Psychology posts
- April 17, 2013
- 07:44 AM
- 86 views
The Mental Health Troubles of the "Spiritual but not Religious"
by Scott McGreal in Eye on Psych
A large British survey found that spiritual but not religious people have poorer mental health compared to both religious and non-religious/non-spiritual people. Reasons for this are no yet clear, but personality traits associated with spiritual beliefs and interests might be a factor.... Read more »
King, M., Marston, L., McManus, S., Brugha, T., Meltzer, H., & Bebbington, P. (2012) Religion, spirituality and mental health: results from a national study of English households. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 202(1), 68-73. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.112.112003
- April 17, 2013
- 07:02 AM
- 66 views
The seductive allure of ‘seductive allure’
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
Sometimes academics make the most of a clever turn of phrase. But this post isn’t about sex and it isn’t about Marilyn Monroe. Instead, it is about everyone’s favorite other topic: the CSI effect. Am I right? That is your favorite other topic, isn’t it? Even though there have been growing indications that fear of [...]
Related posts:
Redux: Bye-bye CSI?
The dilemma of the ‘Expert’ Witness
Confused about brain scans? Welcome to the club!
... Read more »
Farah, M., & Hook, C. (2013) The Seductive Allure of "Seductive Allure". Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(1), 88-90. DOI: 10.1177/1745691612469035
- April 17, 2013
- 06:24 AM
- 101 views
How Can I Avoid Procrastination?
by Esther Ghijssen in United Academics
Procrastination is a common behavior in 95 percent of people ( Ellis & Knaus, 1977) and in 15 to 20 percent of that group it can be considered chronic and problematic (Harriot & Ferrari, 1996). Recent research shows that men are more likely to procrastinate than women, that procrastinators tend to be less educated, and that their marriages are more likely to fall apart.
Considering procrastination has little benefit, why is it such a common way of behaving? One of the possible causes is perfo........ Read more »
Wohl, M., Pychyl, T., & Bennett, S. (2010) I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(7), 803-808. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.01.029
- April 17, 2013
- 05:19 AM
- 58 views
Autism, the autisms or "developmental brain dysfunction"?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism" so the oft-cited phrase goes. The implication is that whilst unified under the label of presenting with the triad/dyad characteristics of an autism spectrum condition, the heterogeneity present across the spectrum coupled with other comorbidity, allied to factors such as genes, personality, temperament, maturation, environment et al, mean that everyone is different and importantly everyone is dynamic.Umbrella under an........ Read more »
Whitehouse AJ, & Stanley FJ. (2013) Is autism one or multiple disorders?. The Medical journal of Australia, 198(6), 302-3. PMID: 23545020
Moreno-De-Luca A, Myers SM, Challman TD, Moreno-De-Luca D, Evans DW, & Ledbetter DH. (2013) Developmental brain dysfunction: revival and expansion of old concepts based on new genetic evidence. Lancet neurology, 12(4), 406-14. PMID: 23518333
- April 17, 2013
- 04:38 AM
- 71 views
Female political role models have an empowering effect on women
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Psychologically empowering to women?
The late Margaret Thatcher - Britain's first and, so far, only female Prime Minister - is criticised for failing to do more to help other women get ahead in politics. Supporters argue, however, that the example she set will, on its own, have been of profound benefit to women with leadership ambitions. A new study puts this principle to the test, examining the effect on women of reminders about the contemporary female political high-flyers Angela ........ Read more »
Latu, I., Mast, M., Lammers, J., & Bombari, D. (2013) Successful female leaders empower women's behavior in leadership tasks. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(3), 444-448. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2013.01.003
- April 17, 2013
- 12:45 AM
- 88 views
Why You Should Always Confront Prejudice
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
What goes through your mind when somebody makes a racist or sexist remark? Perhaps you feel a strong desire to expose their morally bankrupt worldview through an artful recitation of contemporary philosophy and social science research. Perhaps the potential awkwardness of scolding an acquaintance leads you to avoid confrontation. Whatever you’ve done in the past, [...]... Read more »
Rasinski, H., Geers, A., & Czopp, A. (2013) "I Guess What He Said Wasn't That Bad": Dissonance in Nonconfronting Targets of Prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. DOI: 10.1177/0146167213484769
- April 16, 2013
- 09:12 PM
- 58 views
An Implausible Function For Depression
by Jesse Marczyk in Pop Psychology
Recently, I was involved in a discussion about experimenter-induced expectation biases in performance, also known as demand characteristics. The basic premise of the idea runs along the following lines: some subjects in your experiment are interested in pleasing the experimenter … Continue reading →... Read more »
Moore, M., & Fresco, D. (2012) Depressive realism: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 32(6), 496-509. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2012.05.004
- April 16, 2013
- 08:39 AM
- 104 views
5 Ways You’re Wrong About Surviving Disasters
by Anouk Vleugels in United Academics
Everybody remembers the kind captain in Titanic, drowning in his own guilt when he realises he has comprised safety regulations for fame, and his decision to go down with the ship. Before meeting his demise, he first makes sure the women and children make it off the ship. Surely this is the proper thing to do in such situations – women and children first- right? Research suggests otherwise.... Read more »
Bruno S. Frey, David A. Savage, and Benno Torgler. (2010) Behavior under Extreme Conditions: The Titanic Disaster. Journal of Economic Perspective. info:/
Bush SP. (2004) Snakebite suction devices don't remove venom: they just suck. Annals of emergency medicine, 43(2), 187-8. PMID: 14747806
- April 15, 2013
- 11:42 PM
- 127 views
Why do some memories fade while others endure?
