【推荐2】In a new set of studies, researchers found that people showed greater goal commitment and performance when they told their goal to someone they believed had higher status (地位) than themselves. In these studies, higher-status people were those who the participants thought had more prestige (威望) than they did.

In one study, 17l undergraduate students were seated at computers and told they had to move a slider (滑块) on the screen to the number 50 as many times as possible within the given time. After counting how many times they successfully did this, they had to do it again, but this time they were told to set and write down a goal.

The experimenter then informed the participants that a lab assistant would come around and check on their goals. In some cases, the lab assistant was dressed in a suit and introduced himself as a doctoral student in the business school who was an expert on today’s study topic. For other participants, the same lab assistant dressed in casual clothing and introduced himself as a student at a local community college who was working part time at the business school. A third group of participants didn’t share their goals with the lab assistant.

Results showed that participants who shared their goals with the higher-status lab assistant reported they were more willing to achieve the goal they set for themselves than those who told the lower-status assistant. And participants who shared their goal with the lower-status assistant performed no better than those who told no one about their goal. “These findings provide evidence that refutes popular media recommendations that one should stay silent about a goal,” said Howard Klein, lead author of the new study.

“Contrary to what you may have heard, in most cases you get more benefit from sharing your goal than if you don’t as long as you share it with someone whose opinion you value,” Klein said. “You don’t want him to think less of you because you didn’t achieve your goal.”

The word “motivation” comes from the Latin term motivus, “a moving cause”. It is described as the force that drives us to pursue a goal, including the desire to continue pursuing meaning, purpose, and a life worth living. It fuels competition and boosts social connection. Its absence can lead to mental illnesses such as depression.

People often have multiple motives for engaging in any one behaviour. Motivation might be extrinsic. That means a person is inspired by outside forces—other people or rewards. Anything promised for completing the task or received as a result of completing the task are extrinsic motivators. Extrinsic motivation can increase motivation in the short term, but over time it may gradually decrease.

Motivation can also be intrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes purely from within, with no expected reward, deadline, or outside pressure. For example, people who are intrinsically motivated to run do so because they love the feeling of running itself. Compared to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation tends to push people more forcefully, and the achievements are more satisfying, since it is integrated into identity and serves as a continuous source of motivation.

To understand motivation, Abraham Maslow introduced the concept of hierarchy of needs (需求层次) in 1943. According to Maslow,   humans are intrinsically motivated to meet physical needs, the most fundamental ones such as needs for food. Then they gradually satisfy several levels of needs from safety, to higher-order needs for love, belonging, and self-respect, and finally move to ward expressing their full potential—self-actualization, the desire to become the most that one can be.

Although the generality of Maslow’s theory has been challenged, many believe it reveals fundamental truths about human motivation. No matter where motivation begins, there are always ways to increase it — whether that be your own motivation or someone else’s. Sometimes you might feel completely unmotivated — and that’s OK. In that situation, allow yourself to feel the discomfort, hear the negative self-talk, and then take action anyway.

【推荐2】There is new hope for the future of a population of endangered butterflies in the American state of California. Last year, a count of the orange-and-black Western monarchs reached a record low of about 1, 900. But this year, butterfly counters are reporting tens of thousands more Western monarchs. The insects live along California's central coast in winter.

The non-profit science group Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation carries out the official study every year. It just opened the first period of this year's count on November 13. But it says early reports are positive.

Sarina Jepsen is director of Endangered Species at Xerces Society. She says volunteer counters have reported the presence of as many as 50,000 monarchs in the last few weeks. Jepsen says the finding is "... not a recovery, but we're really optimistic and just really glad that there are monarchs here and that gives us a bit of time to work toward recovery of the Western monarch migration."

In the 1980s, millions of Western monarchs gathered in trees from northern California down to western Mexico. Now, their wintering sites are mostly on California's central coast.

Western monarch butterflies travel south from the Pacific Northwest to California each winter. They return to the same places and even the same trees, where they gather. The monarchs usually arrive in California' t the beginning of November. They spread across the country once warmer weather arrives in March.

The Western monarch-butterfly population has decreased by more than 99 percent since the 1980s. Scientists do not know why the population increased this year. But Jepsen said it is likely a combination of reasons, including better conditions on their breeding grounds (繁殖地). Pacific Grove, California, known as "Butterfly Town, USA"，has worked for years to help the decreasing monarch population. The city holds a parade to celebrate the butterflies every October. It also bans human interference with the monarchs. The crime carries a $ 1,000 fine.

