Blog
About
PARINC.COM
MENU
CHECK OUT
Login
SEARCH
1-800-331-8378
Blog
About
PARINC.COM
Search
1.800.331.8378
Practice
,
Research
Meetings: Brainstorm or Brain Drain?
March 27, 2012
Meetings are a regular part of working life, an opportunity to collaborate, solve a problem, or accomplish a goal. Many of us assume that meetings, while sometimes tedious or dull, are still the best way to bring good ideas to the table. New research led by scientists at the
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute
, however, suggests quite the opposite
—meetings may, in fact, make us dumber.
The study’s authors assert that the social dynamic that occurs in meetings can have a detrimental effect on our ability to think clearly. “You may joke about how committee meetings make you feel brain dead, but our findings suggest that they may make you act brain dead as well,” said co-author Read Montague, in a
recent interview with msnbc.com
author Linda Carroll.
In the study, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at the brains of college-student volunteers as they took an IQ test. Next, the students were divided into groups with similar IQs and given a second test. Each time they answered a question during the second round of testing, they were given feedback about their performance compared to others in the group. Although the volunteers were well matched in terms of initial IQ scores, scores dropped dramatically when students were receiving constant feedback about their performance relative to others in their group.
According to lead author
Kenneth Kishida
, constant reminders of status were stimulating parts of the brain involving fear, anxiety, and emotional response—and this was causing the students to perform poorly on the test. In the context of a meeting, such negative feelings can be triggered by a sense that others in the group are smarter or better prepared—even when they aren’t. According to Kishida, the perception alone can stifle our best thinking.
What do you think? Do meetings help or hinder intelligence and creativity? Leave a comment and join the conversation!
Research
Introversion – Why it May Be Better to Not Be the Life of the Party
March 20, 2012
Though society rewards extroverts for their outgoing, social behaviors, a new book by psychologist Elaine Aron,
Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person
, brings to light the often-overlooked benefits to being an introvert.
Many people confuse being introverted with being shy, but Aron finds that this actually overlooks many of the important characteristics that distinguish these temperaments – shy people fear judgment, introverts simply prefer environments with less stimulation. Introversion can be seen in children as young as four months of age, as they tend to be more sensitive to their environments and more careful around unique stimuli.
Though extroverts can win people over with their gregarious and friendly behaviors, studies show that introverts tend to get
better grades
than extroverts, win more academic awards, and show a greater depth of knowledge of academic subjects. Yet, introverts do not have
higher IQ scores
than their more social counterparts.
Furthermore, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania management professor Adam Grant makes a case that those hiring should look again at introverts. His study found that introverted leaders tend to be
better managers
than extroverts are because they encourage others instead of trying to advance their own agendas. When employees are proactive, an introverted leader can aid the team in earning higher profits. Extroverted leaders, however, can be more threatened by employee proactivity as they prefer to be the center of attention. Once an extroverted leader responds in a less receptive way, employees become discouraged, less willing to share ideas, and less willing to work hard.
In financial matters, extroverts are more likely to take
risks
and underestimate the size of the risk they are taking. Furthermore, extroverts respond better to praise than punishment, but do not learn new tasks well, while introverts, if punished, learn from their mistakes.
Though introverts may have many unnoticed traits, they still need their extrovert counterparts to truly thrive. Aron notes that successful partnerships arise when introverts and extroverts work together – like the charismatic Steve Jobs and introvert co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak.
What do you think are the biggest misconceptions concerning introverts? Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert? How do you think those traits help or harm you?
New Products
,
PAR Author
,
Products
Concussion Recognition & Response™ Nominated for Appy Award
March 15, 2012
The Concussion Recognition & Response™: Coach and Parent Version (CRR)
from PAR has been nominated for the prestigious Appy Award! One of three finalists in the medical category, the CRR is an app for mobile phones and tablets that allows parents and coaches to quickly check for the signs and symptoms of a concussion when a young
athlete is injured on the playing field.
The Appy Awards will be held on March 19, 2012, in San Francisco. Finalists this year include well-known apps and brands including Mint, HBO, MLB At Bat, Home Depot, The Daily, Flipboard, Telenav and Ask.com, and growing upstarts like Westfield Malls, Viggle, Wine Road, iCookBook and SlideShark. Along with PAR’s CRR, the other nominees in the medical category are drchrono, an electronic health record (EHR) platform for physicians, and WebMD, a mobile version of the popular health information Web site.
Since its inception, the Appy Awards have been designed to include all devices and platforms, and finalists are carefully chosen by the Executive Jury from hundreds of thousands of eligible apps. This year’s Jury includes fifteen veterans from three industries: software development, advertising and marketing, and technology publishing. To learn more about the Appy Awards, and to view the full lineup of categories and finalists, visit
http://AppyAwards.net.
Research
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
March 15, 2012
You don’t have to be Hamlet to wax poetic on the wonders of sleep, but several new studies are giving us more insight into your nightly snooze. Although you may think sleep is just a way for your body to rest and recharge, the following researchers are showing that there is so much more to it.
Sleep deprivation may increase hunger
According to a presentation given at the American Heart Association’s annual conference,
people tend to consume more calories on the day after they’ve had less sleep
. Researcher
Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD
, found that women consumed, on average, 329 more calories when sleep deprived; men consumed 263 more. In addition to eating more calories, individuals also tended to consume foods with a higher fat and protein content than they did when they had adequate amounts of sleep. Though it may seem that participants were looking for quick sources of energy, if could also be that sleep impairs one’s ability to make healthy food choices.
