Life In The Impulse Lane

There's an interesting article in the NYTimes about a recent psychological study on impulsive behavior. At different points in the article I was reminded of different friends of mine. I love a lot of impulsive people - including some who unfortunately trend toward the self-destructive side.

From the NYTimes:

Analyzing the responses to questions intended to gauge thrill seeking like, "I like to explore a strange city or section of town by myself, even if it means getting lost," and, "I like to try foods I've never tried before," the researchers found that an appetite for risk was associated with smoking in both groups.

But in the healthy volunteers, the appetite was also associated with higher education. In previous studies, healthy risk seekers scored highly for curiosity and openness to new experiences. On measurements of instinctive planning — "I am better at saving money than most people" and "I hate to make decisions based on first impressions"— the researchers found that less deliberative habits were related to heavy drinking in the healthy group and the troubled group.

By the way, the Times on the web has a new layout which I hated at first but am warming up to. I still say that some of that font is too small.