Psychology Articles
What you get out of a nap depends largely upon two factors: who you are,
and how you nap.
What, if anything, is going on? What do people think is behind this problem?
Is there a relationship between colour and taste? We look at two studies that have a bearing on this question.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is one of the most misunderstood mental health conditions, and there is a wealth of myths and mistruths that surround the condition.
Some studies show that sensory neurons in the olfactory system in people over 60 may
show responses to odour that make it difficult to identify specific smells. This can create issues with identifying dangerous substances and promoting good nutrition.
Loss of a night's sleep may lead to serious errors in memory.
Love is interpreted in a number of ways. Psychologists have identified two distinctive perspectives: love as perfect unity and love is a journey.
Shorter and taller men in the armed forces have a greater risk of depression than their average height colleagues, according to a study reported in SAGE OPEN.
Political campaigns often use fear as a mechanism to influence public opinion on
issues such as immigration and war but this strategy does not affect everyone equally.
A specific DNA sequence has been significantly associated with the likelihood that an individual is linked with
a leadership position.
The acknowledgement of racism hinges on people's knowledge of history. If you are a member of a group that has been
disadvantaged in the past you will not be surprised that this is frequently not acknowledged - and may be denied - by people from other backgrounds.
While it was already known that babies were born with the ability to learn and were able to discriminate between
language sounds within their first few months of life, the researchers claim that this study provides crucial evidence that
recognition of speech sounds had occurred in the womb.
Resilience and life satisfaction seem to be inter-twined.
Research shows possible mechanisms for contagious laughter.
Single baby boomers have a lonely old age ahead according to new statistics from Bowling Green State
University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR).
How power can fuel the overconfidence that causes people in leadership positions
to make bad decisions.
Schoolyard bullying and cyber-bullying have very different characteristics.
A study reported in Psychological Science looks at some of the small signals that seem to be
important for social interaction.
Caucasians and East Asians examine faces in different ways
An international team of psychologists argue that there appears to be
truth in the saying ‘you never get a second chance to make a first impression'.
People identify the personality traits of people who are physically attractive
more accurately than others during short encounters, according to a new University of British Columbia study.
The ability to recognize and remember faces is best when we are aged 30-34 - ten years
later than most of our other mental abilities.
Japanese people pay more attention to the tone of voice than
facial expression.
Employees who readily volunteer even for unwanted tasks tend to be disliked by less selfless colleagues.
The current revision, which
the authors acknowledge is controversial, takes into account developments in areas such as neuroscience, developmental psychology and evolutionary
psychology.
Similar personality traits have been found in male and female perpetrators of domestic violence in a group
of psychiatric patients - further study may extend this to the wider community.
Research led by Wake Forest University identified an association between the degree to which individuals perceive others in positive terms and their own happiness and emotional stability.
Individuals who keep busy, even with relatively pointless activity, tend to be happier than those who do not.
Personality traits observed in childhood are a strong predictor of adult behavior.
Attractive women may experience discrimination when applying for jobs traditionally considered "masculine" and
where appearance is not considered important.
Developing greater workforce commitment can be as simple as asking employees to reflect on their organization's
history.
Volunteers were able
to accurately judge aspects of a stranger's personality by looking at photographs.
Despite changing attitudes towards interpersonal relationships, women feel significantly more guilt than men.
Women are as complicated as men say they are when evaluating potential mates.
Infants who are excellent at processing novel information when they are
just 6- and 12-months-old are likely to demonstrate excellence in intelligence tests and academic achievements
as young adults in their 20's.
Psychological research on racial prejudice tends to give the impression that
'colour' and ethnic groupings are clearly defined. But a study research published earlier this year points to confusion in the way people identify themselves and in official classifications,
at least in the United States.
Stress in adolescence may have a negative impact on health in adulthood. Healthy
teenagers reporting interpersonal conflicts had increased levels of C-reactive protein an inflammatory marker
associated with later development of cardiovascular disease.
Consistent contributors help to
increase efficiency by positively influencing less motivated members of their group.
Electrophysiological evidence that decisions thought to be based on guesswork or gut feelings may actually draw on valid memories that cannot be consciously accessed.
Purchasing experiences rather than possessions
results in increased well-being for consumers and others around them.
Research led by the Université de Bretagne-Sud found that playing loud music in licensed premises led customers to drink more
alcohol over a shorter time period.