Dreaming about a task may be beneficial to learning
Scientists are finding more evidence that dreaming about a particular task may be associated with better performance in that particular activity. Researchers are finding that dreaming is an essential part of understanding, organizing, and retaining the information we learn during the day. Harvard researchers found that
college students who dreamt about a computer maze
task they encountered during the day showed a tenfold improvement in their ability to navigate the maze than did those who did not dream about the maze.
Your social life may have an impact on your sleep schedule
Information collected at the University of Chicago found that people who report higher levels of loneliness also tend to report
more sleep fragmentation
. Those who feel more connected to others tend to get a better night’s sleep.
Sleep seems to have a positive impact on so many aspects of life. In what other settings have you noticed sleep’s influence on an individual’s functioning?
Advocacy
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month
March 6, 2012
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA), and partners from all across the healthcare spectrum are working together this month to spread the word about traumatic brain injury prevention, recognition, and response. PAR is proud to join these advocates in recognizing March as National Brain Injury
Awareness Month.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body that disrupts the normal functioning of the brain. Concussion is one of the most common forms of brain injury.
The CDC estimates that 1.7 million Americans sustain a TBI, including concussions, each year. Of those individuals, 52,000 die, 275,000 are hospitalized, and 1.4 million are treated and released from an emergency department.
“Since anyone can sustain a brain injury at any time, it is important for everyone to have access to comprehensive rehabilitation and ongoing disease management,” says Dr. Brent Masel, national medical director for BIAA. “Doing so eases medical complications, permanent disability, family dysfunction, job loss, homelessness, impoverishment, medical indigence, suicide and involvement with the criminal or juvenile justice system.”
Good sources of information about TBI signs and symptoms include the CDC’s
Traumatic Brain Injury
Web site, as well as their
“Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports”
program. The
BIAA “Anytime, Anywhere, Anyone”
awareness campaign site is another excellent resource for understanding and disseminating information about brain injury.
PAR recognizes the importance of brain injury awareness. To help address this problem, we have partnered with concussion experts from the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC and the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at UNC Chapel Hill to produce two new apps designed to help parents, coaches, athletic trainers, and medical professionals recognize and respond to potential concussions. The
Concussion Recognition & Response™: Parent and Coach Version
and the
Concussion Assessment & Response™: Sport Version
are easy-to-use, inexpensive downloads for Apple® or Android™ smartphones, tablets, and other devices. Click on the links to learn more—and help spread the word about National Brain Injury Awareness Month.
Categories
About PAR (78)
Advocacy (24)
Books (8)
Community PARtners (38)
Conference (46)
Contest (3)
Discounts (13)
General (14)
Meet the Author (24)
Movies (1)
New Products (115)
PAR Author (65)
PAR Staff (42)
Practice (119)
Products (132)
Research (152)
Training (26)
Training Portal (2)
Uncategorized (7)
Webinar (18)
White Paper (4)
Archives
2021
January (4)
February (4)
March (1)
2020
January (4)
February (4)
March (5)
April (2)
May (3)
June (5)
July (4)
August (4)
September (5)
October (5)
November (5)
December (5)
2019
January (4)
February (4)
March (4)
April (5)
May (4)
June (4)
July (5)
August (4)
September (4)
October (5)
November (4)
December (5)
2018
January (5)
February (4)
March (4)
April (4)
May (5)
June (4)
July (5)
August (4)
September (4)
October (5)
November (3)
December (4)
2017
January (5)
February (4)
March (4)
April (4)
May (5)
June (4)
July (4)
August (4)
September (4)
October (5)
November (4)
December (3)
2016
January (4)
February (4)
March (5)
April (4)
May (5)
June (4)
July (3)
August (5)
September (6)
October (4)
November (5)
December (4)
2015
January (7)
February (4)
March (6)
April (4)
May (4)
June (5)
July (4)
August (4)
September (5)
October (4)
November (4)
December (5)
2014
January (4)
February (4)
March (4)
April (5)
May (4)
June (4)
July (5)
August (4)
September (4)
October (5)
November (4)
December (5)
2013
January (5)
February (4)
March (4)
April (5)
May (4)
June (4)
July (5)
August (4)
September (4)
October (5)
November (5)
December (5)
2012
January (5)
February (4)
March (5)
April (5)
May (5)
June (4)
July (6)
August (4)
September (5)
October (6)
November (4)
December (4)
2011
January (4)
February (4)
March (5)
April (3)
May (6)
June (5)
July (5)
August (5)
September (4)
October (5)
November (5)
December (4)
2010
May (4)
June (3)
July (5)
August (4)
September (2)
October (3)
November (3)
December (3)
Contact PAR
Customer Support:
1.800.331.8378
Tech Support:
1.800.899.8378
Email:
cs@parinc.com
Website:
www.parinc.com
Recent Posts
Assess for an alcohol use disorder with a simple online tool
Join PAR at the NASP Virtual Convention
Focusing on Dementia Care
New on PARiConnect: Digital Library!
Join us for a PARiConnect webinar
Read More »
Tags
online assessment
AAB
APA
assessment
authors
autism
BRIEF
BRIEF2
career
career counseling
career interest inventory
ChAMP
children
Community PARtners
concussion
Customer Service
customer support
dementia
depression
executive function
FAR
feifer
free training
intelligence
John Holland
learning disabilities
memory
mental health
NASP
neuropsychology
online assessment
PAI
PAR
PAR staff
PARiConnect
personality
post-traumatic stress disorder
Psychology
ptsd
reading
research
retirement
SDS
Self-Directed Search
suicide
tbi
training
training portal
trauma
United Way