable than it really is. BY SANDER VAN DER LINDEN

SPECIAL REPORT
44>> How We Learn
Insights from psychology can make us better readers, writers and thinkers.BY THE EDITORS
46>> What Works, What Doesn’t
Some study techniques accelerate learning, whereas others are just a waste of time—but which ones are which? BY JOHN DUNLOSKY, KATHERINE A. RAWSON, ELIZABETH J. MARSH, MITCHELL J. NATHAN AND DANIEL T. WILLINGHAM
54>> The Science of Handwriting
As we jettison the pen and pencil in a digital world, we are changing the way our brain thinks about writing.BY BRANDON KEIM
60>> For the Love of Math
With the right lesson plan, teachers can turn struggling students into budding mathematicians. BY JOHN MIGHTON

DEPARTMENTS
1 >> From the Editor
4 >> Letters
7 >> Head Lines
> Volunteering boosts heart health.
> Contagious altruism.
> Bird brains have big skills.
> Hormones affect women’s trust.
> The lifetime of a drug.
> Male migraines vs. female migraines.
> A neural signature for pain.
> Neurons fire backward in sleep.
19 >> Illusions
Pain is an emotion.BY STEPHEN L. MACKNIK AND SUSANA MARTINEZ-CONDE
22 >> Perspectives
Managing Your Digital Afterlife
Your online persona and possessions can help assuage grief over your passing.BY CARRIE ARNOLD
24 >> Consciousness Redux
Consciousness in infants.BY CHRISTOF KOCH
68 >> Facts and Fictions in Mental Health
You can now be officially diagnosed with “hoarding disorder.”BY SCOTT O. LILIENFELD AND HAL ARKOWITZ
70 >> Reviews and Recommendations
TheDSM-5 as a work of fiction. Our sense of self as brain. A bipolar life. Evolution of denial.Also: How to enhance creativity.
72 >> Ask the Brains
What physiological changes explain the honeymoon phase of a relationship? Do negative political ads work?
74 >> Head Games
Match wits with the Mensa puzzlers.
76 >> Mind in Pictures
Fear Itself.BY DWAYNE GODWIN AND JORGE CHAM