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Jan 3, 2009

"You may be whatever you resolve to be. Determine to be something in the world, and you will be something. "I cannot," never accomplished anything; "I will try," has wrought wonders." --J. Hawkes

The Psychology of New Year's Resolutions

As we put the holidays behind us and dig out from underneath all of the wrapping paper, many of us turn to the New Year's celebration to engage in a ritual that any visiting alien might be puzzled by -- New Year's resolutions. Why do humans pick a single point in time each year to try and change certain things in their life -- behaviors, attitudes -- make resolutions about them, and then proceed to fail at them within a month's time? From a psychological perspective, it might be interesting to ask what exactly determines how many goals people set and how successful they are. Researchers Mukhopadhyay and Johar did just that and came to some interesting conclusions.