Don’t worry, I’m not talking about cheating in their relationships. A new study by the American Psychological Association has found that creative people are more likely to cheat when it comes to tests and the like. The study claims that because creative people are so flexible in their minds and can generate ideas, they can justify cheating through “self-serving rationalizations,” which means they don’t cheat so severely to the point where they feel bad about it. This study says they tested individuals for creativity and intelligence. And then the subjects were given lab tests that made it easy to cheat.

Both of the tests were paid and the individuals were basically told how to cheat, which seems to have provided an incentive to do so. The researchers did say that this could have been a problem. I’d like to see what the results would have been without the incentive of money. The study says that those who tested high in creativity were the ones who cheated more. It doesn’t say, however, how the subjects were tested for creativity. Read More »

College brings a whole lot of new experiences, new lessons and new people. But it seems that no matter what school you go to, there are same characters on every campus. The frat house groupie, the sensitive all American, and The Cool Girl.

When walking around campus, you see her. She’s rocking the casual look like it’s nobody’s business. And she’s doing it well. Her bootcut jeans are accompanied by a perfectly worn-in t-shirt layered under a zip up hoodie. She’s wearing black Converse or a pair of well-worn sneakers, the laces tight enough to keep them on, but loose enough to allow her to slip in and out of them easily. Her haircut is low maintenance, but totally chic.  She’s rocking plastic rimmed glasses, no contacts; a watch, no jewelry.

You don’t know her, but you want to.

This is one co-ed who has got it together. She is the kind of girl who is naturally pretty, has a killer body and is completely oblivious to it. She is friendly, kind, and her easygoing, low maintenance attitude makes it easy to get along with her. Even her professors are drawn to her, always chatting with her before class and helping her after.

She has a large circle of friends, filled with a variety of different types of people. Girls love her, guys love her, nerds love her, athletes love her. And though you don’t know her, you kind of want to love her too. Read More »

When my newest roommate moved into the house, it didn’t take me long to notice that she is a remarkably bright lady. She’s not that nerd who’s only book smart, either. She is well versed in just about…everything…and incredibly articulate. However, I never thought that her smarts had anything to do with the fact that she’s Finnish until recently.

According to new studies, Finnish teenagers are some of the smartest teenagers in the world, and yet, these kids aren’t nerds who do nothing but study. They seem to waste about the same amount of time surfing the web and obsessing over music as we in America do. They don’t seem to take anything any more seriously than anyone else. Yet somehow, they are far ahead in subjects like math, science, and reading by the time they’re fifteen years old. Read More »

Bad news New Years Resolutionites: looks like all that work you are doing at the gym isn’t quite as impressive as you have been lead to believe. Nor will it lead to the extreme or quick results you have been counting on. A recent article in the New York Times is claiming that the calorie counters on your favorite machines – especially the cherished, Elliptical – are wrong. Sometimes way wrong.

This news isn’t a total shock to most people – I mean, unless you are slightly delusional or in denial, you should be able to tell that a 30 minute stint on the cross-trainer could not possibly burn 500 calories – but it is still a little disconcerting. What is the point of having calorie counters on machines if they are so off? And how many calories am I burning during my workout? Read More »