【推荐1】Depending on the topic, people’s opinions can change from moment to moment or last a lifetime. The factors that make one opinion long-lasting and another short-lived, however are not always clear.

Past studies have shown that opinions based on hard facts and data can remain constant over time, but new research published in the journal Psychological Science finds that opinions based on feelings and emotions can also stand the test of time.

As part of their study the researchers asked more than 1000 people to what degree they believed opinions based on feelings or emotional reactions were more stable over time than those based on thinking and reasoned analysis. Only 15% expressed any belief that opinions based on emotion would be more stable over time

To test the role that emotion plays in forming long-lasting opinions, the researchers conducted seven independent studies involving more than 20,000 participants in various real-world situations.

The first survey, which was conducted the day after Christmas, measured feelings about recently received gifts. The participants were given a list of adjectives(形容词) to describe their opinions toward their gifts. Adjectives like “worthwhile” were associated with a practical reaction to the gift, while words like “delightful” were more strongly associated with an emotional reaction. One month later, the participants completed a follow-up survey to test the endurance(持久性) of their opinions. The results showed that the stronger the positive emotional reaction, the more likely that opinion remained fixed one month later.

In the final test, participants read one of two messages about an imaginary sea animal. One message contained broad-ranging facts about the animal (low-emotion condition). The other message was about a swimmer’s underwater interaction with the animal (high-emotion condition). The participants in the high-emotion condition showed significantly less change in their opinions across time.

“Emotionality is a predictor(预测因子) of long-lasting opinions which is unrecognized,” said Andrew Luttrell, a researcher at Ball State University. “These findings are important for understanding why some opinions are so difficult to change as well as how to create opinions that stick.”

【推荐3】Trophies(奖杯) were once rare things.    1    . Trophies and prizes are almost a given. One Maryland summer program gives awards every day and each player gets one. Trophy sales are now a $3 billion-a-year industry in the United States and Canada.

Some research has been done on the effects of praise and awards on kids. Although kids can be highly driven by awards, nonstop recognition does not inspire children to succeed.    2    

Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, found that kids respond positively to praise; they enjoy hearing that they’re talented, smart and so on.     3    . Disappointed by their failure, they say they’d rather cheat than risk failing again.

    4    , even if they are good at something; they’ve got to get used to that to keep going. When children make mistakes, our job should not be to make up those losses into decorated victories. Instead, our job is to help kids overcome failures, to help them see that progress over time is more important than a particular win or loss.    5    . We also have to stop letting the Trophy Industry run our children’s lives.

【推荐1】In May, 2010, Christine Jones saw an ad for a customer service job at a call center in Mobile, Alabama. A company, which handles calls for insurance companies (保险公司), needed people with professional phone skills. Jones filled out an online application and was asked for an interview.

A few days later, she arrived at the company in a blue business suit and waited with other applicants for the interview. Jones was among several candidates offered a position that very day by the company's human resource manager Wilson. All that remained was for Jones to fill out some paperwork and take a drug test, which was scheduled for a future date. When Jones realized she was not available that day, she privately told Wilson about the conflict, and Wilson replied that she could reschedule her test for another day.

But right before Jones turned to leave the office, Wilson raised a strange question: Did Jones have dreadlocks (骇人的长辫)? Jones, who is a black, was wearing a dread—very short ones. Wilson, who is white, explained the company couldn’t employ Jones ''with the dreadlocks'', since they ''tend to get messy, although I'm not saying yours are, but you know what I'm talking about''. Although Jones would never communicate with callers face to face, the company had ''a policy'', which stated that ''hairstyles should show a business image'', and that ''excessive (过分的) styles and unusual colors'' weren't allowed. Wilson asked Jones to choose whether to get rid of the dread or leave the job. Jones walked out, jobless.

In September, 2013, the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) accused the company on behalf of Jones in the District Court. It argued that the company's policy broke the state's law by discriminating (歧视) against a black job applicant because of her hairstyle, which is ''a manner of wearing a hair that is physiologically (生理上地) and culturally associated with people of African origin.''

But the company claimed that the issue wasn't Jones' race. It was simply about a hairstyle, which Jones, or any applicant, black or white, with dreads, could have changed if she wanted to land the job.

【推荐2】Louise Gluck has been no stranger to awards over her long and storied career, since her first publication in 1968. In 1993, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poems, The Wild Iris. And on Oct 8 she became the 16th woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature with the Nobel prizes first awarded in 1901.

Gluck was honored for her unmistakable poetic voice that, with simple beauty, makes individual existence universal. Often said to be an autobiographical poet, drawing from the inner parts of her life, “Gluck is not to be regarded as a confessional (忏悔) poet. She seeks the universal,” Nobel Committee Chair Anders Olsson said in a statement.

Gluck, 77, the author of 12 poetry collections, has been able to turn her life experiences into universal themes covering life, loss and isolation (孤独). Because of this, readers have often found her poetry to be “dark”. However, there is much more than darkness in her voice, as noted by Olsson. “It is direct and ... also a voice full of humor,” he said.

For example, in her poem Snowdrops, she uses the coming of spring after winter to show rebirth of life after death. She leads readers down a depressing path only to reconnect with the light at the near end. At the conclusion of the poem, readers are left to feel the “cool wind of the new world” as they watch a new spring. This is often the case in Gluck’s poetry, being able to feel joy even after not having done so for a long time.

Although she’s already a well-known writer, experienced in exploring pain and healing (愈合), Gluck did feel honored to be given the famed Nobel award. However, when asked what the prize means to her, the lyric poet responded by saying, “It’s too new… I don’t know really what it means.” Her only hope is that she can preserve her daily life.

【推荐3】When Kevin Durant gave his tearful MVP speech in 2014, the NBA star made sure to thank one person who had been there with him from the very beginning: his mother. His heartfelt words about the sacrifices she made for Durant and his brother led to a lifetime movie about her journey as a single parent, The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story.

Today, the NBA superstar’s mom travels the country as a motivational speaker and philanthropist (慈善家). On Monday, she spoke at Thomson Reuters’ in New York about her personal struggles to achieve financial stability and shared the financial advice she gave her son when he entered the league with CNBC.

“I wanted him to realize he has worked hard,” she says, “And it is OK for him to enjoy himself because of his hard work. But it is also imperative that he prepares for his future.” While she advised him to enjoy the rewards of his labor, she also wanted to make sure that her son knew the importance of financial planning.

She told the audience that when she found herself a single parent to two children at 21, she couldn’t follow the financial principles. Rather than planning for the future, she focused only on how her money could make ends meet for that moment.

Recently, Durant has teamed up with Laurene Powell Jobs for a new philanthropic program called College Track which is aimed at helping disadvantaged kids attend college. As part of the program, Durant has committed to donating $10 million to his hometown’s public school system.

Durant’s mom says that in addition to his financial decisions, she is proud of his philanthropic work and his desire to help the community. “I thought giving back was always very important, and so we talked about that and he had seen that from us as a family and it’s one of the things that I taught him,” she says.