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Don’t Indulge, Imagine

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A little imagination may be all it takes to resist those holiday treats, according to research out of Carnegie Mellon University.  Assistant Professor of Marketing Carey Morewedge tells us decades of research shows that ignoring your cravings won’t work.  So he set up a series of experiments that went in the opposite direction.

“When people think about eating a food repeatedly, in the same manner as they would actually think while eating the food, it seems to habituate them to the food,” professor Morewedge says.  “In other words it decreases their appetite for that food.” 

Morewedge ran five experiments with about 1,000 participants, which asked them to imagine eating various foods or doing various tasks.  He found that only people who imagined eating more of the food, subsequently ate less of it.  “For example, people who imagined eating 30 M&M’s ate fewer M&M’s than people who imagined eating three.” 

Morewedge stresses that this habituation technique will only work if you imagine eating the food that you’re about to eat.  He adds that it’s untested when it comes to eating a variety of foods at the same time – so you’re on your own at the Christmas buffet. 

More research on habituation is in the works, and Morewedge hopes to branch out and look at its impact on addictive substances like nicotine.

Getting the Most of Your Holiday Job Search

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The holiday season can be a mixed bag for job seekers, according to Kevin Collins, Assistant Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Career and Professional Development Center.  While the job boards may not be flush with openings this time of year, job seekers can take advantage of the lull.  “The best way to put it would be to reconnect, retool and reconsider,” Collins says. 

To reconnect could mean reaching out to contacts you’ve made over the course of the year.  “This is an ideal time to be doing that because, if it’s a business contact, a lot of times their inbox is not getting slammed like it is during the rest of the year.”

To retool, Collins tells us, is to evaluate your resume, cover letters, etc. to ensure they’re reflecting the skills and the message that you want to convey to potential employers.

To reconsider means just that.  If your job search is too narrow, you may want to start considering other industries or geographic regions. 

While Collins emphasizes networking, he warns of mixing your messages too much over the holiday season.  “You don’t want to send Christmas cards out to people and have your resume in it,” Collins quips.  “It’s a little too over the top.” 

Nearly a half-million Pennsylvanians are currently unemployed, according to the latest data from the state Department of Labor & Industry.  The statewide jobless rate has improved for two consecutive months; it now stands at 7.9%.

Book Documents Flight 93 Temporary Memorial

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As many look forward to the dedication of Phase I of the Flight 93 National Memorial, a new book looks back at the temporary memorial that once marked the crash site in Somerset County.  Gripped by the site from the first time he laid eyes on it in 2005, Pittsburgh photographer and author Richard Snodgrass returned 50-times to capture moments in time, in all seasons and conditions.  The best 92-images and accompanying prose can be found in the book, “An Uncommon Field.”

The setting was stark and beautiful, with a 40-foot fence just appearing out of nowhere.  “People would be at the site, and then they just had to leave something,” Snodgrass says.  “It took a while to get to this place, it’s not that accessible.  But they would be the things that they had with them in the car.  They would leave them and write “thank you” on it, to the heroes.”   

The temporary memorial was taken down in 2009, but Snodgrass wasn’t sad to see it go.  “It was really time to move on.  I felt that, very much, it had run its course,” he explains.  Half of the proceeds from “An Uncommon Field” will be donated to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund.  Snodgrass says the new, permanent memorial has the same spirit that always grabbed visitors at the old one.  “It’s a very special place and I really urge people to go to it.” 

“An Uncommon Field” is published by Carnegie Mellon University Press.  It’s available through a variety of booksellers. 

Two days of dedication and 10th anniversary commemoration ceremonies will be held at the Flight 93 National Memorial on September 10th and 11th. 

Field of Honor

The Flight 93 National Memorial will include a Field of Honor. (photo credit: Paul Murdoch Architects)