Poor sleeping at night has been linked to daytime napping for older adults
and another study shows that practising tai chi chih, the western version of an ancient Chinese martial art, helped improve sleep
quality in older adults.
Couples in which both partners
suppressed their anger when unfairly attacked by the other died earlier than those in relationships where one or both expressed their anger
and resolved underlying conflict.
A study of the instinctive tendency for people in a group to stare at the person most likely to be offended if a
controversial comment is made.
Research from Ohio State University has challenged the common perception that girls tend to internalize their problems, becoming depressed or anxious, while boys externalize, committing violence against people or property.
In another study, young people with pre-existing relationship difficulties were found to be more
likely to develop anxiety and depression than the other way round, this being particularly the case when entering
adulthood.
Study shows that children and adults who are short sleepers
have a consistent increased risk of obesity.
Men find forgiving more difficult than women but this gender gap closes if men develop empathy toward an offender by
seeing they may be capable of acting in a similar way themselves.
Research has shed new light on "gut feelings" arguing that they are real psychological
phenomena that should be taken seriously.
New light on ways in which people are prepared to sacrifice personal advantage for the common good and what
happens when freeloaders take advantage of their altruism.
Significant differences can be seen in how people from eastern and western cultures assess interpersonal situations.
Longstanding anxiety significantly
increases the risk of heart attack in men, even when other common risk factors are taken into account.
Depression increases the risk of intellectual decline in older
people and can be a predictive factor.
While we tend to believe that we are capable of forming independent opinions, what other people think can
influence our conclusions, with negative attitudes resulting in the biggest changes.
Characteristic and sometimes severe symptoms of autism such as
repetitive motions, problems interacting with others and impaired communication can improve with age.
Hearing messages embedded in meaningless noise could be an early
sign of schizophrenia.
Longing for something intensely (like a holiday or food) can
change an individual's choice making processes with a wider array of options considered than would normally be
the case.
An innovative study evaluated young children's
storytelling ability and found that they are able to immerse themselves in the thoughts and feelings of fictional
characters.
Pointing out that loneliness is not the same
as solitude which can be highly valued they nevertheless conclude that social isolation and physical aging may have a
deleterious effect on health.
Two recent studies offer insight into how individuals
perceive their own bodies and a possible explanation for out-of-body experiences.
Insufficient sleep can have an adverse effect the next day not only on an adult's work performance but also on how well students perform at
school.
Research from the University of Oregon published in Psychological Science
suggests that short-term memory capacity is a strong predictor of IQ.
Research sheds new light on the mental processes involved in "counterfactual
thinking" in which past decisions are reviewed and alternatives evaluated.
Recent research has shown that negative emotional memories can be
suppressed with practice, offering the possibility of new treatments for people suffering from a range of conditions
including post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive syndrome.
In-group bias is the basis for discrimination, the favoring of people in your group over those in another.
New research shows that people were less distressed and coped much better with ending a relationship than they predicted and that this
unanticipated effect was particularly marked for those described as "madly in love".
A study has found significant
parallels between sophisticated use of facial whiskers by rats and fingertips by humans.
New research suggests that early
adolescents who prefer evening to morning activities are more likely to exhibit antisocial behavior. Previous studies
focusing on older adolescents showed a similar link with psychological problems.
Teenagers can learn to manage powerful emotions and gain insight into the processes involved.
Study supports the popular notion that men and women differ when it comes to colour
preference.
Excessive discussion about problems with friends (co-rumination) may have a negative impact on emotional
adjustment in girls who are more likely than boys of the same age to develop anxiety and depression as a result.
Adolescents who engaged in violent behavior relatively regularly throughout their teenage years or who began in their mid teens and increased
with time were significantly more likely to perpetrate domestic violence in their mid 20s.
People from Western cultures such as the United States find it particularly difficult to understand someone else's point of view because they are part of a culture
that encourages individualism.
A new consensus that scientists are reaching on the origins and
mechanisms of morality.
People who do well on a series of decision-making tasks involving hypothetical
situations tend to have more positive decision outcomes in their lives.
Recent technological advances in facial composite
systems have failed to improve identification and apprehension of criminal suspects.
Two studies shed light on the process of learning new languages.
Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's
College London have found higher rates of schizophrenia and other psychoses in certain ethnic minority groups and
also that parental separation in childhood is associated with an increased risk of developing psychosis later in life.
The amount of emotional content
in television advertisements affects viewers' opinions of the product, regardless of the intended message.
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