Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Paul L. Morgan, Director, Institute for Social and Health Equity, University at Albany, State University of New York
Black, Hispanic and Native American students are more likely than white or Asian students to struggle with reading – and that gap emerges early, according to our new research. During kindergarten, they are more likely to score in the lowest 10% on assessments measuring skills such as letter recognition, vocabulary and recognizing common sight words. Large racial and ethnic differences in the risks for reading difficulties continue as students move through elementary school – a pattern largely explained by family income and early academic skills.
Our study, published online in November 2025 in the Journal of School Psychology, finds that about 15% of Black, Hispanic and Native American kindergartners score in the lowest 10% of reading scores, compared to 6% and 8% of white and Asian students, respectively. By fifth grade, 18%, 16% and 10% of Black, Hispanic and Native American students are struggling. The contrasting rate for white and Asian students is about 5%.
We analyzed data collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics from 2010-2016. This data includes direct academic assessments as well as surveys of the students and their parents, teachers and school administrators.
We used standard statistical methods to explore how a wide range of factors across homes and schools – measured during kindergarten – helped explain whether students later experienced reading difficulties. A key factor, according to our analysis, is the family’s socioeconomic status: a measure including household income and parental education levels and occupations.
Kindergartners who struggled with initial reading, math and science skills, as well as more general learning abilities such as working memory, were also at higher risk for reading difficulties throughout elementary school.
Why it matters
U.S. elementary students’ reading achievement has been declining in recent years. The gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring readers is increasing too.
Supporting these children is important. Students who wrestle with reading are more likely to later experience anxiety and depression. Adults with reading difficulties are also more likely to be incarceratedand unemployed. In one study, for example, about half of Texas prisoners were poor readers.
Because our findings suggest Black, Hispanic and Native American students are at higher risk for reading difficulties by kindergarten, students from these groups may have greater needs for early reading interventions that provide extra help with phonics, vocabulary and reading fluency. Some of these students may also have unrecognized learning disabilities.
How economic and educational policies and practices can best help lower the risks of reading difficulties is poorly understood. There is some evidence that cash transfers to financially struggling families may increase children’s later reading achievement. Poverty is also associated with lower exposure to age-appropriate books and other early literacy materials and fewer opportunities to acquire a larger vocabulary.
Our longitudinal research adds to the very limited understanding of the early economic, environmental, cognitive, academic and behavioral factors that help shape elementary students’ reading abilities. Most other studies have focused on a single grade and examined a limited set of specific skills – such as how children process sounds – instead of multiple grades and a more general set of risk factors.
More research is needed to identify the full range of reasons why elementary students begin to struggle in reading and what can be done to best help them.
The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
Paul L. Morgan receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Institute of Education Sciences.
Eric Hengyu Hu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Every year on Remembrance Day, I think about my grandfathers — my American grandfather who flew his Stinson L-5 along the coast of Burma and my Hungarian grandfather who fought in the Second World War.
I also reflect upon my grandmothers, one of whom used her language skills to translate for army officers and the other who suffered the loss of her first child while her husband was overseas.
These stories are often shared in our family as remembrances of young people who served and sacrificed during difficult times.
But if Canada hopes to see its current generation of young people thrive, it must ensure that youth employment and youth service programs are expanded.
The only way this will happen, given the investments outlined in the federal government’s budget, is if organizations dedicated to youth employment issues and youth service work closely together to ensure the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) figures out how to recruit and meaningfully retain young Canadians.
An important part of this rebuilding will require recruiting and retaining new members, which is being facilitated by a significant pay increase for the lowest paid recruits.
The Youth Employment and Skills Strategy investment in the budget was up slightly from 2025-2026, but down significantly from 2024-2025 and far below investments made in 2019-2020.
The most generous read of investments in youth employment-related programs in the 2025 budget would suggest the government is investing approximately $220 million more per year. But this pales in comparison to the $20.4 billion over five years that the government has committed to investing in recruiting and retaining “a strong fighting force” for the CAF.
When it comes to youth service, supporting young people who are struggling to enter the job market — and providing them with opportunities to serve their communities — can be achieved in part through the Youth Climate Corps and the Canada Service Corps. Combined, their budgets represent a moderate increase in spending of about $20 million per year.
But it’s unclear whether the Canada Service Corps will receive additional funding in the future, parallel to the Youth Climate Corps funding, or whether it will be phased out and replaced.
