You know that guy who was ahead of you on the crowded escalator at the department store last weekend—the one who suddenly stopped when he reached the top so that you and everybody behind you formed a 12-person pileup against his back and only then did it occur to him that maybe, just maybe, he should move? Yes, that guy. What you really wanted to do was chase him down and beat him insensible with a rolled-up newspaper until he admitted that he was too much of a cement-head to be out in public without an attendant, right? But you didn‘t chase him down and beat him insensible with a rolled up newspaper until he admitted that he was too much of a cement-head to be out in public without an attendant. Why? Turns out it was self-control—a fact that was confirmed after much dogged research this year in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. And you always thought the answer was magic beans.
Health & Family
Thanks for liking TIME’s Top 10 Everything of 2012 List. Like TIME on Facebook now for more breaking news and current events from around the globe.
9. Want to Limit Aggression? Practice Self-Control!
Full List
Top 10 Diet Discoveries
Top 10 Fitness Fads
Top 10 Marriage Stories
Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
Top 10 Ridiculously Obvious Study Findings
- 10. Use of Common Pesticide Linked to Bee Colony Collapse
- 9. Want to Limit Aggression? Practice Self-Control!
- 8. Moderate Doses of Alcohol Increase Social Bonding in Groups
- 7. Blood Pressure Drugs Don’t Protect Against Colorectal Cancer
- 6. To “Think Outside the Box,” Think Outside the Box
- 5. Web Offers Poor and Often Inaccurate Info on Designer Vagina Procedures
- 4. Monogamy Reduces Major Social Problems of Polygamist Cultures
- 3. Monitoring Spinal Cord During Surgery May Help Prevent Paralysis
- 2. Why Older People Struggle to Read Fine Print—New Study
- 1. Dogs Learn to Associate Words With Objects Differently Than Humans Do
Top 10 Parenting Trends