Psychology posts
- May 1, 2013
- 03:52 AM
- 61 views
Depression is not much common in U.S. as said
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main point:
Researcher has found that over-diagnosis and over-treatment of depression is common in Americans.
Journal:
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
Study Further:
"Depression over-diagnosis and over-treatment is common in the U.S. and frankly the numbers are staggering," said Ramin J. Mojtabai, PhD, author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Mental Health.
Researcher, in this study, worked on 5,639 participants wi........ Read more »
Mojtabai, R. (2013) Clinician-Identified Depression in Community Settings: Concordance with Structured-Interview Diagnoses. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 82(3), 161-169. DOI: 10.1159/000345968
- May 1, 2013
- 01:35 AM
- 52 views
A “switch” for the winter blues
by Shelly Fan in Neurorexia
We’ve all been there. Mid-winter morning, you crawl out of bed, slouch towards work, and pass the day in a hazy daze. There seems to be no concept of time, just never-ending darkness and cold. You’re not depressed, just…bleh. Well, rats have that feeling too. Being nocturnal though, they prefer long nights to long days [...]... Read more »
Dulcis D, Jamshidi P, Leutgeb S, & Spitzer NC. (2013) Neurotransmitter switching in the adult brain regulates behavior. Science (New York, N.Y.), 340(6131), 449-53. PMID: 23620046
- April 30, 2013
- 06:05 PM
- 58 views
Lyme and soda: hold the autism risk?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
I've talked about the mighty tick previously on this blog and some speculation on how a tick harbouring the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi (or a close relation) bites and transmits said bacteria to humans which can lead to Lyme disease and whether this might be implicated in some cases of autism. Tickety boo @ Wikipedia The suggestion from that post was that whilst the data was speculative and relatively sparse at that time on whether Lyme disease is common in cases of autism........ Read more »
Mary Ajamian, Barry E. Kosofsky, Gary P. Wormser, Anjali M. Rajadhyaksha, & Armin Alaedini. (2013) Serologic Markers of Lyme Disease in Children With Autism. JAMA, 309(17), 1771-1773. info:/
- April 30, 2013
- 09:48 AM
- 42 views
Toddlers are afraid of falling but not of heights
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
When we adults are confronted by a bridge, we're concerned not just by its width and sturdiness, but also by the height of the drop beneath. If there's a deep canyon, we'd usually rather the bridge was mighty strong and wide. If there's but a short drop, we'll happily jaunt along the narrowest, flimsiest of crossings - after all, it won't matter much if we fall.
Infants - those aged 11 to 14 months - are different. They don't want to fall, so they're wary of narrow bridges. But the height of ........ Read more »
Kretch, K., & Adolph, K. (2013) No bridge too high: Infants decide whether to cross based on the probability of falling not the severity of the potential fall. Developmental Science, 16(3), 336-351. DOI: 10.1111/desc.12045
- April 30, 2013
- 09:30 AM
- 76 views
Are Vocal Homophobes Really Just Homosexuals in the Closet?
Homophobic protestors of gay rights assert things like "homosexuality will lead to the breakdown of civilization," and other such notions. But research is finding that some of these avid protestors are homosexuals themselves. Why is that?
Recent research looks at how cultural influences regarding homosexuality affect the psychology of homosexuals who are "in the closet." A new study is contrasted with information on pornography consumption, showing widespread hypocrisy throughout the world.... Read more »
Weinstein, N., Ryan, W., DeHaan, C., Przybylski, A., Legate, N., & Ryan, R. (2012) Parental autonomy support and discrepancies between implicit and explicit sexual identities: Dynamics of self-acceptance and defense. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(4), 815-832. DOI: 10.1037/a0026854
- April 29, 2013
- 09:39 PM
- 84 views
Spotting Fallacious Arguments
by Winston Sieck in Head Smart
Starting an argument with someone can be a great way to learn more about a topic. Arguments help us check our own thinking, come to terms with someone else’s reasoning, and occasionally even arrive at a shared understanding about what we believe to be true. Everyday arguments are often messy. The parties involved in the [...]... Read more »
Neuman, Y. (2003) Go ahead, prove that God does not exist! On high school students’ ability to deal with fallacious arguments. Learning and Instruction, 13(4), 367-380. DOI: 10.1016/S0959-4752(02)00011-7
- April 29, 2013
- 11:04 AM
- 77 views
Early Childhood Education: the Importance of Phonological Awareness
by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos
There are many factors that go into how a child learns to read, write, and spell. Phonological awareness in early childhood is a proven predictor of how well a child will progress in their literary performance. Today’s post explains the basics of phonological awareness and how to better develop it in young children. What is … Read More →... Read more »
Lonigan CJ, Farver JM, Nakamoto J, & Eppe S. (2013) Developmental Trajectories of Preschool Early Literacy Skills: A Comparison of Language-Minority and Monolingual-English Children. Developmental psychology. PMID: 23316767
Carson KL, Gillon GT, & Boustead TM. (2012) Classroom Phonological Awareness Instruction and Literacy Outcomes In the First Year of School. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools. PMID: 23275432
Chipere, N. (2013) Sex differences in phonological awareness and reading ability. Language Awareness, 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/09658416.2013.774007
Wagensveld B, van Alphen P, Segers E, Hagoort P, & Verhoeven L. (2013) The neural correlates of rhyme awareness in preliterate and literate children. Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. PMID: 23523114
- April 29, 2013
- 10:30 AM
- 69 views
Belief in God enhances psychiatric treatment
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Point:
Researchers have found that higher belief in God positively affects the treatment strategy of the people with psychiatric disorders.