Despite it being touted as a budget containing generational investments, the government has made minimal investments to seriously tackle the youth employment crisis in the 2025 budget.
Recruitment challenges
It’s no secret that recruiting and retaining new members is a significant challenge for the CAF. A 2025 Auditor General of Canada’s report outlines how the CAF is not recruiting and training enough candidates to meet its operational needs.
To make matters worse, even when a recruit does join, a recently leaked internal report suggests that many leave in frustration shortly after joining due to their inability to get trained and to secure roles within the CAF that they’re interested in.
Adding to this is the CAF’s well-documented issues with radicalization and hate speech, racial discrimination and sexual harassment. As an external monitor outlined in a recent report, “a culture that is largely misogynistic has created an environment that allows and sometime encourages unprofessional conduct to persist.”
There is also the perception that joining the army means going into active combat. Around 65.2 per cent of CAF members ever deploy — and deploying doesn’t necessarily mean active combat. In fact, it can very often mean humanitarian missions either domestically or internationally.
Making the CAF attractive to youth
All of this presents a unique opportunity for Canadian policymakers.
There are many organizationsin Canada working to tackle youth employment — and the CAF has just been given what can actually be called a generational investment. That investment could significantly enhance existing government initiatives aimed at addressing the youth employment crisis and preparing young people for the future of work.
For this to happen, youth employment and service organizations must leverage the government’s investment in the CAF to expand their impact. At the same time, the CAF will need to engage with civilian organizations that specialize in recruiting and supporting young people. CAF recruiters should adopt best practices in youth-focused recruitment, training and retention to ensure meaningful participation and long-term success.
Young people will only be attracted to and stay in the CAF if they feel valued, if they’re offered meaningful opportunities to contribute and if intergenerational collaboration is prioritized.
In a time of multiples crises, none of them can be viewed in isolation. Disparate groups need to work together to address their unique challenges.
Canadian young people have a lot to offer — they’re the most educated generation in Canadian history, they have the desire to make a difference, their brains are wired to be bold problem solvers and they have diverse and relevant lived experiences.
This is a generation Canada can’t afford to leave on the sidelines of its economy or in the fight for Canadian sovereignty.
Ilona Dougherty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jason Walker, Program Director & Associate Professor Master of Psychology Health and Wellness & Master of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Adler University
You did everything they told you to do. You earned the credentials, spent hours on your resume and revised multiple cover letters. You worked side gigs, volunteered, learned new software and perfected your LinkedIn profile. Yet, you can’t get a callback for an interview.
You are likely wondering what you’re missing, but it’s not you — it’s the system. Across the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, automation now does the screening before a human ever has a look. Companies say they can’t find talent, yet many have stopped training people.
On paper, the labour market looks healthy, but in practice, it feels impossible to navigate. However, there are ways through it, backed by data and success stories. Here’s how to outsmart a system that seems to have forgotten the people part of hiring.
No one’s 20s and 30s look the same. You might be saving for a mortgage or just struggling to pay rent. You could be swiping dating apps, or trying to understand childcare. No matter your current challenges, our Quarter Life series has articles to share in the group chat, or just to remind you that you’re not alone.
Whether you’re in London, New York or Toronto, the pattern is the same: a generation of qualified people blocked from the job market, and companies insisting they can’t find talent.
In Canada, job vacancies have dropped by half from approximately 984,000 in 2022 to roughly 505,000 by mid-2025. Unemployment has skyrocketed to 7.1 per cent, the highest in the last four years.
In the U.S., a similar story rings true. Unemployment hovers around 4.1 per cent — what economists call “full employment,” but the reality behind the statistics is less than stable. Job openings have fallen dramatically since the post-pandemic peak from 12 million in 2022 to about 8.8 million this year. That means fewer employment opportunities and more qualified candidates competing for the same positions.
The International Labour Organization estimates 262 million young people — nearly one in four — are outside both work and education. The jobs exist, but the access and opportunity don’t.
Entry-level jobs no longer exist
If it feels like getting hired is impossible, there’s a reason for that. The “entry-level job” is effectively dead — the bridge between education and work has literally vanished.
In the U.S., more than 65 per cent of employers are expecting “prior experience” for entry-level roles. Meanwhile, the OECD reports that corporate spending on education and training has stagnated across almost all advanced economies.
