from a death of a spouse than a divorce.
Surprise you too? That's what Michigan State University psychologist, Richard Lucas, discovered in his long-term research, as covered in a fascinating article by "Mind Matters" columnist Wray Herbert.
Herbert reports, "Widows and widowers do get over their grief, but it takes a full seven years for that recovery to occur. Divorce and job loss, on the other hand, seem to leave people permanently scarred."
Some of his other findings about human resilience in the face of upset or tragedy also startled me, until I thought about them some more. The underlying reasons for the varying recovery times may help you understand your reaction to some of the biggest jolts in your life.
Herbert's "We're Only Human" blog covers more fascinating "human behavior" territory including the infamous "Prisoners and Guards" experiment that was conducted by one of my mentors, who just retired this year, Philip Zimbardo.
Do we all have an evil, dark side?
As his colleague psychology professor Lee Ross said, upon hearing Zimbardo's final lecture on The Lucifer Effect, “He goes the extra mile that a lot of us would be embarrassed to go.” Here's a post in Harpers magazine on why coverage of that bold lecture may have been muted. Please read it in light of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison - and get chills. His book came out yesterday. I wish it was required reading in every high school.
