A brief cultural activity can reduce implicit prejudice immediately and up to six months later by sparking interest in another culture. This effect is seen even when participants feel they have freely chosen the topic of the group activity, suggesting that intergroup interactions can have lasting benefits.
Research published in Psychological Science found that fans of losing teams consume more saturated fats and sugars after a defeat, while supporters of winning teams opt for healthier options. Writing down personal values can counteract this effect and improve eating habits.
New research reveals that allowing children to make a difficult choice to sacrifice their own toys leads to increased sharing behavior in the future. By giving children autonomy over sharing decisions, they are more likely to see themselves as people who like to share, leading to greater prosociality and generosity.
A new study reveals that bullying in childhood can lead to serious illness, poor job prospects, and strained social relationships. Bully-victims are particularly vulnerable, facing a higher risk of mental health issues, poverty, and difficulties forming long-term friendships.
A study published in Psychological Science sheds light on two distinct brain activation patterns involved in prospective memory. Participants demonstrated sustained top-down monitoring for relevant tasks and environmental cues for irrelevant tasks, suggesting different strategies for remembering to remember.
Researchers used visual projections of human heartbeats to alter subjects' perception of their body, inducing an out-of-body experience. The study suggests a novel approach to treating self-perception disorders like anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder.
A study published in Psychological Science found that people who experience embarrassment are more likely to choose items that hide or restore their face, effectively helping them save face. The research highlights the unconscious influence of metaphorical thinking on everyday behaviors.
Research shows a two-century-long historical shift towards individualistic psychological functioning in urban environments, away from rural adaptations. Word frequencies analyzed using Google Ngram Viewer reveal increasing use of 'choose', 'get', and 'feel', reflecting changing values and mental life.
Research finds that messy desks stimulate creative thinking and inspire breaking free from tradition, leading to fresh insights. Tidy desks, on the other hand, promote healthy behaviors like donating to charity and choosing a healthier snack option.
Researchers found that older adults showed less day-to-day variability in cognitive performance compared to younger adults. The study suggests that learned strategies, motivation levels, and daily routines contribute to the consistency of older adults' cognitive abilities. This finding has implications for workplace productivity and ag...
Researchers found that moving attention fluidly and orienting to social information are not key components of autism. Children with high-functioning autism and those without autism showed similar signatures in shifting attention and responding to social stimuli.
A study found that people often prefer to maintain the status quo, even if it's undesirable, when faced with a choice that requires proactive decision-making. Researchers suggest that giving patients a nudge in the right direction can help them make productive choices about their health.
Contemplating reasons for seeking or avoiding health information increases willingness to follow up with the doctor, particularly for treatable conditions. This effect was found in two studies investigating participants' motivations and risk calculators.
Participants in studies estimated higher monetary damages for intentional harm than unintentional harm, suggesting people perceive intentional harm as more damaging. This finding has implications for legal and policy-related judgments, potentially leading to over-allocation of resources to prevent highly intentional harms.
A new report examines conditions that foster cooperative use of common resources, including strong group identity, smaller community size, and high trust in leaders. The study highlights factors leading to incongruous use of resources, such as intergroup conflicts, ideology/values, and cognitive disconnection.
Infants develop wariness of heights after gaining locomotor experience, contradicting the idea that they follow a maturational script. The study suggests that exploration and movement strategies are crucial in developing skills and learning to adapt to terrain.
Research suggests that dance marking, or loosely practicing a routine by going through the motions, can improve dance performance by reducing mental strain. The study found that dancers who practiced with marking were judged more highly on their movements and sequences, indicating improved fluidity and memorization.
A new study published in Psychological Science suggests that rituals we perform before eating, even seemingly insignificant ones, can change our perception of food. The researchers found that short, fabricated rituals can produce real effects on the taste and enjoyment of food.
A new study by Mark Scott suggests that corollary discharge, a predictive brain signal, plays a crucial role in our experiences of internal speech. The findings indicate that the internal copy of our voice produced by corollary discharge can be generated even without external sound, making us believe we hear ourselves speak.
A new study found that early spatial reasoning skills at age 13 predict creative and innovative achievements, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains. This unique skill contributes to the development of new knowledge and innovation above traditional measures of mathematical and verbal ability.
Research reveals that people with individualistic mindsets prioritize an item's inherent value, while those with collectivist mindsets focus on the relationships between items. This difference in mindset affects consumer decision-making, including choices about favorite sets and purchasing decisions.
A new study reveals that teenagers' sensitivity to social evaluation is linked to specific brain areas and physiological responses that peak during adolescence. The research found that late-developing regions of the brain, such as the medial prefrontal cortex, play a unique role in monitoring social evaluative contexts.
A new approach to getting kids to eat their veggies involves teaching them a conceptual framework for nutrition, which encourages understanding of why eating a variety of foods is ideal and increases vegetable consumption. The study found that preschoolers who were taught about nutrition showed more knowledge about nutrition and increa...
Research suggests that individuals with low self-control are more willing to sacrifice time and energy for their romantic partners or best friends. This phenomenon is observed even when self-control is not explicitly taxed, indicating a possible link between impulsivity and pro-social behavior in close relationships.