Employers want it all — the education, the certifications and the experience — but rarely invest in developing it. As I wrote recently in Forbes: “We’ve built a work culture that glorifies resilience while quietly producing exhaustion.”
That pressure now starts long before people even get an interview. Candidates are somehow expected to be flexible, adaptable and endlessly qualified even before they’ve earned their first paycheque.
The National Bureau of Economic Research notes that time-to-hire has doubled since 2010, with most delays happening before human review. In other words, most candidates have lost before they ever enter the race.
5 ways to beat the modern job market
The new hiring landscape rewards strategy, not volume. Here are five evidence-based approaches that will increase your odds of breaking through the job search barriers:
1. Stop applying to everything, and start applying smarter.
Sending 100 resumes isn’t a strategy, nor is it productive. Refocus on 10 to 15 roles that align with your skills and expertise. Customization still matters: one study found tailored applications triple response rates.
2. Build proof, not promises.
Applications that provide real-world work examples are twice as likely to receive a callback for an interview, even if they don’t quite have all the competencies being asked for. You can achieve this by building a visible portfolio: think of a dashboard, a writing sample or anything that demonstrates what you can do.
3. Make the algorithm work for you.
Pay attention to the job descriptions, use the exact keywords, avoid columns and keep it simple — remember, AI isn’t looking for how fancy your resume looks. The same Harvard Business School report showed that formatting alone disqualifies thousands of strong applicants every day.
4. Bypass AI and talk to humans.
Your network will typically save you. Sixty to 70 per cent of hires happen through networking and direct referrals. Get on people’s radars by reaching out to peers and building your network.
Career breaks are not a risk nor an indicator of someone’s performance, but that’s often how employers see it. Flip the narrative by talking about the skills you gained during gaps, like a new certification or volunteering. Interestingly, non-linear career paths are the norm, not the exception, in every major economy today.
If you’re an employer, the way forward is also data-driven: start reinvesting in training, invest in mentorship and rethink what you need from a new employee.
OECD data shows that organizations offering early-career development gain measurable returns in productivity and retention within two years. The solution isn’t finding ready-made talent — it’s creating it.
We need to get back to being human. Many organizations are demanding to “do more with less” and complaining about lack of talent, but we have to remember that talent, like a fine wine, takes time.
The bottom line
The old rules — get the degree, work hard and wait your turn — no longer apply. Today, what actually matters isn’t how many jobs you apply to, but how clearly you can show your value and connect with people.
If you’re job hunting in 2025, don’t wait for a system to discover you. Instead, make it impossible to be ignored. Show your worth publicly, tangibly and confidently. Remember, although the screening process may be automated, hiring decisions are still made by humans.
The problem isn’t a lack of talent. It’s a lack of vision — from the systems that stopped looking for potential and started chasing perfection.
Jason Walker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
If all the scheduled executions are carried out, that would make 2025 the year with the most executions since 2010, when 46 inmates were put to death. That year, Texas led the way with 17 executions, while Florida carried out only one.
But this year, the Sunshine State is leading the charge. Florida has executed 15 prisoners in 2025 – the most ever in a single year since 1976, when a brief national moratorium on the death penalty was lifted. Two of the five remaining executions scheduled for 2025 are set to happen in Florida. Texas and Alabama are tied for a distant second, with five executions each.
As someone who has studied the death penalty for decades, what is happening in Florida right now seems to me to be especially important. While in some ways the state is distinctive, in many others it is a microcosm of America’s death penalty system.
Almost 100 years later, in 1923, Florida replaced hanging with the electric chair as its method of execution. After a brief pause in the use of capital punishment in the 1970s, it was one of the first states to get back in the death penalty business.
Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has taken the state to task for various constitutional defects in its death penalty laws and practices. In its 1982 decision in Enmund v. Florida, the court ruled that Florida could not use the death penalty to punish people who were minor participants in a crime that led to a murder. And in 2014, the Supreme Court found that Florida was unconstitutionally denying the kind of intellectual disability claims by people with low IQ scores that made them ineligible to be given death sentences.
But these rulings have not stopped the state from continuing to go its own way in death penalty cases. In 2020, the Florida Supreme Court ended the practice of having a court review capital sentences. This review was meant to ensure that those sentences met the U.S. Constitution’s requirements that they be meted out only in cases that truly warrant them and that they be proportional. To determine proportionality, the court undertaking such a review would compare the case in front of them with similar cases in the same jurisdiction in which the death penalty had been imposed.