by Shelly Fan in Neurorexia
Ah, the age-old question: why do we remember what we remember? One possible mechanism is selective “memory replay” during sleep, in which the brain reactivates specific patterns of neuronal firing as seen during learning. In other words, memories that are rehearsed during sleep will most likely be retained (“consolidated” in neurojargon) in the long run. [...]... Read more »
Oudiette D, Antony JW, Creery JD, & Paller KA. (2013) The Role of Memory Reactivation during Wakefulness and Sleep in Determining Which Memories Endure. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 33(15), 6672-8. PMID: 23575863
- April 15, 2013
- 09:07 AM
- 81 views
Rehearsal during sleep can increase your potential of long-term memory
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main point:
Researchers found that memory rehearsal during sleep can help you to remember things for a long time.
Journal:
Journal of Neuroscience
Study Further:
In this study, researchers worked with the volunteers and asked them to remember the locations of the objects on a computer screen. A value given to each object informed participants how much money they could make if they remembered it later on the test.
"The pay-off was much higher for some of the objects than fo........ Read more »
Oudiette, D., Antony, J., Creery, J., & Paller, K. (2013) The Role of Memory Reactivation during Wakefulness and Sleep in Determining Which Memories Endure. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(15), 6672-6678. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5497-12.2013
- April 15, 2013
- 09:06 AM
- 61 views
Rehearsal during sleep can increase your potential of long-term memory
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main point:
Researchers found that memory rehearsal during sleep can help you to remember things for a long time.
Journal:
Journal of Neuroscience
Study Further:
In this study, researchers worked with the volunteers and asked them to remember the locations of the objects on a computer screen. A value given to each object informed participants how much money they could make if they remembered it later on the test.
"The pay-off was much higher for some of the objects than fo........ Read more »
Oudiette, D., Antony, J., Creery, J., & Paller, K. (2013) The Role of Memory Reactivation during Wakefulness and Sleep in Determining Which Memories Endure. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(15), 6672-6678. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5497-12.2013
- April 15, 2013
- 07:47 AM
- 78 views
Another Penis Story: Size Matters, Up to a Point
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
While females are attracted to larger penises, their interest only extends to a degree and penis size isn’t the only trait that concerns them, a new Australian study shows. Although this finding grabbed a lot of headlines, the research also provided insight into how genitalia can evolve, even without having offspring.... Read more »
Mautz, B., Wong, B., Peters, R., & Jennions, M. (2013) Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219361110
- April 15, 2013
- 07:24 AM
- 115 views
I believe in CBT and my research shows it works! Therapy allegiance in psychotherapy research
by Ben in Critical Science
Does believing in a therapy mean your research will show it works? Investigating the effect of researcher allegiance on psychotherapy outcome research... Read more »
Munder T, Brütsch O, Leonhart R, Gerger H, & Barth J. (2013) Researcher allegiance in psychotherapy outcome research: An overview of reviews. Clinical psychology review, 33(4), 501-511. PMID: 23500154
- April 15, 2013
- 07:02 AM
- 55 views
Which jurors most “feel” your client’s pain?
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
This is an intriguing question with a pretty straightforward answer. But if you are assuming the answer is “women”, you are only partially correct. Researchers from Michigan, New York and North Carolina investigated the relationship of age and empathy in three large samples of American adults who ranged in age from 18 to 90 years. [...]
Related posts:
Does your capital client “look deathworthy”?
Pretrial publicity & bias: Take a look at the age of your jurors!
