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Study: Folding your arms can help your brain

canada.com — The mere act of folding your arms increases perseverance and activates an unconscious desire to succeed.

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  • WiseWeasel, on 05/06/2008, -2/+70The benefits of shaking your fist are still under investigation...
  • crazyjake, on 05/06/2008, -5/+105where can i apply for the position of Random ***** Researcher??
    • petershultz, on 05/06/2008, -1/+4You can become one right now! But you won't get paid.
      • lamiaconfitor, on 05/06/2008, -0/+3you are absolutely correct, its called Grad work.
      • flipnboi, on 05/06/2008, -0/+4in fact, you'll be the one paying!
    • Berkana, on 05/06/2008, -3/+8At the Max Plank Institute for Random *****.
      • RedHerringHack, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Why are you guys digging this guy down? This is great!
    • lamiaconfitor, on 05/06/2008, -0/+9apply to be a University Professor
    • Zippo, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Step 1 - Get useless science degree at RunOfTheMillOverpriced University™
      Step 2 - Write long, over-thought thesis on random subject
      Step 3 - ???
      Step 4 - PROFIT!
  • trixterIreland, on 05/06/2008, -5/+8reading a book has also been cited as one of the things that helps your brain.
    • masterm1nd, on 05/06/2008, -5/+1Obviously

      /I said it so you don't have to say the lame meme
      • flashback99, on 05/06/2008, -5/+3Not obviously, the Bible is a book too and reading it makes your IQ plummet.
        • ComradeGoby, on 05/06/2008, -3/+1Why is he being dugg down? The Bible isn't very well written.

    • synyster, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2i guess most of the people been reading the wrong book
  • zaldoe, on 05/06/2008, -7/+33*folds arms*
    *thinks of ways to get a girlfriend*
    ERROR - HTTP 404
    • nyx210, on 05/06/2008, -1/+4"An error that is not supposed to happen has happened."
      • synyster, on 05/06/2008, -1/+6"a comment that is not supposed to happen has happened"
    • dcollins, on 05/06/2008, -0/+5ERROR - HTTP 404

      Well there's your problem.
  • Berkana, on 05/06/2008, -5/+6Reminds me of L thinking better when he sits in a squatting position.
    • innocentsinner, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Just as planned..
    • supersheep7, on 05/06/2008, -1/+3...who?
    • iindigo, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2First thing I thought of as well...

      Light: "I chose this table in the back of the coffee shop so people won't bother you about sitting that way."
      L: "It's not that I have a choice. If I don't sit like this, I lose 20% of my thinking capacity."

    • oceanographer, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1fanboy alert
      • Berkana, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1Even more alert with my arms crossed.
  • booshack, on 05/06/2008, -5/+4Seriously this works, wow.
  • Hangly, on 05/06/2008, -3/+9I'm folding my arms right now and typing sideways.
  • NewSc2, on 05/06/2008, -9/+7How many others here subconsciously (or consciously) folded their arms their arms after reading the headline?
  • justastatistic, on 05/06/2008, -2/+7Yet another completely meaningless research.

    I know that a lot of sampling surveys and research are conducted in this manner but asking 40 random people to do a meaningless act must have a very high sampling inaccuracy rate. Hell, they could have done this survey by asking some participants to wear red underwear and concluded that 'Red underwear can help your brain'.

    Whatever the conclusion, it's a sheer waste of time. People are not going to cross their hands more often thanks to this study. Why not spend time researching on stuff that will actually help somebody?