Journal:
Journal of Affective Disorders
Study Further:
"Our work suggests that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without, regardless of their religious affiliation. Belief was associated with not only improved psychological wellbeing, but........ Read more »
Rosmarin DH, Bigda-Peyton JS, Kertz SJ, Smith N, Rauch SL, & Björgvinsson T. (2013) A test of faith in God and treatment: the relationship of belief in God to psychiatric treatment outcomes. Journal of affective disorders, 146(3), 441-6. PMID: 23051729
- April 29, 2013
- 10:02 AM
- 74 views
Autism and the folding placenta
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
Men don't generally talk about placentas it has to be said. But today, in the name of blogging, I'm going to.I'm going to start by telling you how the placenta really is a marvel of biological engineering. An absolutely vital part of our existence in-utero that nourishes us and protects us during our earliest days living in the amniotic sac. Little wonder that whole nations have come to revere the placenta as mother, sibling even doubles of ourselves (see here). Although I have to say I do ........ Read more »
Walker, C., Anderson, K., Milano, K., Ye, S., Tancredi, D., Pessah, I., Hertz-Picciotto, I., & Kliman, H. (2013) Trophoblast Inclusions Are Significantly Increased in the Placentas of Children in Families at Risk for Autism. Biological Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.03.006
- April 29, 2013
- 09:08 AM
- 72 views
Twitter Maps the Mood of the UK
by Kate Blanchfield in United Academics
Researchers have mapped the moods of Twitter users from the UK and found that they follow a daily pattern of anger, fear, joy and sadness.
The research paper, posted online last week, was based on approximately 120 million tweets collected during the summer and winter of 2011.
The researchers counted the number of times a tweet expressed anger, fear, joy or sadness and normalised this by the total number of tweets in that hour. This corrected for the inevitably higher use of Twitter during........ Read more »
Vasileios Lampos, Thomas Lansdall-Welfare, Ricardo Araya, & Nello Cristianini. (2013) Analysing Mood Patterns in the United Kingdom through Twitter Content. Social and Information Networks. arXiv: 1304.5507v1
Golder, S., & Macy, M. (2011) Diurnal and Seasonal Mood Vary with Work, Sleep, and Daylength Across Diverse Cultures. Science, 333(6051), 1878-1881. DOI: 10.1126/science.1202775
- April 29, 2013
- 08:49 AM
- 1 view
The Neuroscience Power Crisis: What's the fallout?
by Neurobonkers in Neurobonkers
Last week a paper ($) was published in
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
that is rocking the world of neuroscience. The crack team of researchers including neuroscientists, psychologists, geneticists and statisticians analysed meta-analyses of neuroscience research to determine the statistical power of ...Read More
... Read more »
Button KS, Ioannidis JP, Mokrysz C, Nosek BA, Flint J, Robinson ES, & Munafò MR. (2013) Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 14(5), 365-76. PMID: 23571845
- April 29, 2013
- 07:03 AM
- 16 views
The How, What, When, and Why of [Lawyer] Happiness Increasing Strategies: Initial Understanding From the “Positive-Activity Model”
by Dan DeFoe in Psycholawlogy
Millions of people yearn for happiness. We should know now that science can help. That “good news” headline can apply to article recently published in a leading psychological science journal and featured in this post. Happiness feels good, does good, is good for us, and can lead to success. Research shows that the deliberate [...]The post The How, What, When, and Why of [Lawyer] Happiness Increasing Strategies: Initial Understanding From the “Positive-Activity Model........ Read more »
Lyubomirsky, S., & Layous, K. (2013) How Do Simple Positive Activities Increase Well-Being?. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(1), 57-62. DOI: 10.1177/0963721412469809
- April 29, 2013
- 07:02 AM
- 66 views
Look into my eyes…..
by Doug Keene in The Jury Room
How often have you read that “the eyes are the window to the soul”? What that means, say proponents, is that all you have to do to know how someone feels is to look into their eyes and you know all. New research would say that only holds true (at least if you are a [...]
