Psychology News and Research

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

Important that menopause not viewed as a disease

An independent panel convened last week by the National Institutes of Health found that many women move through the menopausal transition with few disabling symptoms, and that it is important that menopause not be viewed as a disease.

28 Mar 2005

Babies weaned with rusks go on to love foods such as crisps and chips

Psychologists at the University of Birmingham have discovered that babies who are weaned onto foods such as rusks go on to have a preference for beige foods such as crisps and chips.

23 Mar 2005

Images of brain activity may hold clues to the onset of schizophrenia

Images of brain activity may hold clues to the onset of schizophrenia in people at high risk for the disease, according to a study headed by psychiatry researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

21 Mar 2005

Baby talk helps learning

Adults may feel silly when they talk to babies, but those babies will learn to speak sooner if adults talk to them like infants instead of like other adults, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Erik Thiessen published in the March issue of the journal Infancy.

15 Mar 2005

Women prefer men with deep voices

Sarah Evans, a part-time psychology lecturer and PhD student, found that women consider deep voices more attractive, dominant, masculine, sexy, assertive, confident and friendly.

14 Mar 2005

First study to report that successful treatment of depression in older adults helps independent living

Successful treatment of depression not only improves older adults' emotional health, but also helps them perform such daily activities as remembering to take medications, according to a study published in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers.

14 Mar 2005

Autistic children shy from eye contact because they perceive even the most familiar face as an uncomfortable threat

The work deepens understanding of an autistic brain's function and may one day inform new treatment approaches and augment how teachers interact with their autistic students.

6 Mar 2005

A man's index finger length relative to ring finger length can predict how physically aggressive that man might be

Dr. Peter Hurd a psychologist at the University of Alberta, and his graduate student Allison Bailey, have found that a man's index finger length relative to ring finger length can predict how physically aggressive that man might be.

3 Mar 2005

Psychologist examines the narcissistic personality in terms of its ability to forgive

When harsh words or actions tear a relationship apart, forgiveness can sometimes mend it. Because forgiveness implies letting go of justified feelings of resentment, it can be costly in terms of pride. Certain types of people--those with a high sense of narcissistic entitlement--may be especially reluctant to face the costs of forgiving others, according to Case Western Reserve University psychologist Julie Exline.

3 Mar 2005

Visual cortex contains neurons that are sensitive to viewing angle

Mistakes made by human subjects in identifying the facing direction of faces, cars or meaningless objects have yielded evidence that the brain contains nerve cells, or neurons, whose job is to encode the viewing angle of objects. It is well known that certain neurons respond to color, motion, edges and other aspects of our environment.

3 Mar 2005

Gender discrepancies in who gets bypass surgery

A study published in the latest issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly found gender biases and long-standing gender discrepancies in who gets bypass surgery. In 1988, twelve percent of female patients who had profiles consistent with the bypass surgery received it-- as compared to twenty-four percent of men.

3 Mar 2005

Helping parents quit smoking should be considered in future public-health interventions that target youth smoking

A new study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggests that parents who quit smoking when their children are young may have a big influence on whether their offspring will quit smoking as young adults.

1 Mar 2005

Trigger events for adopted adults

Regardless of whether adults adopted in infancy consider their adoptions to play an important role in their lives or not, certain "trigger events" in adulthood may result in a greater emphasis being placed on their adoptive status, new research from the University of Melbourne has found.

1 Mar 2005

5 percent of college-age women have actually had cosmetic surgery

Many parents worry about the potential influence the media may have on their children's self-esteem and body image. Stories about young women having excessive plastic surgery are enough to keep any parent up at night.

28 Feb 2005

Middle-aged women who take an active role in their health care may be less likely to develop cardiovascular disease

The results, presented today at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting, suggest women who believe they should take charge of their health, rather than rely solely on treatment by doctors, have fewer signs of pre-clinical atherosclerosis.

28 Feb 2005

Children with imaginary companions are quicker to develop language skills

A post-graduate student from The University of Manchester’s School of Psychological Sciences is investigating the theory that children with imaginary companions are quicker to develop language skills and retain knowledge.

From The University of Manchester 28 Feb 2005

Comprehensive sex education is more effective at stopping the spread of HIV infection

It is estimated that more than half of all new HIV infections occur before the age of 25 and most are acquired through unprotected sexual intercourse.

28 Feb 2005

Children suffering from ADHD may be ignoring visual information to their left

Children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may be ignoring visual information to their left and being diagnosed mistakenly as having dyslexia, according to new research by Dr Tom Manly and colleagues at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge and published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Brain and Cognition.

27 Feb 2005

Dramatic evidence of how psychiatric disorders are underdiagnosed in hospital emergency departments

New research offers dramatic evidence of how psychiatric disorders are underdiagnosed in hospital emergency departments, affecting an increasing number of Americans who rely on such facilities for much of their primary health care needs.

23 Feb 2005

Ways to make hypnosis a more effective therapeutic technique

Hypnosis can serve as a valuable adjunct to certain kinds of psychotherapy, says Steven Lynn, professor of psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York. But not everyone responds to it equally well.

23 Feb 2005

Psychology News and Research

Further Reading

Important that menopause not viewed as a disease

Babies weaned with rusks go on to love foods such as crisps and chips

Images of brain activity may hold clues to the onset of schizophrenia

Baby talk helps learning

Women prefer men with deep voices

First study to report that successful treatment of depression in older adults helps independent living

Autistic children shy from eye contact because they perceive even the most familiar face as an uncomfortable threat

A man's index finger length relative to ring finger length can predict how physically aggressive that man might be

Psychologist examines the narcissistic personality in terms of its ability to forgive

Visual cortex contains neurons that are sensitive to viewing angle

Gender discrepancies in who gets bypass surgery

Helping parents quit smoking should be considered in future public-health interventions that target youth smoking

Trigger events for adopted adults

5 percent of college-age women have actually had cosmetic surgery

Middle-aged women who take an active role in their health care may be less likely to develop cardiovascular disease

Children with imaginary companions are quicker to develop language skills

Comprehensive sex education is more effective at stopping the spread of HIV infection

Children suffering from ADHD may be ignoring visual information to their left

Dramatic evidence of how psychiatric disorders are underdiagnosed in hospital emergency departments

Ways to make hypnosis a more effective therapeutic technique

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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

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