Then in 2023, Florida enacted legislation ending the requirement of jury unanimity in death cases. Now, it takes only eight out of 12 jurors to send someone to death row. Only three other death penalty states do not require jury unanimity. In Missouri and Indiana, a judge may decide if the jury’s decision isn’t unanimous, and in Alabama, a 10-2 decision is sufficient.
This is actually lower than the approximately 40% of inmates on death row who are Black nationwide, despite the fact that Black people make up just 14% of the U.S. population.
Across the nation, 13 of the 41 inmates executed so far in 2025 have been Black or Latino men.
As Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis is responsible for issuing death warrants. In 2025, he has signed a record-setting 15 so far. That’s the most death warrants in the state in a single year since 2014, when Gov. Rick Scott signed off on putting eight people to death.
Though he is Catholic, DeSantis does not subscribe to the church’s staunch opposition to the death penalty. The Florida Catholic Conference of Bishops has been outspoken in taking him to task for his position on capital punishment and for presiding over an execution spree. But that has not stopped him.
Critics of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen here speaking during the 2024 Republican National Convention, allege that his record-setting number of executions in 2025 is a bid for attention on the national political stage. Matt Rourke/AP Photo
Indeed, on Nov. 3, 2025, the governor said that capital punishment is “an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders.” He added that it could be a “strong deterrent” if the state carried out executions more quickly.
DeSantis has served as governor since 2019, and prior to 2025, he had signed nine death warrants. He says that he was focused on other priorities early in his term and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor, who is term limited, is in his second and last term. DeSantis’ critics allege that the recent uptick in executions is an attempt to garner attention and prove his tough-on-crime bona fides to a national audience.
Florida: Setting the trend, or bucking it?
The total number of executions in the U.S. went from a high of 98 executions in 1999 to a low of 11 in 2021. But that number has increased every year since.
While only one state, Indiana, has resumed executions after a long hiatus, no other state has increased its use of the death penalty as quickly as Florida has. Elsewhere, the common pattern of allowing people to languish on death row for decades, and in some states seemingly permanently, has held.
And although the problems that have long plagued Florida’s death penalty system remain unaddressed, it now stands alone in dramatically escalating its own pace of executions and is leading America to its own 2025 execution revival.
Read more stories from The Conversation about Florida.
Austin Sarat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Tory Young, Associate Professor in Department of English Literature, Anglia Ruskin University
Canadian-born, Hungarian-British writer David Szalay has won the Booker prize for his novel, Flesh. It follows the eventful life of one Hungarian, István, from his teen years to middle age.
The novel begins when István, aged 15, and his mother move to a new town – “it’s not an easy age to do that”. Although he struggles to make friends, he hangs out with “another solitary individual” who asks him if he’s “ever done it”. This new friend sets him up with “a girl” but nothing happens. István is confused by this and his blank passivity sets the tone for the novel and his life.
Within only a few pages, an older woman neighbour for whom he’s undertaking chores at the behest of his mother, grooms him into a sexual relationship. It ends in tragedy when he falls in love with her and pushes her husband down the stairs, to his death.
Put crudely, István is motivated by sex and acts with violence. But this misrepresents the novel and its power. Rather than presenting a cliché of brute manhood, Szalay portrays a man who is simply responsive to the world around him. István’s emotions and tragedies are often left out of the third-person storytelling, as if they cannot be explained. Other men in the novel are equally uncommunicative.
It’s a propulsive novel that’s quite quick to read because sparse dialogue is interspersed with István’s blank thoughts. He responds to declarations of love and desire with a mere “OK” or acknowledgement that: “He hadn’t actually known what he was about to say.” This is what is so singular about the storytelling of Flesh; it is spare rather than voluptuous, trimmed to the bone rather than fleshy.
There are jumps between chapters. We don’t hear about István’s time in a young offenders’ institution or anything at all about his father, for example. But we learn during an exit interview from the army that he’s “a brave man” and it’s clear that he is attractive to women, who perhaps perceive his taciturnity as masculine. We don’t hear what they think either.
David Szalay wins the Booker prize 2025.
Flesh wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test – a criteria for films that stipulates they should feature at least two named women who have a conversation about something other than a man. The novel is entirely focused on István’s point of view and all the women, apart from his mother, are those he chances upon – other men’s wives, the nanny employed by the family he works for – and then has a sexual relationship with. Sex comes his way; women try and fail to get him to talk.