Related posts:
We pray with closed eyes
The eyes of [not just] Texas are upon you…
“I can look into his eyes and just tell he is lying”
... Read more »
Schiffer B, Pawliczek C, Müller BW, Gizewski ER, & Walter H. (2013) Why don't men understand women? Altered neural networks for reading the language of male and female eyes. PloS one, 8(4). PMID: 23593185
- April 29, 2013
- 06:05 AM
- 59 views
Accountability provokes more team-focused behaviours in leaders who are outsiders
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Sometimes leaders epitomise the group they seek to lead, such as a former trucker heading a transport trade union. In other cases leaders are less prototypical; while they may have the attributes for the role, they 'come from outside'. How might leaders from these two moulds respond when the workplace demands more accountability for their actions? A team led by Steffen Giessner of Erasmus University set out to know more, investigating the team-oriented behaviours that leaders engage in whe........ Read more »
Giessner, S., van Knippenberg, D., van Ginkel, W., & Sleebos, E. (2013) Team-Oriented Leadership: The Interactive Effects of Leader Group Prototypicality, Accountability, and Team Identification. Journal of Applied Psychology. DOI: 10.1037/a0032445
- April 29, 2013
- 06:02 AM
- 119 views
Antibiotic for better decisions for male businessmen
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main point:
Researchers have found that minocycline, an antibiotic, can protect men from the apparent attraction of women in making better decisions especially financial decisions.
Journal:
Scientific Reports
Study Further:
Minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic that is technically speaking a microglial inhibitor, is used for the treatment of acne. It has also been found to be effective against mental disturbances such as schizophrenia and depression, and it can also enhance decis........ Read more »
Watabe, M., Kato, T., Tsuboi, S., Ishikawa, K., Hashiya, K., Monji, A., Utsumi, H., & Kanba, S. (2013) Minocycline, a microglial inhibitor, reduces ‘honey trap’ risk in human economic exchange. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/srep01685
- April 29, 2013
- 03:51 AM
- 70 views
"Wish you were here!" - how a postcard can help attract the best talent
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
In 2004, in Silicon Valley, Google posted a huge billboard ad featuring a mathematical problem. The answer led to a web address with yet another puzzle to crack. People who successfully followed this intellectual treasure hunt ended up being invited in for a job interview.
This is an extreme example of a recruitment principle spelled out in a new article by psychologists in Belgium. They say that distinctive recruitment procedures are the secret to attracting more and better job applica........ Read more »
Cromheecke, S., Van Hoye, G., & Lievens, F. (2013) Changing things up in recruitment: Effects of a ‘strange’ recruitment medium on applicant pool quantity and quality. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/joop.12018
- April 29, 2013
- 03:35 AM
- 101 views
Do Women Really Want Nice Guys?
by Annemarie van Oosten in United Academics
It’s a familiar story: women who say they are looking to date a kind, sensitive and emotionally expressive guy often end up dating a macho man or a jerk. This leaves many ‘nice guys’ feeling they always finish last. For many decades, researchers have tried to get a grip on this so called ‘nice guy paradox’.... Read more »
Urbaniak, G.C., . (2003) Physical Attractiveness and the “Nice Guy Paradox”: Do Nice Guys Really Finish Last? . Sex Roles, 413-426. info:/
- April 29, 2013
- 01:51 AM
- 56 views
School Choice Is Associated With More Student Engagement
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
One thing I harp on a fair amount is that it’s a shame the concept of school choice has been bound to divisive rhetoric about competition and free markets. Every student is different, and therefore the presence of more choices always makes it more likely that a student will find a school that meshes with [...]... Read more »
Vaughn, M., & Witko, C. (2013) Does the amount of school choice matter for student engagement?. The Social Science Journal, 50(1), 23-33. DOI: 10.1016/j.soscij.2012.07.004
- April 28, 2013
- 11:57 PM
- 54 views
Factors Associated with Recovery from Anorexia Nervosa
by Tetyana Pekar in Science of Eating Disorders
Why do some people recover anorexia nervosa relatively quickly while others seem to struggle for years or decades? Does it depend on the person’s desire to get better? Their willpower? How much they are willing to fight? Is it just that some try harder than others? Some might say yes, but most will correctly realize that the picture is much, much more complex.
We can spend hours talking about barriers to treatment, but in this post I want to talk about something slightly different, somethi........ Read more »
Zerwas, S., Lund, B., Von Holle, A., Thornton, L., Berrettini, W., Brandt, H., Crawford, S., Fichter, M., Halmi, K., Johnson, C.... (2013) Factors associated with recovery from anorexia nervosa. Journal of Psychiatric Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2013.02.011
- April 28, 2013
- 09:00 AM
- 59 views
Science Sunday: Gut Reaction
by Mitchell Harden in Mitch's Blog
I recently read a 2006 paper titled "Visceral Influences on Risk-Taking Behavior." In spite of it's problems this paper uses some great language. Take for example this opening paragraph from the introduction:"People often do things that they almost immediately regret. Would-be dieters succumb to the lure of forsworn foods, only to curse their weak wills once their hunger (or the food) is gone. Unfaithful spouses live wracked with guilt after an impulsive sexual dalliance, only to repeat the cycl........ Read more »
Ditto, P., Pizarro, D., Epstein, E., Jacobson, J., & MacDonald, T. (2006) Visceral influences on risk-taking behavior. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19(2), 99-113. DOI: 10.1002/bdm.520
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