    /rant
    • JoeKehr, on 05/06/2008, -1/+0It sounds to me like a typical priming study, meaning you activate a concept unconsciously which then guides to some degree the actions of the person. The idea behind it is not to find a way to find a way to improve the performance of people to get an insight into the underlying mental processes.
      The real problem is that it has already been shown before that your posture or your facial expression can influence your actions and thoughts. So, it's not that it is useless information - the problem is that it is just no new information.
      • flashback99, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2e v i d e n c e p l e a s e
        • bubba1108, on 05/06/2008, -0/+0You forgot a space.
        • JoeKehr, on 05/06/2008, -1/+0VoilĂ !
          Laird, J.D. (1974). Self-attribution of emotion: The effects of expressive behavior on the quality of emotional experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 475-486.
          Participants were told to contract certain muscles not knowing that they were either smiling or frowning. This influenced their rating of comic strips (smile --> funnier)

          Duclos, S.E., Laird, J.D., Schneider, E., Sexter, M., Stern, L., & Van Lighten, O. (1989). Emotion-specific effects of facial expressions and postures on emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 80-85.
          Same works with other emotions

          Stepper, S. & Strack, F. (1993). Proprioceptive determinants of emotional and nonemotional feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 211-220.
          Sitting upright leads people to feeling more pride, than sitting slumbed.

          Bargh, J. A., Gollwitzer, P. M., Lee-Chai, A., Barndollar, K., & Trotschel, R. (2001). The automated will: Nonconscious activation and pursuit of behavioral goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1014-27.
          Activating a goal via priming leads to fitting behavior... like trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle for a longer time.

          Aarts, H., Gollwitzer, P. M., & Hassin, R. R. (2004). Goal contagion: Perceiving is for pursuing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 23-37.
          Perceiving other peoples behavior can activate a goal and thus behavior.

          E n o u g h . e v i d e n c e ?
  • supersheep7, on 05/06/2008, -2/+6Ehh. The article makes it sound like this is a huge breakthrough. Anyone who's ever taken a intro to psychology class knows that it's widely accepted that bodily states inform mental states.

    The results are kind of interesting, although paraphrased poorly by the title (does being more stubborn count as 'helping?').
  • dmourati, on 05/06/2008, -2/+3Works.
  • cramming, on 05/06/2008, -2/+5I can pass all my mathematics classes now! Thank you pizzler!!
  • maelnum, on 05/06/2008, -2/+12He's folding his arms!!! STOP HIM!!!
  • stepfresh, on 05/06/2008, -1/+4I did this and got a headache :S
  • veloscaper, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Those three anagrams were easy to solve. I did with with one hand stuffing my face with chips, the other holding the bag.
    • veloscaper, on 05/06/2008, -1/+1sorry for the spelling, that's what I get for typing with one hand. Damn cheetohs and their finger encasing cheesiness.
  • Oppslagsverk, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2So, if you cross your arms, and then just barely figures something out because of increased intelligence. Will you forget it when you are not crossing your arms anymore?
    • cramming, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2I believe so. We must find a way to write down theories, and social upheaval causing paradigms we create while our arms are folded.
      • cramming, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2After folding my arms, I have concluded voice recorders would be quite useful in this situation.
        • HakonD, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2Keep your arms folded while I run and buy one!
    • nyx210, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2Try folding your arms and see if you can answer your question.
  • StanleyKoolPrik, on 05/06/2008, -3/+21Interesting. There are other gestures that endow men with special powers as well. Rubbing one's nuts, for instance, gives men the power to see deep into his own mind. And scratching one's ass endows the scratcher with the ability to see into future--albeit, that future, for the most part, involves more ass -scratching and nut-rubbing.
  • chrgrose, on 05/06/2008, -2/+5I call *****. Its probably more a manifestation of various personalities. Someone flailing their arms around probably isn't as receptive to information as someone relaxingly crossing their arms.
    • CrimsonBlur, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2The subjects were chosen randomly. I love how so many of the comments to scientific studies include comments from people stating the most blatantly obvious things the scientists would account for, and everyone diggs them up like they're friggin' geniuses.
      • chrgrose, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1My consideration isn't effected by whether or not the subjects were chosen randomly or not. In any case, I called ***** on the idea in the title and not necessarily the ideas explicated by the cognitive scientists.
  • Treoinmypocket, on 05/06/2008, -3/+6"The study is the first to show that arm crossing affects people's thinking without them being consciously aware of it."