Good fortune arrives along with the tragedies. István moves to London, working as a bouncer until, in another chance encounter and moment of fearlessness, he helps a man who wishes to repay this act. He offers to employ him in his private security agency. Like the women in the novel, men are also eager to exploit István’s physicality. This man grooms him for “higher-end work”, by paying for expensive suits and the necessary training courses, which István finds populated half by “foreigners, mainly from Eastern Europe”. It’s the start of his ascent into wealthy, sometimes corrupt, London society.
“Flesh” then refers to the way István is seen, as only a body, a member of the new working classes whose lives are defined by precarity. Kept outside, overhearing only his bare responses – “OK” – readers become complicit in this failure to consider all that man is. And it is precisely this innovative, spare narration that makes the novel so deeply affecting.
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Tory Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
On entend souvent dire que l’effort est perçu comme désagréable, chacun étant enclin à céder aux sirènes du moindre effort. Mais alors, comment expliquer que tant de personnes se lancent, par exemple, dans des marathons, en dépit de l’effort évident qu’implique cette activité physique ? En décryptant les trois phases de l’effort (avant, pendant et après), nous pouvons lutter contre notre tendance naturelle à la paresse.
Se creuser la tête sur un puzzle, monter un escalier, pratiquer une activité physique intense… l’effort est consubstantiel à nombre de nos actions. Sa perception influence non seulement notre motivation immédiate à agir, mais aussi notre engagement durable dans le temps.
Souvent vu comme un coût, l’effort peut constituer une barrière majeure à l’engagement dans des tâches exigeantes, qu’elles soient physiques ou mentales.
L’effort, une composante essentielle de nos comportements
Pourtant, cette vision demeurait incomplète. Dans un même contexte donné, pourquoi certains d’entre nous s’adonnent-ils régulièrement – et parfois excessivement – à une activité physique, tandis que d’autres peinent à traduire leurs louables intentions en actions ? Certainstravauxmontrent que, si l’effort est souvent perçu comme aversif, il peut, chez certaines personnes et en fonction des situations, devenir une source de motivation, voire de plaisir.
Ce contraste illustre le « paradoxe de l’effort » : l’effort est à la fois perçu comme un coût et comme quelque chose de valorisé. Pour mieux comprendre ce paradoxe, et enrichir la théorie de la minimisation de l’effort en activité physique (TEMPA), nous avons proposé dans une publication scientifique récente de distinguer trois phases clé au cours desquelles la perception de l’effort influence de manière spécifique la régulation de nos comportements : avant, pendant et après l’action.
Avant l’effort physique : l’anticiper freine l’action
Avant de passer à l’action, notre cerveau évalue si le bénéfice potentiel vaut l’effort requis. Ainsi, entre monter un escalier ou prendre l’escalator, la tendance automatique de la plupart des personnes est d’éviter l’effort physique.
En conditions de laboratoire, des participants manifestent aussi une préférence spontanée envers les actions demandant moins d’effort, même sans percevoir consciemment la différence. Dans la vie quotidienne, cela se traduit par des comportements très concrets : plus de 90 % des individus optent pour l’escalator plutôt que l’escalier lorsqu’ils ont le choix.
Mais dans la vie réelle, le choix entre deux comportements ne se résume pas à la seule différence d’effort à fournir. Certaines activités exigeantes sur le plan physique, comme la course, la danse ou le jardinage, ou sur le plan mental, comme les mots croisés, les échecs ou le sudoku, sont aussi choisies en raison des récompenses qu’elles procurent, telles que le plaisir, la fierté, le bien-être, le sentiment d’accomplissement. Dans ces cas, l’effort anticipé peut certes constituer un frein, mais il ne suffit généralement pas à dissuader l’engagement dans une activité désirée.
Pendant l’effort : économiser l’énergie
Une fois engagés dans l’action, nous cherchons à limiter notre dépense énergétique en réduisant l’effort fourni – tout en atteignant nos buts. Par exemple, lorsque l’on court pour attraper un bus, on ralentit dès qu’on est sûr de l’attraper. Ce mécanisme, hérité de l’évolution, s’inscrit dans un héritage évolutif crucial à la survie.
