Psychology News and Research

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

Increased sense of separation in this holiday season's most harmful gifts

A couple years ago, lead paint in toys manufactured in China sent parents searching frantically for gifts made in the USA. This fall, news of Baby Einstein refunds suggested that even so-called educational toys are suspect. Renowned parenting expert Dr. Jeffrey Fine, Ph.D., says that such videos are actually harmful to developing brains, retarding language development and shortening attention spans. Moreover, there is an increased sense of separation, which is the defining trait of each of this holiday season's most harmful gifts.

7 Dec 2009

APU offers tips and suggestions for safe holidays

The 2009 holiday season is officially underway – and while most of us look forward to the fun and excitement, some feel overwhelmed by the stress of office parties, family get-togethers, winter travel and grid-locked shopping mall parking lots.

7 Dec 2009

Research participants link high-paying clinical studies to increased risk levels

More than 15 million Americans are recruited annually to participate in clinical trials according to the Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP), and most will be compensated for their participation.

5 Dec 2009

Health experts available to speak about health care reform

Garson helped originate and draft the "Health Partnership Act" (S. 325 and H.R. 5606), which funds grants to states for innovations to improve coverage for the uninsured, quality and efficiency.

5 Dec 2009

'Brain advantages' for effective business leadership

Business leaders are in charge-of people, of budgets, of production lines. Most leaders also believe that they are in charge of their greatest resource-their own brain. But how true is that? The more we understand about how the brain works, the clearer it becomes that often our brain kicks in before we do.

5 Dec 2009

Study shows smiles and scowls provide cues for gender identification

"Why is it that men can be bastards and women must wear pearls and smile?" wrote author Lynn Hecht Schafran. The answer, according to an article in the Journal of Vision, may lie in our interpretation of facial expressions.

4 Dec 2009

Research study investigates how music therapy can help mentally ill children and young people

Queen's University Belfast is to play a major role in the biggest trial ever conducted to investigate how music therapy can help children and young people with severe mental health problems.

4 Dec 2009

Personality characteristics can play a major role in determining successful medical career

Personality characteristics play a major role in determining who succeeds in medical school, according to new research published in the November issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology.

4 Dec 2009

New study suggests mental imagery training is sufficient for perceptual learning

Practice makes perfect. But imaginary practice? Elisa Tartaglia of the Laboratory of Psychophysics at Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) and team show that perceptual learning-learning by repeated exposure to a stimulus-can occur by mental imagery as much as by the real thing. The results, published in Current Biology, suggest that thinking about something over and over again could actually be as good as doing it.

4 Dec 2009

Care Support of America's outpatient palliative care coordination model improves the quality of life for seniors

Care Support of America's model of outpatient palliative care coordination, Advanced Illness Coordinated Care (AICC), has been shown to reduce hospitalizations in the last years of life as well as improve the quality of life for seniors and their family caregivers without increasing mortality. These are the principal findings of a new study published in American Journal of Managed Care (November 2009).

3 Dec 2009

Study sheds light on gender differences in shopping experiences and behaviors

Daniel Kruger, research faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, says it's perfectly natural that men often can't distinguish a sage sock from a beige sock or that sometimes women can't tell if the shoe department is due north or west from the escalator.

3 Dec 2009

Waterpipe tobacco smoking as deadly as cigarette smoking

Smoking tobacco through a waterpipe exposes the user to the same toxicants - carbon monoxide and nicotine - as puffing on a cigarette, which could lead to nicotine addiction and heart disease, according to a study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

3 Dec 2009

New PBS documentary examines why people view happiness as an elusive goal

On the eve of a new year, as millions of Americans struggle to find more meaning in their lives, Vulcan Productions and NOVA/WGBH have teamed up with Harvard psychologist and best-selling author of Stumbling on Happiness, Professor Daniel Gilbert, to produce This Emotional Life. This three-part documentary premieres on PBS January 4-6, 2010 (at 9:00 p.m. check local listings) and examines why people find happiness to be such an elusive goal.

2 Dec 2009

Georgia Institute of Technology receives contract to design nanostructures and cognition tools

The Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded a U.S. Air Force Center of Excellence to design nanostructures for energy harvesting and adaptive materials, and to develop tools to optimize critical cognitive processes of the modern warfighter.

2 Dec 2009

Study finds ethnic pride may be as important as self-esteem, particularly for boys

Ethnic pride may be as important as self-esteem to the mental health of young African-American adolescents, according to a new study in the Nov./Dec. issue of the journal Child Development.

2 Dec 2009

Scientist honored with 2010 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology

A scientist who broadened the understanding of how we experience pain -- and ways we can control and relieve it -- has won the 2010 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.

2 Dec 2009

Music therapy can reduce pain and anxiety in hospice pateints

Add guitars and other musical instruments to the tools caregivers can use to help patients in hospice care. That's what University of Alabama senior Sarah Pitts found when she brought her music therapy skills to patients in Hospice of West Alabama.

1 Dec 2009

Changes in children's sleep patterns are associated with onset of puberty, says study

A study in the Dec.1 issue of the journal Sleep suggests that changes in children's sleep patterns that typically occur between the ages of 11 and 12 years are evident before the physical changes associated with the onset of puberty.

1 Dec 2009

Findings suggest dream-enacting behaviors are common in general population

A study in the Dec.1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that dream-enacting behaviors are common in healthy young adults, and the prevalence of specific behaviors differs between men and women.

1 Dec 2009

Tel Aviv University is defining the leap from unconscious to conscious mind

There is a tiny period of time between the registration of a visual stimulus by the unconscious mind and our conscious recognition of it ― between the time we see an apple and the time we recognize it as an apple. Our minds lag behind our eyes, but by how long? And how does this affect our reactions to the world around us?

1 Dec 2009

Psychology News and Research

Further Reading

Increased sense of separation in this holiday season's most harmful gifts

APU offers tips and suggestions for safe holidays

Research participants link high-paying clinical studies to increased risk levels

Health experts available to speak about health care reform

'Brain advantages' for effective business leadership

Study shows smiles and scowls provide cues for gender identification

Research study investigates how music therapy can help mentally ill children and young people

Personality characteristics can play a major role in determining successful medical career

New study suggests mental imagery training is sufficient for perceptual learning

Care Support of America's outpatient palliative care coordination model improves the quality of life for seniors

Study sheds light on gender differences in shopping experiences and behaviors

Waterpipe tobacco smoking as deadly as cigarette smoking

New PBS documentary examines why people view happiness as an elusive goal

Georgia Institute of Technology receives contract to design nanostructures and cognition tools

Study finds ethnic pride may be as important as self-esteem, particularly for boys

Scientist honored with 2010 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology

Music therapy can reduce pain and anxiety in hospice pateints

Changes in children's sleep patterns are associated with onset of puberty, says study

Findings suggest dream-enacting behaviors are common in general population

Tel Aviv University is defining the leap from unconscious to conscious mind

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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