    "no really...*giggle*...get this. I swear it will work...*snort*...we TELL them, see, that we watched this coach? Pacing the side of the court? and....*hahahhaha, WHOOOO, I can barely stand it*...and..*ha*...he...*guffaw*...he...hadhisarmscrossedandhewonthegame...*bwahahahaha*

    I swear to Christ they'll go for it!"
  • harryterry, on 05/06/2008, -0/+4it's...not...WORKING!!!
  • nienhulm, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2This one might be up for an Ig-nobel award.
  • Startemus, on 05/06/2008, -0/+5Yeah right, that's why I did so well in school. Anytime I had my arms folded in class it was because I was sleeping.
  • antechinus, on 05/06/2008, -0/+8***** 'science'
  • tevvie, on 05/06/2008, -1/+0Wow...then i must be headed for great things coz i fold my arms ALOT!
  • mikephimikephi, on 05/06/2008, -0/+16Now to research the impact of a palm to the face
  • mijelh, on 05/06/2008, -1/+4"The mere act of folding your arms [...] activates an unconscious desire to succeed"
    to succeed with.. folding my arms???
  • hseldon, on 05/06/2008, -3/+7This article is total bull crap.......oh, wow, had my arms folded when I figured that out!
    • synyster, on 05/06/2008, -1/+2i guess your arms weren't folded when you click the link
      • hseldon, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Yup, your right. I can't believe I clicked on another junk science article. I'll be *sure* to fold my arms next time!
      • ubuwalker31, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1They were, he totally invented a new method of looking at pron and clicking his mouse.
  • Jovensdesciple, on 05/06/2008, -4/+2FOLDING YOUR SACK CAN HELP YOUR CHANCES OF HAVING WRINKLY BALLS. why is neavreu.com different???
  • CrimsonBlur, on 05/06/2008, -1/+4While at first I thought this had to be an Onion article, the research method seems sound. They're basically saying that crossing your arms induces a certain mental state, not that crazy really.

    If you think about it, if a certain mental state causes you to cross your arms, it would make sense that your body would then be conditioned to enter that mental state when you have your arms crossed. The people saying this article is total BS obviously didn't read it.
  • petebert, on 05/06/2008, -0/+8its hard to type like this
  • Ninjapope, on 05/06/2008, -2/+3I could see the Onion article for this now.

    "Scientists find that crossing your arms makes your 3-5 times more bad ass. Continuing studies on the effects of facial hair and flannel shirts also in progress."
    • tomjm5000, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1I think the Onion could do better than that.
  • cutekelvins, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2folding your arms and moving your arms back and forth will help a person to succeed only in one thing. fapfapfapfpppppppp
  • RiceLee22, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2Study: Thinking can help your brain.
    • simg, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2but how would they find anyone who is willing or able to participate ?
  • larthallor, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2Looks like Peter Norton was ahead of his time!

    http://www.computerworld.com/common/images/article ...
  • Drizzle, on 05/06/2008, -0/+2As this story hit the front page of digg, thousands of people across the globe simultaneously crossed their arms. Did you?
  • Sirlolalot, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Somehow i dont think this will work when im playing battlefield.
  • oceanographer, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1No wonder my wife always wins the argument, am i right fellas?
  • tushyd, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1Um, people in India and Eastern Asia have been doing this since ancient times.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudra
  • ZenMojo, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1And ladies think it's sexy, too. (Which is proof that none of the Diggers will try it.)
  • ApeInago, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1I wonder if it is a cultural thing... maybe our brains have simply assotiated arms-folded with perserverance, and not the other way around.
  • 00dontpanic00, on 05/06/2008, -0/+1I thought it meant you were pissed off or bored.
  • scbalazs, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1um, ... what? so someone actually asked for a grant to study arm-crossing?
  • ZurMacht, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3How can I masturbate and fold my arms at the same time?
  • averagejoesgym, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1I've heard that opening the legs is good for women.
  • pwnerofnoobs, on 05/07/2008, -1/+2In other news, jacking off puts me to sleep.
  •  

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