Dès l’enfance, ce mécanisme d’économie d’énergie émerge. Les tout-petits passent d’une démarche maladroite à un pas nettement plus économe. En laboratoire. Des chercheurs ont même équipé des adultes d’un exosquelette – un cadre robotisé fixé aux jambes – pour rendre leur marche habituelle plus coûteuse. Ils ont alors observé que très rapidement ces derniers réajustent la fréquence et l’amplitude de leurs pas pour réduire l’effort à fournir, même lorsque les gains d’énergie sont minimes.
Ce résultat souligne comment notre système moteur s’adapte aux contraintes environnantes pour converger vers un optimum énergétique. Chez les coureurs d’élite, la foulée, le balancement des bras et la répartition de l’effort sont finement calibrés, démontrant l’importance de cette stratégie tant ici pour la performance sportive que plus largement pour la survie.
Ainsi, minimiser l’effort ne signifie pas refuser l’effort, mais l’employer judicieusement pour atteindre ses objectifs sans gaspiller d’énergie.
Après l’effort, la récompense perçue est renforcée
Après l’action, nous avons tendance à accorder d’autant plus de valeur au résultat que l’effort fourni a été important. Imaginez gravir une montagne à la force de vos mollets. Le sentiment d’accomplissement en magnifie la vue, alors qu’un trajet en téléphérique, aussi spectaculaire soit-il, laisse souvent un souvenir moins marquant. Cet effet, baptisé « Ikea effect » en référence à la satisfaction d’avoir soi-même monté ses meubles, montre que les récompenses gagnées au prix d’un effort paraissent plus gratifiantes.
En laboratoire, cet effet se vérifie par des mesures de l’activité encéphalographique. Lorsque les participants choisissent entre tâches à faible ou intense effort pour obtenir une récompense, l’activité neuronale associée à la récompense est plus intense après un effort élevé. Autrement dit, même si nous cherchons à éviter l’effort, une fois celui‑ci accompli, nous jugeons les gains obtenus d’autant plus gratifiants.
Ce phénomène, appelé justification de l’effort, est une forme de dissonance cognitive décrite il y a plus de soixante ans par le psychologue américain Leon Festinger. Ce mécanisme illustre comment, par réinterprétation, pour atténuer l’inconfort ressenti lors d’une tâche exigeante, nous justifions l’effort important consenti en attribuant une valeur supérieure au résultat obtenu. Cette théorie aide à comprendre le paradoxe de l’effort : bien que nous évitions généralement l’effort, il peut aussi être activement recherché car il signale l’obtention de récompenses potentielles.
Exploiter le rôle dynamique de l’effort pour promouvoir l’engagement dans des tâches exigeantes
En jouant sur les trois phases de l’effort, il est possible de remodeler la perception de l’effort et d’encourager, entre autres comportements, la pratique régulière d’activité physique.
Avant l’effort, ajuster les attentes liées à l’effort permettrait de lever les freins associés la surestimation de l’effort. De courtes séances d’initiation, un retour d’expérience personnalisé, ou une progression graduelle, aide à calibrer ces attentes, surtout chez les personnes les plus sédentaires. Attention toutefois : sous-estimer l’effort réel risquerait de provoquer une déception et de freiner les tentatives suivantes.
Pendant l’effort, détourner l’attention des sensations désagréables (fatigue, inconfort) à l’aide d’éléments externes (musique, environnement perçu comme agréable…), ou se projeter mentalement ailleurs, peut diminuer la perception de l’effort et améliorer les ressentis émotionnels. De même, adapter l’intensité, la durée et le type d’exercice aux préférences de chacun rend l’expérience plus agréable et renforce la motivation.
Après l’effort, il convient d’encourager la prise de conscience des efforts réalisés et des bénéfices immédiats (meilleure humeur, énergie, sentiment de vitalité et de bien-être…). En associant systématiquement l’effort à ces récompenses, on crée une dynamique vertueuse qui incite à persévérer.
Contrairement au fait d’évoquer les bénéfices à long terme sur la santé – même s’ils sont réels –, ce sont ces expériences affectives positives qui constituent l’un des leviers les plus puissants pour encourager une pratique régulière de l’activité physique.
L’effort, souvent vu comme un coût, peut aussi accroître la valeur que l’on perçoit d’une activité donnée, surtout quand cette activité procure in fine des bénéfices tangibles. Ce type d’associations pourrait expliquer pourquoi certaines personnes valorisent plus que d’autres, les tâches exigeantes, que ce soit mentalement ou physiquement.