Should you ask your o........ Read more »
O'Brien E, Konrath SH, Grühn D, & Hagen AL. (2013) Empathic concern and perspective taking: linear and quadratic effects of age across the adult life span. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 68(2), 168-75. PMID: 22865821
- April 15, 2013
- 05:44 AM
- 74 views
Anxiously attached people are ace at poker and lie detection
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
People who worry habitually about separation and abandonment - the "anxiously attached" - tend to be highly skilled at lie detection, an attribute that means they excel at poker. That's according to Tsachi Ein-Dor and Adi Perry whose new findings build on their theory that anxiously attached people are natural sentinels - highly sensitive to threats in the environment, including, this new research suggests, social threats.
Across a pair of initial studies, dozens of men and women an........ Read more »
Ein-Dor T, & Perry A. (2013) Full House of Fears: Evidence that People High in Attachment Anxiety are More Accurate in Detecting Deceit. Journal of personality. PMID: 23437786
- April 15, 2013
- 05:32 AM
- 63 views
Surviving Sandy: Staying Put in Far Rockaway
by Elke Weesjes in United Academics
Hurricane Sandy churned across the Caribbean and up the eastern seaboard of the U.S. in late October of 2012, leaving a path of death and destruction in its wake. This article focuses on the decision making among some of those who stayed behind in the storm—and how we might use that information to better prepare for the disasters of the future.... Read more »
Nicole M. Stephens,MarYam G. Hamedani,Hazel Rose Markus,Hilary B. Bergsieker,and Liyam Eloul1. (2009) Why Did They "Choose" to Stay? Perspectives of Hurricane Katrina Observers and Survivors. PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. info:/
- April 15, 2013
- 05:30 AM
- 26 views
Mathematical Turing test: Readable proofs from your computer
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
We have previously discussed the finicky task of defining intelligence, but surely being able to do math qualifies? Even if the importance of mathematics in science is questioned by people as notable as E.O. Wilson, surely nobody questions it as an intelligent activity? Mathematical reasoning is not necessary for intelligence, but surely it is sufficient? [...]... Read more »
Ganesalingam Mohan. (2013) The Language of Mathematics: A Linguistic and Philosophical Investigation. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-37012-0
- April 15, 2013
- 12:27 AM
- 82 views
What’s The Point of Bingeing and Purging? And Why Can’t You Just Stop?
by Tetyana Pekar in Science of Eating Disorders
I defended my MSc degree on Tuesday and I’m not going to lie: I was pretty symptomatic with bulimia in the days prior to my defence. As I was explaining to my boyfriend, the anxiety-reducing effects of purging are so powerful, and the compulsion to binge and purge (when I’m stressed/anxious/”not okay”) is so strong that it is much easier to do it, get it over with, and continue working (in a much calmer state).
I’ve mentioned before, for me, purging is very anxiety-........ Read more »
Smyth, J., Wonderlich, S., Heron, K., Sliwinski, M., Crosby, R., Mitchell, J., & Engel, S. (2007) Daily and momentary mood and stress are associated with binge eating and vomiting in bulimia nervosa patients in the natural environment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(4), 629-638. DOI: 10.1037/0022-006X.75.4.629
- April 14, 2013
- 03:11 PM
- 86 views
How Pharmaceutical Ads Distort Healthcare Markets
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
It probably doesn’t strike you as strange to see advertisements for prescription drugs. By now, everybody know that you should “talk to your doctor about Levitra” while “doing more with Lipitor” and getting “Claritin clear.” But if you think about it, it’s strange for an actor being paid by a pharmaceutical company to tell you [...]... Read more »
Lewin, B. (2013) Patient satisfaction with physician responses during interactions prompted by pharmaceutical advertisements. The Social Science Journal. DOI: 10.1016/j.soscij.2013.03.002
- April 14, 2013
- 10:52 AM
- 93 views
Fatigue severity and serum leptin levels in chronic fatigue syndrome
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
In the very complicated world of medical research and science, the days of one chemical, one metabolite, or one gene driving and sustaining ill-health and particular diseases or conditions seem to be all but long past. Sure, there are conditions which on the surface seem to be driven by only one factor, but more often than not is the realisation that we humans are very complicated creatures indeed.Leptin @ Wikipedia I was therefore interested to read the paper by Elizabeth Stringer and col........ Read more »
Stringer, E., Baker, K., Carroll, I., Montoya, J., Chu, L., Maecker, H., & Younger, J. (2013) Daily cytokine fluctuations, driven by leptin, are associated with fatigue severity in chronic fatigue syndrome: evidence of inflammatory pathology. Journal of Translational Medicine, 11(1), 93. DOI: 10.1186/1479-5876-11-93
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