Psychology

Positive Outlook On Life Impacts Cultural 'Identification'

Scientists have long been interested in the interplay of emotions and identity, and some have recently focused on cultural identity. One's heritage would seem to be especially stable and impervious to change, simply because it's been passed down ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 14 2009 - 2:31pm

Can choosing the right god reduce anxiety and other psychosis?

Religion and mental health seems to be a double-edged sword. Religion features in a lot of psychotic delusions, but there's also a lot of evidence linking religious belief to better mental health. There's some new research which suggests that par ...

Blog Post - Tom Rees - Apr 14 2009 - 3:35pm

Barely Legal- How Alcohol Affects Perceived Age

We've all heard it before.   Some of you may even have used it:   "I thought she was X" age.    Alcohol impairs judgment, it is said, or releases inhibitions, depending on whether you like the effects. There may be nothing to that argument, ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 20 2009 - 10:02am

Is 'Toxic Asset' The Dumbest Concept Of 2009?

When I was a kid, 'toxic' assets were not assets at all; they were called 'liabilities.'    That's why asset and liability columns exist on these things called 'spreadsheets.'   But I am neither a politician nor a banker ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 22 2009 - 8:13pm

Kids Think Other Gender Is Like A Different Species

Young children think about gender in the same way they think about species of animals. They believe, for example, that a boy's preference for football is innate, as is a girl's preference for dolls, just as cats' behavior is innately differe ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 29 2009 - 12:54am

Sugar And Spice, Why Are Boys Not Nice?

According to a 19th century nursery rhyme, the biological distinctions between males and females are thus: What are little boys made of? What are little boys made of?  Frogs and snails And puppy-dogs' tails, That's what little boys are made of. W ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 29 2009 - 9:50am

Mexicans More Sociable Than Americans! (We Like Stereotypes If They Say Nice Things About Us)

Do you like being stereotyped?   Maybe not, though everyone does it to some extent (and some have more than stereotypes than others; being a white, male,southern, Catholic, Republican is 5 way open season for ridicule by people who otherwise claim to be lo ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 30 2009 - 5:49pm

Bad Economy Will Lead To More Dating Violence- By Both Sexes

Increased social stress in childhood and young adulthood has a direct link to later increased dating violence, and that young social stress is impacted by things like unemployment and economic worries, according to Murray Straus, professor of sociology an ...

Article - News Staff - May 4 2009 - 10:29am

Correlation Causation Arrows Go Bonkers In Study Of Bullying And Psychotic Preteens

Children who were consistently victimized by peers were more likely to develop psychotic symptoms in early adolescence, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. Some psychosis-like symptoms such as hallucinations and delusi ...

Article - News Staff - May 4 2009 - 9:25pm

Biggest Fear Of Alpha Males? A Wedding Speech

If proof were needed that the prospect of public speaking can turn an otherwise confident person to jelly, then it is supplied in figures released today by Great Speechwriting. They reviewed the surfing habits of the 50,000 most recent visitors to their s ...

Article - News Staff - May 7 2009 - 6:42pm