La théorie de « l’ardeur apprise » suggère que l’effort devient gratifiant quand il est associé à des récompenses répétées, même simples comme des encouragements. Desétudesmontrent que des participants récompensés pour des tâches difficiles tendent à persévérer dans d’autres efforts, même une fois que les récompenses en ont été tirées.
Cependant, l’effort peut-il une récompense en soi ? D’un point de vue évolutif, économiser l’énergie est essentiel, et choisir l’option la plus économique semble logique. Chercher l’effort sans bénéfice peut être contre-productif, voire devenir pathologique (addiction, anorexie). L’effort devient valorisé quand il est associé à des expériences positives (fierté, sentiment de compétence). Ce n’est donc pas l’effort lui-même qui est gratifiant, mais ce qu’il permet d’atteindre, en dépit de son coût.
Apprendre à exploiter l’effort pour les bénéfices qu’il procure
L’effort guide nos comportements à chaque étape de l’action : avant, il façonne nos décisions ; pendant, il guide la manière dont nous allouons notre énergie ; après, il peut renforcer la valeur du résultat obtenu.
En jouant sur cette dynamique – recalibrer nos attentes, alléger le ressenti de l’effort en temps réel et souligner les récompenses glanées – on peut transformer l’effort en moteur durable d’engagement, voire susciter le goût de l’effort.
Plutôt que d’en subir le coût, nous apprendrions ainsi à exploiter l’effort pour apprécier les bénéfices qu’il procure.
Boris Cheval a reçu des financements de Rennes Métropole et de l’Union Européenne
Florent Desplanques et Silvio Maltagliati ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.
Jane Austen’s Paper Trail is a podcast from The Conversation celebrating 250 years since Jane Austen’s birth. In each episode, we’ll be investigating a different aspect of Austen’s personality by interrogating one of her novels with leading Austen researchers. Along the way we’ll visit locations important to Austen to uncover a particular aspect of her life and the times she lived in. In episode 2, we look at Jane the romantic, through the pages of Pride and Prejudice.
Every heroine in a Jane Austen novel ends up married. It is the bow on the end of every story that ties up all the loose threads – seemingly the ultimate happy ending. However, while marriage is an conclusion she chose for her characters, it is not one she chose for herself.
Austen did have suitors – most famously the dashing Irishman Thomas Lefroy, with whom she had a brief but intense flirtation. There were even proposals, notably one in 1802 from Harris Bigg-Wither, the wealthy brother of a friend, which she accepted only to promptly break off the very next morning.
It seems likely that Austen chose singledom, even though she was clearly preoccupied with romance and marriage. Many readers consider her one of history’s greatest writers of romance.
That her novels centre on love and marriage has sometimes led critics to dismiss them as light or frivolous. But beneath every courtship and proposal lies a sharp commentary on class, money, morality and the limited choices available to women in Georgian England.
Austen’s heroines are smart, capable women – often more so than the men in their lives, many of whom have made choices that have left their families in financial straits. But these middle-class women are unable to work and so must pursue the only option really available to them, marriage.
Nowhere is this tension clearer than in Austen’s second novel, Pride and Prejudice. Published in 1813, it follows Elizabeth Bennet – bright, outspoken, and sceptical of society’s conventions. Unluckily for her, she has a mother who is obsessed with securing suitable marriages for her and her four sisters – an obsession that is sent into overdrive when the eligible Mr Bingley moves into the neighbourhood, bringing his arrogant but equally eligible friend Mr Darcy with him.
In the second episode of Jane Austen’s Paper Trail, as we explore romance in the world of Jane Austen, Naomi Joseph visits a Regency ball at the Grand Assembly Rooms in York with Meg Kobza. An expert in the Georgian social calendar, at Newcastle University, Kobza has produced similar recreations at the Bath Assembly Rooms – where Austen attended balls and was courted by several men.
As dancers in all manner of Regency dress attempt a minuet in the soft candlelight of the main ballroom, Kobza helps us understand the complicated relationship Austen had with romance.
Over the course of Pride and Prejudice, Lizzie, and the other women in her life, must navigate their feelings on the whole institution of marriage. There are marriages of convenience, potentially socially ruinous unions, hasty weddings, quiet passions and, of course, love matches – and Austen seems to have opinions on them all.