Monarch butterflies lack state and federal legal protection that could keep their grounds from being destroyed. Last year, the butterflies failed to gain federal protection. But the insects are now among the candidates for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

【推荐3】Many of us are familiar with the anxiety that can consume us ahead of speaking or performing in public. Throats run dry, sweat drops, and it can feel like everyone hears your quickly beating heart. But scientists wondered: Is the anxiety driving the heart to beat faster or could an increased heart rate cause anxiety?

A new study published today explores this link in mice, showing that speeding up a mouse’s heart rate made otherwise calm animals act more anxious. The finding indicates heart activity can influence mental state — and finding ways to lower heart rate may be a way to treat mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.

The research team introduced ChRmine (泵状光敏感通道蛋白) into heart muscle cells of live mice whose torsos (躯干) were fitted with a vest equipped with a micro light-emitting bulb (电灯泡). Light from the bulb then shined the skin of the mice to stimulate ChRmine within the cells. The result: a small pacemaker made the animals’ hearts beat faster.

Because the team could just turn the light on and off, “we were now able to control heart rates using this wearable,” said Ritchie Chen, a bioengineer at Stanford and an author of the study.

In the future, Deisseroth and his team want to make periods longer than used in the current experiment to see whether increased heart rate over weeks or months can lead to an increase or worsening of anxiety or depression like behaviors.

If the findings can be copied in other settings, particularly with people, they could have potentials for treating mental health conditions. Current medicines are not foolproof and often take months to work. Going through the heart may be a quicker, more effective alternative. “Operating the heart is much easier than operating the brain,” Gogolla says. “We may actually unlock new treatment strategies for patients with anxiety or depressive disorder.”

【推荐1】On August 23, 2004, the Athens Olympic horizontal bar (单框)final was going on fiercely. Russian Nemov, 28, was the third to compete. He won the audience with the very difficult movement of rising high in the air and grabbing the bar, but when landing, he made a flaw—moving a step forward, so the referees only scored him 9. 725 points.

At this moment, in the history of the Olympic Games, a rare instance appeared: the whole audience kept shouting “Nemov”, “Nemov”, and all rose, waving their arms and booing (嘘) to the referees long and loud. The competition was suspended. The fourth player, American Paul Ham, though ready, could only stand on the spot in embarrassment.

Faced with such a circumstance, Nemov who had withdrawn stood up from his seat, greeted and waved to the audience, bowed deeply and thanked them for their love and support. Nemov's big-heartedness further stirred up the audience's dissatisfaction. More boos rang while some of the audience even threw out their fists with thumbs down making rude moves.

Against this enormous pressure, the referees were forced to score Nemov 9. 762 points. However, such a score could not quiet down the audience; boos sounded again.

Upon this, Nemov displayed his generosity and charm. He returned to the game and raised his right arm and deeply bowed to express his respect and gratitude to the audience. After that, he extended his right index finger to make a gesture for silence, and then pressed his hands down to request the audience to remain calm and give Paul Ham a quiet condition.

Nemov's tolerance set the interrupted game going on.

In that game Nemov didn't get a gold medal, but he was still a "champion"in the eyes of the audience; he didn't defeat the fellow competitors, but he won the audience with his own tolerance.

【推荐3】In 2013, Deegan was trying to take control of her life after winning the fight against drinking. She did quit, but she was having difficulty reconnecting with people. Even looking someone in the eyes proved to be difficult. “I was sort of like a shell of a person and just didn’t really have many life skills or self-confidence,” Deegan said.

However, baking was something that always brought her joy as a child. One day while helping out in the neighborhood, Deegan picked up a handheld mixer and started baking. “My life was just out of control, but baking is such a controlled thing, where if you take the right steps and follow the directions, you’ll get a pretty exact result,” she said.

Deegan started bringing her homemade baked cookies to people’s homes, which helped her reconnect with people. “Feeding people is such a universal love language,” she said. However, she was still trying to figure out how to find a career at 27 years old. She had no real work experience and she couldn’t put ‘quit drinking’ ” on her resume.

Deegan’s life shifted in 2015. Encouraged by her friends, she challenged herself to see if she could sell just one pie. She sold dozens! She began baking out of her tiny apartment and eventually launched an official business in 2017. She spent four years developing a pie crust cookie recipe, which has since become the bread and butter of her business. “People have been walking, running and lining up to get cookies, and it’s just been so magical seeing that,” she said.

When she needs more help, Deegan says she looks for anyone who is just excited to work, even if they don’t have any experience. After her own struggle, she realized that the desire to work was better than having a certain skill set. And she became a second-chance employer, hiring women out of prison or the shelter system. “You just have to walk through the door and be ready, willing and able and excited to show up and work and you’ve got a job,” Deegan told the reporter.