A study found that policies with higher premiums for overweight individuals are perceived as stigmatizing, while 'carrot' plans with premium reductions for healthy-weight people are seen as more effective. Participants also evaluated plans on moral grounds, deciding that punishing someone for being overweight was wrong regardless of po...
A three-year longitudinal study found that students receiving consistent individualized instruction from first to third grade showed the strongest reading skills. This led to a significant improvement in reading proficiency among these students compared to those without such instruction.
A study on the Hong Kong Peak Tram found that specific features of the environment can dominate our perception of verticality, making skyscrapers appear to fall. The illusion was greatest on night-time rides and could be enhanced by oblique window frames and lighting fixtures.
Researchers found that despite the 'connectedness illusion' affecting perceived targets, participants could accurately plan movements towards actual targets. This indicates a semi-autonomous robot-like system in the brain that plans actions independently of visual perception.
A new study published in Psychological Science found that individuals' beliefs about the primary cause of obesity predict their actual body mass index (BMI) and eating habits. The researchers discovered that those who attribute obesity to a lack of exercise tend to eat more, whereas those who link it to diet consume less.
Research suggests that people attribute more mind to entities perceived as targets of harm, including robots and corpses. This finding implies that moral intuitions lead to subjective perceptions of minds, which can influence decision-making on contentious issues like animal rights and end-of-life decisions.
Research suggests that people are more likely to respond quickly and accurately to genuine smiles than polite smiles. This finding has implications for social interactions and may be a critical social skill to learn.
Researchers found that overconfidence in judgments can lead to underestimating the uncertainty of everyday situations. People tend to adjust their estimates based on feedback, but not enough when they have actual knowledge.
A new study found that wider retinal venules are associated with lower IQ scores and cognitive deficits in older adults, even after accounting for health and lifestyle factors. The findings suggest that the processes linking vascular health and cognitive functioning begin much earlier than previously assumed.
A new study suggests that the ability to pick up on statistical regularities is a key factor in learning a second language. American students who performed well on a task measuring their capacity for statistical pattern recognition were found to be more successful in picking up Hebrew over two semesters.
Researchers found that compassion training increased activity in brain regions involved in empathy and emotion regulation, leading to a desire to help others. The study also showed that people trained in compassion were more likely to be altruistic and spend their own money to support someone in need.
A new study shows that bilinguals who learn two languages early in life have separate processing modes or sound systems for each language. The research found that participants perceived 'ba' and 'pa' sounds differently depending on the context, with a shift in perception when switching between languages.
A new study published in Psychological Science found that high-testosterone males are more likely to choose the color red when competing. The research suggests that this association may be related to biological systems and affect how opponents respond. However, actual performance in the competitive task was not influenced by color choice.
Research suggests that upper-body strength predicts men's political opinions on economic redistribution, indicating a possible evolutionary link. The study found that wealthy men with high strength were less likely to support redistribution, while poor men of similar strength were more likely to support it.
Research by Kwanho Suk found that relying on general information about teams' performance improves prediction accuracy, while incorporating detailed information does not.
Researchers found that people with higher vagal tone experience more positive emotions, which in turn increase social connections. This leads to improved physical health through the upward spiral effect. The study suggests that positive emotions are a crucial psychological nutrient for building health.
Researchers linked early math and reading abilities at age 7 to socioeconomic status in adulthood, with higher skills associated with better jobs, housing, and income. Childhood skills predicted social class a full 35 years later, even after controlling for intelligence, education, and childhood socioeconomic status.
A recent study suggests that age-related atrophy of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) may contribute to difficulties in processing and remembering everyday events. The researchers found that older adults with MTL atrophy performed poorly in separating and chunking events, which can impact memory for everyday activities.
A new study published in Psychological Science found that people who gain weight are more likely to exhibit impulsive behavior but also report increased deliberation. This surprising finding suggests an intimate relationship between a person's physiology and psychology.
Researchers found that widened eyes provide a wider visual field, enhancing the ability to locate potential threats. Additionally, wide-eyed expressions send a clearer gaze signal, benefiting observers' ability to pinpoint the same threat.
Researchers found that experiencing coherence in one's environment makes life feel more meaningful. Participants who viewed nature photographs in a natural order reported greater meaning in life than those who saw them in random orders or an arbitrary seasonal pattern.
A new study suggests that people may hold extreme policy positions due to an illusion of understanding, which is debunked when they're asked to explain the policies. The researchers found that participants softened their positions after explaining the policies, indicating a potential psychological process to combat political polarization.
Researchers found that infants who sweat less in response to scary situations at age 1 show more physical and verbal aggression at age 3. The study suggests a possible early indicator of aggressive behavior in children.
A new study published in Psychological Science found that individuals living in greener areas reported less mental distress and higher life satisfaction. The association held even after accounting for other factors that contribute to life satisfaction.
A new study reveals that a particular style of thinking can be contagious and increase symptoms of depression. College freshmen who were assigned to roommates with high levels of cognitive vulnerability showed an increase in their own vulnerability and depressive symptoms six months later.
Research suggests that teenagers' brains are more sensitive to rewarding feedback from peers, changing their calculation of risk. This sensitivity is linked to the unique effect of peer influence on the developing teenage brain, with adolescents taking more risks when observed by peers.