Power of the dark side

From today's Globe and Mail Social Studies:

 

"In a new study, Harvard University researchers suggest moral actions may increase our capacity for willpower and physical endurance," Rick Nauert reports for Psych Central News. "Study participants who did good deeds – or even just imagined themselves helping others – were better able to perform a subsequent task of physical endurance. However, the research also shows a similar or even greater boost in physical strength following dastardly deeds. Researcher Kurt Gray, a doctoral student in psychology at Harvard, explains these effects as a self-fulfilling prophecy in morality. 'People perceive those who do good and evil to have more efficacy, more willpower and less sensitivity to discomfort,' Gray says. 'By perceiving themselves as good or evil, people embody these perceptions, actually becoming more capable of physical endurance.' "

Thought du jour

"There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope they are organized along the lines of the Mafia."

– Kurt Vonnegut