Knox in the News

From the Associated Press:

I’m not a Scrooge, really. I embrace almost all of Christmas. Except for one time-honored tradition that brings so much stress and expense that eliminating it has made the holiday even more magical.

Join me — and others who are signing on in times of tight budgets — in the wonderful simplicity of a Christmas without presents…..

A study of 117 people published in the Journal of Happiness Studies found that those who emphasized time spent with family and spiritual activities had merrier Christmases than those who gave or received big presents. “Despite the fact that people spend relatively large portions of their income on gifts, as well as time shopping for and wrapping them, such behavior apparently contributes little to holiday joy,” wrote the researchers, Tim Kasser of Knox College and Kennon M. Sheldon of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

From Medill Reports:

They are on every TV channel and lots of street corners. They are outside your office and at the mall. They are neighbors, friends, mothers, sons and significant others. They are activists.

And, despite the sentiments of discontent visible on their signs, stickers and slogans, activists may just be happier than their passive colleagues, according to a new review published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Political Psychology.

The review encompasses a set of three studies showing that people who engage in activism tend to be happier and possess a greater sense of vitality.

Determining the effect of activism on a person’s well-being was the objective of the research conducted by Tim Kasser, professor and psychology chair at Knox College in Galesburg and visiting German graduate student Malte Klar, of the University of Gottingen.

Their findings suggest that activism and civil engagement is a natural force in any developed society and provides people with a sense of involvement in regard to problem solving.

“I think that, by nature, people are social animals,” Kasser said. “Once society becomes complex, it leads us to becoming political.”

Kasser noted that activism fulfills basic psychological needs for feelings of competence, relatedness and autonomy.

By writing letters or protesting on the street, people assert their autonomy and power as an individual, he said. Activists very rarely act alone and usually operate within a network, thus providing a sense of relatedness. Kasser contended that, by setting reasonable goals such as acquiring a certain number of signatures for a petition, activists feel competent about their pursuit.

From the Boston Globe:

Activists are dissatisfied with the drift of the times and outraged at the misdeeds of their ideological enemies.

But they are also, it turns out, enjoying their lives more than the rest of us. At least if recent research is to be believed, political activism, no matter the cause, seems to make people happy - even if they don’t win an election or triumph in a ballot initiative. Psychologists curious about what fuels human happiness have looked at political engagement and political activism, and they’ve found that it provides people with a sense of empowerment, of community, of freedom, and of transcendence. Political activists, in other words, are all happy warriors.

“People have psychological needs. If those needs are well satisfied, then people thrive, and if any of those needs are poorly satisfied, people don’t thrive,” says Tim Kasser, a psychology professor at Knox College and coauthor of a forthcoming paper on the topic. “Activism is a kind of activity that people can engage in that satisfies all of those needs.”

We’re used to hearing civic-minded exhortations about the value of political involvement: the way it holds the powerful to account and ensures a healthy representation of all of society’s interests. But if Kasser is right, people should think about getting politically involved simply for the sake of their own psychological well-being - activism, seen this way, has a therapeutic side to it. It’s not just a life of self-denying dedication to a larger cause but a pursuit with immediate and enduring psychic rewards.

From the Quad City Times:

Before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, there was Andy Warhol. “The way he treated photography was like a visual diary. I think he was very prophetic and anticipatory of a lot of the communications phenomenon like sharing images over the Internet,” said Gregory Gilbert, the guest curator of a Warhol photography exhibit on display at Augustana College.

Likewise, the pop artist may have invented reality television.

“You know his quote of ‘Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,’ and he said that long before reality television,” Gilbert said. “He prophesied a lot of the treatment of mass media.”

The artist’s (1928-1987) quote is the basis for “Beyond Fifteen Minutes of Fame: Andy Warhol’s Photographic Legacy,” on display through the end of the month at the Rock Island campus’ art museum….

The Warhol exhibit is somewhat an introduction of Gilbert to the Quad-City community. Besides being guest curator for the Augustana exhibit, he was hired late this summer as senior curator of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport.

The 51-year-old, who was born in Kansas and raised in several spots around the United States as an Army brat, has been the director of the art history program at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., for the past 14 years.

He became acquainted with the Figge after being asked to serve on a museum advisory council two years ago and was offered the job this summer by Figge executive director Sean O’Harrow.

“I always thought that having an academic appointment and a museum position would really be the ideal combination,” said Gilbert, who is spending three days a week at Knox and two at the Figge. “It took me a while to get there, but I finally have the opportunity.”

Gilbert and O’Harrow said it is rare for a museum and an institution of higher education to share a person in such a way unless it’s a museum already connected to a college or university.

“Some of the best art museums I’ve encountered have been university museums, and the best museums I’ve encountered are where the curators and the professors are the same people,” O’Harrow said. “It’s all about teaching, and that’s what museums do best - or should do best.”

From the Daily Kansan:

Robinson says that the anytime, anywhere ability to access media, information and personal contact has become the norm. And with smart phones, it’s even easier to stay connected. But Robinson says that it’s possible to have a good balance of personal time and work time.

“You can check social networks and e-mail while you’re at school and work and you’re not necessarily abandoning it. It’s just a blend of both,” she says.

Another expert thinks our addiction has to do with status and sexuality. Frank McAndrew, professor of psychology at Knox College, believes that Facebook addiction is based on evolution. “In our distant prehistoric past, people who were in tune with the status of other people like who was friends with whom, who is sleeping with whom and which falling outs were pending simply were more socially successful than people who were not good at this,” he says.

McAndrew says these things are a result of the heightened drive to find a mate that young adults have and having access to all of the information on Facebook aids the process. “The problem with the electronic communication is that it offers 24/7 access to this kind of information, while it’s indeed highly addictive. If you are not spending time on this and your competitors are, who knows what might happen,” he says.

So for whatever reason someone can be addicted to technology, a balance is necessary because it’s here to stay.

Also in the Chicago Tribune.

Also on WGIL radio.