“Jane herself was dependent on her father and then later her brothers for financial security. And we see in many of her novels financial security is driving a lot of her heroines to opt for or against certain matches,” says Kobza. “If you didn’t get married at all, you became a spinster, you’re a burden to your family.”
Later on in the episode, Anna Walker takes a deeper dive into Austen’s view of romance in Pride and Prejudice with two more experts. Octavia Cox is a lecturer in 18th and 19th century literature at the University of Oxford, and founder of the popular YouTube channel All Things Classic Literature. Joining her round the table is Adam J. Smith, an associate professor in English literature at York, St. John University who researches satire and the gothic, romantic and sentimental genres.
As Cox explains, Pride and Prejudice is “a joyful love story in that the two central characters, Darcy and Lizzie talk about and value happiness and how to achieve happiness. But there’s a lot more going on too.” Smith agrees: “The more I read Austen, the more I feel that all of the books are really about how to read and understand and interpret the world.”
Listen to episode 2 of Jane Austen’s Paper Trail wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re craving more Austen, check out our Jane Austen 250 page for more expert articles celebrating the anniversary.
Disclosure statement:
Meg Kobza recieved funding from the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy and the Society of Antiquaries funded the Bath fancy dress pop up ball and exhibition.
Adam J Smith sits on the Senate of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, which is a registered charity.
Octavia Cox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Jane Austen’s Paper Trail is hosted by Anna Walker with reporting from Jane Wright and Naomi Joseph. Senior producer and sound designer is Eloise Stevens and the executive producer is Gemma Ware. Artwork by Alice Mason and Naomi Joseph.
Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.
Prince William says it was a “balancing act” for himself and his wife to share details of the family’s recent health challenges, including Catherine’s and King Charles’s cancer diagnoses.
In a rare and candid interview in Brazil, the prince said that “hiding stuff from them doesn’t work”.
He was responding to a question about how the couple had approached difficult moments with their three children — Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven.
The princess spoke about her cancer diagnosis in a video in early 2024, after months of speculation about her health.
Over the past four years, terminal ovarian cancer has been shoving Cora Torr, 61, towards life’s exit door. To offset this rude intruder, she’s enlisted the help of a death doula.
The 43-year-old announced in March last year that she was undergoing treatment after tests following major abdominal surgery revealed she had cancer. She has never spoken publicly about the type of cancer.
“Every family has its own difficulties and its own challenges,” Prince William said in an interview with Brazilian TV host Luciano Huck.
“I think it’s very individual and sort of moment-dependent as to how you deal with those problems.
“We choose to communicate a lot more with our children, now that has its good things and its bad things.
“Sometimes you feel you’re oversharing with the children [and] you probably shouldn’t.
“But most of the time, hiding stuff from them doesn’t work.”
The Prince of Wales said explaining to the children “how they feel” and “why that’s happening” could sometimes help give them “a bigger picture”.
King Charles, pictured with Prince George and Kate as well as Queen Camilla, is continuing to receive treatment for cancer.
AFP / JACK TAYLOR
“They can relax more into it rather than being really anxious about ‘what are you hiding from me?'” he said.
“There are a lot more questions when there are no answers.
“How much do I say? What do I say? When do I say it?”
William spoke to Huck in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the Earthshot Prize awards ceremony earlier this month. He is the founder of the awards.
The prize, now in its fifth year, encourages inventors and entrepreneurs to develop technologies to combat global warming and mitigate its impact.
The prince later attended the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, in Belém.
William also said the couple’s three children did not have phones.
He said Prince George might be allowed to have a phone with “limited access” when he attended secondary school next year.
“It’s really hard,” he said.
“We communicate why we don’t think it’s right, and again, I think it’s the internet access I have a problem with.
“I think children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online.”
Recently, the Princess of Wales warned that smartphones and other digital devices threatened the development of young children, in an essay published by Catherine’s Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
On 7 October 2023, Eli Sharabi was kidnapped by Hamas and held for 491 days.
He and his wife Lianne and two teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel were in their home on a kibbutz in Southern Israel when the attack happened.
When Sharabi and his wife realised he was likely going to be kidnapped they made the “cold” decision to protect their daughters.
Palestinian Hamas fighters escort Israeli hostages (L-R) Ohad Ben Ami, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi on a stage before handing them over to a Red Cross team in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on 8 February 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP via CNN
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
