Psychology News and Research

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Psychology is the study of human mental functions, behavior and processes.

New study links facial expressions with written language

Your facial expression may tell the world what you are thinking or feeling. But it also affects your ability to understand written language related to emotions, according to research published in the July issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

20 Jul 2010

Global study on working memory and influence of advertising on behaviour launched

Is your glass half full or half empty? Are you eternally optimistic or permanently pessimistic? What could this mean for your mental health? The British Science Association today launches a global study testing your working memory in relation to your mental health and then investigating the influence of advertising on your behaviour.

20 Jul 2010

Researchers monitor stress during a real-time war to refine PTSD therapy

Psychologists aren't usually called to the battlefield, but the 2008-09 Gaza War gave Tel Aviv University researchers a unique picture of how anxiety manifests during stressful situations.

20 Jul 2010

Study finds unhappy families unhappy in two distinct ways

Contrary to Leo Tolstoy's famous observation that "happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," a new psychology study confirms that unhappy families, in fact, are unhappy in two distinct ways. And these dual patterns of unhealthy family relationships lead to a host of specific difficulties for children during their early school years.

16 Jul 2010

Severe exposure to trauma, loss of family members, and domestic violence very stressful on Sri Lankan children

Two studies on children in Sri Lanka who survived the 2004 tsunami and ongoing civil war there found that it's not these stressful events alone that contributed to the youths' psychological health, but also daily stressors like domestic violence that are exacerbated by traumatic events and continue after the disasters.

16 Jul 2010

Research shows behavioral economic analysis may help understand role of craving in addictions

Just-published research led by a psychologist at the University of Georgia shows that behavioral economic analysis may lead to an improved understanding of craving for alcohol and other drugs. This method of studying how craving alters the way a person values a drug is fairly new, but according to the study, it may well help assess cravings more accurately and contribute to identifying more effective ways to defeat addictions.

15 Jul 2010

UC San Diego and CTRI receive $37.2M NCRR Clinical and Translational Science Award

The University of California, San Diego Health Sciences and its expanding Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI) have received a five-year, $37.2 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), part of the National Institutes of Health.

15 Jul 2010

No valid, adequate criteria for certifying an illness as terminal: Study

Physicians that have to decide whether an illness is terminal think that "there are not valid and adequate criteria for certifying that an illness is terminal". This is the conclusion drawn from a pioneer study conducted at the University of Granada, and recently published in the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (IJCHP).

14 Jul 2010

Russians show less distress compared to Americans: Research

Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy portrayed Russians as a brooding, complicated people, and ethnographers have confirmed that Russians tend to focus on dark feelings and memories more than Westerners do. But a new University of Michigan study finds that even though Russians tend to brood, they are less likely than Americans to feel as depressed as a result.

14 Jul 2010

Therapeutic workbook to facilitate healing process in Haitian children

"When children can tell their stories about a traumatic event in their own words or pictures and at their own speed, healing can begin," says Dr. Jodie Kliman, psychologist and professor at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP) in Boston. That is why Kliman led MSPP's collaboration with the Children's Psychological Health Center (CPHC) in San Francisco and Ekol Akasya (Acacia School) in Haiti to create a workbook to facilitate that healing process in Haitian children and to identify those at greatest risk for long-term emotional problems.

14 Jul 2010

Study shows cigarette cravings result from habit, not addiction

Nicotine patches and gum are common ― and often ineffective ― ways of fighting cigarette cravings, as most smokers have discovered. Now a new study from Tel Aviv University shows why they're ineffective, and may provide the basis for more successful psychologically-based smoking cessation programs.

14 Jul 2010

PTSD treatment claims process eased, some remain skeptical

NPR: The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a new rule Monday that aims to make it easier for troops who return from battle to get the PTSD support they need. "Veterans will no longer have to prove that a certain attack, bomb explosion or event in a combat zone triggered post-traumatic stress. It's a change that most agree has been a long time coming.

14 Jul 2010

Emotions play important role when certifying patients' terminal stage: Research

A research conducted at the University of Granada revealed that emotions play an important role when health professionals have to certify that a patient is in terminal stage. To the purpose of this research, a qualitative study was undertaken with a sample of 42 participants. Participants were thoroughly interviewed, with the aim of analyzing the approach and language employed by health professionals treating terminally-ill patients.

13 Jul 2010

Verbal cues influence even most elementary visual processing

Cognitive psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania and University of California have shown that an image displayed too quickly to be seen by an observer can be detected if the participant first hears the name of the object.

13 Jul 2010

Hormone leptin reduces food intake by activating hippocampus: Research

Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that the hormone leptin reduces food intake, in part, by activating the hippocampus, an area of the brain that controls learning and memory function. Leptin is a hormone released from fat cells that acts on the brain to inhibit feeding.

13 Jul 2010

Portion control all a matter of perception!

The key to losing weight could lie in manipulating our beliefs about how filling we think food will be before we eat it, suggesting that portion control is all a matter of perception.

13 Jul 2010

New research evaluates effectiveness of popular slimming supplements

New research evaluating the effectiveness of a broad selection of popular slimming supplements sold in pharmacies and health food shops has found no evidence that any of them facilitate weight loss beyond the placebo effect.

12 Jul 2010

Educational psychologists use eye-tracking method for detecting lies

Shifty eyes long have been thought to signify a person's problem telling the truth. Now a group of University of Utah researchers are taking that old adage to a new level.

12 Jul 2010

Fussy eating may be an “eating disorder” say researchers

Picky and fussy eaters are not just being difficult to please say U.S. researchers. They may be suffering from an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia. Soon the disorder is to have an official name and the American Psychiatric Association plans to call them “selective eaters”.

11 Jul 2010