News

Babies acting human

“Whether lying about raiding the biscuit tin or denying they broke a toy, all children try to mislead their parents at some time,” Richard Gray writes for The Daily Telegraph. “Yet it now appears that babies learn to deceive from a far younger age than anyone previously suspected. Behavioural experts have found that infants begin to lie from as young as six months. Simple fibs help to train them for more complex deceptions in later life. Until now, psychologists had thought the developing brains were not capable of the difficult art of lying until four years old.” Vasudevi Reddy, of the psychology department in the University of Portsmouth, says she has identified seven categories of deception used between six months and three years old. “Fake crying is one of the earliest forms of deception to emerge, and infants use it to get attention even though nothing is wrong,” Dr. Reddy says. “You can tell, as they will then pause while they wait to hear if their mother is responding, before crying again.”

Happy couples

“It is often possible to understand why a marriage fails, as so many do,” Elizabeth Bernstein writes for The Wall Street Journal. “It is much more difficult, though, to elucidate why one succeeds. Why do some couples thrive, while others fizzle or flame out, despite their best intentions? … My sister, a doctor, told me about one of her patients, a 92-year-old woman who showed up for her appointment with her husband, who is 94. They said they have been married for almost 70 years. My sister, highly impressed, asked the couple the secret to their union's longevity. And they looked at each other for a long moment. Then the wife spoke: ‘Eh, neither of us died.'”

Speed hating

“The first [speed] dater I met was a woman called Ruth, who suggested that I try ‘hate dating,' ” Frederika Whitehead writes for The Guardian. “She describes it as ‘like speed dating except rather than sell yourself you row and hurl abuse at each other, or confess deep and lasting hatreds of seemingly innocuous things.' Ruth recommends hate dating for people who are looking for a lasting relationship: ‘You have to be compatible in the way you argue otherwise a relationship won't last,' she says. … The event I went along to isn't part of a club night. It's a standalone dating event in a tiny room above a pub in London's West End. On the way in everyone is given a fake name: Elvis, Ernest, Englebert, Cruella, Cecily, Cynthia and so on.” Ms. Whitehead concludes: “The age range in the group was a bit young for me, since they were all aged between 20 and 30, but the hating really does break the ice. By the end off it, the daters certainly knew a few topics to avoid in the perilous first few months of a relationship.”

Milk, eggs, a true love

“For Chinese singles in the market for love, a Beijing supermarket may offer just what they're looking for,” Reuters reports. “The ‘I'm Looking For You' market opened in November, 2009, for China's unofficial ‘Singles Day' which is marked on the 11th of that month. Since then, the supermarket has attracted more than 1,000 clients and successfully matched more than 50 couples. … Members list their names, ages, income and occupation along with a picture, and this profile is available for others to view.”

Go wild, older singles

“Broadening one's horizons is not just a pragmatic way to approach the social scene; it's also the key to finding unexpected happiness in midlife,” Carlin Flora writes in Psychology Today. “In her book Getting Naked Again: Dating, Romance, Sex and Love When You've Been Divorced, Widowed, Dumped or Distracted, Judith Sills argues that older singles should consider a wider range of prospects, since they're not looking to create a family. ‘It doesn't matter if a woman shares your religion, for example, if you're not raising children together,' she says. Sills says that women concerned about the lack of available older single men, for example, should not evaluate men they meet in terms of whether they are marriage material, but should rather enjoy and embrace what they do have to offer – be it friendship, companionship, help or guidance in cultivating new hobbies or interests.' ”

Pet names

“Giving someone a pet name is the surest sign that you really love them, and more obscurely, sweetly preposterous it is, the stronger the love,” Julie Welch contends in The Daily Express. “… The difference between pet names and nicknames is one of affection. Nicknames are what we give authority figures, like teachers and bosses, behind their backs. … Real pet names, on the other hand, are terribly intimate, never unkind and often ridiculously inapt. They're like a private joke which only the two of you get, part of the special world of a couple. That's why it's so sad when two people stop using their pet names for each other …”

Thought du jour

“Everything happens for a reason; if you can't find a reason for something, there's a reason for that.” – Chris Levi