A cross-cultural study found that Japanese participants showed higher wisdom scores than Americans in resolving group conflicts, while older age was associated with increased wisdom for Americans but not Japanese. This research highlights the importance of culture on human development and lifespan development.
A new lineup technique, 'deadline confidence judgments,' improves accuracy by 20-30% compared to traditional methods. Witnesses are presented with individual photos and must rate their confidence within seconds.
A study by Pascale Engel de Abreu and colleagues found that bilingual children from low-income families outperformed their monolingual peers in controlling attention and ignoring distractions. Despite linguistic challenges, minority bilingual children demonstrated strengths in executive domains.
Research explores how verbalizing emotional experiences can help individuals cope with phobias and improve mood by reframing past events. The studies suggest that using certain language patterns can influence physiological arousal and overall happiness.
Research suggests that time perception is influenced by approach motivation, with goal-oriented activities making it feel like time is passing quickly. This effect is specific to states high in approach motivation, such as desire or excitement, which narrow memory and attention processes.
Research finds that liberals and conservatives exhibit prejudice against groups with opposing values, while abstract thinking can reduce prejudice towards outsider groups. Studies show that ideological differences drive prejudices rather than other characteristics.
A new study published in Psychological Science found that reflecting on experiences of giving rather than receiving leads to increased prosocial behavior. Researchers Adam Grant and Jane Dutton observed a significant increase in calls made by fundraisers who wrote about giving, compared to those who wrote about receiving.
Researchers suggest that high-level construal, or categorizing events abstractly, can influence self-control by increasing sensitivity to broader implications of behavior. This can lead to greater consistency between values and actions.
Older adults tend to prefer positive looking patterns and show improved mood regulation when focusing on positive stimuli. This research suggests a causal link between positive looking and mood regulation in older adults.
Research suggests that high working memory capacity enhances performance in mathematical problem-solving by facilitating focused attention. In contrast, excessive focus may hinder creative problem-solving due to the need for novel approaches and diverse information combinations.
Using different languages to discuss and express emotions in multilingual families may impact children's emotional understanding and regulation. Parents' language choices can influence their children's emotional competence.
Researchers found that peer group opinions carry weight when it comes to decisions about distant and abstract issues, but individual views become more influential as an election nears. The study suggests that people are always influenced by what others think, but the timing of these influences can vary greatly.
Research on prospective memory reveals that failures occur when we form intentions but lose focus due to interruptions or multitasking. Habital tasks can also lead to implicit intentions, making it harder to remember them. To defend against these failures, professionals use memory tools like checklists and implementation intentions.
Researchers studied how different types of smiling affect stress recovery, finding that Duchenne smiles had the greatest impact on reducing heart rates and improving mood. Smiling may be a simple yet effective way to cope with stressful situations.
Researchers Marco Schmidt and Michael Tomasello found that children as young as 2 years old object to rule-breaking, demonstrating an early understanding of social norms. They also enforce norms only within their own cultural in-group, suggesting a sophisticated calibration of behavior to group identity.
Research suggests that dualist philosophy can lead to reckless attitudes towards health and exercise, and a preference for unhealthy diet. People primed with dualist beliefs also reported stronger mind-body separation, viewing bodies as disposable vessels.
Researchers found that taking a brief wakeful rest after learning new information boosts memory retention. Participants who rested after learning a story remembered more details than those who played a game or were distracted, even a week later.
Research finds that experiencing awe can alter an individual's subjective experience of time by slowing it down. Awe also influences decisions, makes life feel more satisfying, and increases willingness to volunteer time to help others.
Researchers propose a new explanation for Milgram's findings, suggesting that participants' behavior is driven by their patterns of social identification. Conditions that encouraged identification with the experimenter led to increased obedience, while conditions that encouraged identification with the learner led to decreased obedience.
A study found that exposure to sexual content in movies predicts earlier sexual debut and increased risk-taking behavior in adolescents. Researchers discovered that greater exposure to sexual content led to a higher peak in sensation-seeking during adolescence, which can last into young adulthood.
A new study by Cassie Mogilner and co-authors found that spending time on others increases participants' feelings of 'time affluence.' This is because giving away time boosts one's sense of personal competence and efficiency, ultimately making people more willing to commit to future engagements despite their busy schedules.
A new study published in Psychological Science found that parental involvement can significantly increase the number of students enrolled in STEM courses. The intervention involved sending parents glossy brochures and a dedicated website to promote STEM education, resulting in more advanced math and science classes taken by participati...
A meta-analysis of self-determination theory research in health contexts found that respect for patients' autonomy is positively related to feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Satisfaction of psychological needs was also linked to improved patient well-being, including both mental and physical health.
New research suggests that doing good deeds can have a positive impact on life outcomes, such as job hunting and medical test results. Participants who reflected on uncontrollable outcomes were more likely to volunteer their time and make charitable donations.
A new study published in Perspectives on Psychological Science suggests that employees' interests are a stronger predictor of job performance than overall interest scores. The research found that those whose interest profiles matched their job profiles were more likely to perform well, help others, and stay with the company longer.
A new article highlights the importance of introspection and reflection in learning, socioemotional functioning, and overall well-being. Research on the brain's default mode network reveals that individual differences in brain activity during rest are correlated with self-awareness, moral judgment, and memory consolidation.
A University of Pittsburgh study reveals that moderate doses of alcohol enhance positive emotions and social bonding among group members, while also relieving negative emotions. The research, published in Psychological Science, used a social setting to assess the effects of alcohol on emotions and social interactions.
A study published in Psychological Science found that reminding people of their mortality motivates them to behave in ways that ensure their personal legacy, leaving a positive impact on the environment. Participants who were primed with thoughts of death gave more money to charities serving impoverished communities in the future.
A recent study published in Psychological Science suggests that when Americans think about choice, they become less concerned with reducing wealth inequalities. The researchers found that a choice-oriented mindset leads people to focus on individual agency and underestimate the role of societal structures in creating wealth disparities.
Research suggests that sociometric status, rather than socioeconomic status, predicts social well-being. Studies found that students with high standing in their local ladder reported higher levels of social acceptance and power, leading to increased happiness.
A recent study published in Current Directions in Psychological Science found that color-blind policies can backfire, leading to increased racial bias and tension. The authors propose a multicultural approach as an alternative, which has been shown to improve understanding and spotting of discrimination., Minority applicants perceive d...
A new study published in Psychological Science reveals that social-class discrimination can contribute to poorer health in teenagers. The study found that perceived discrimination is a significant factor in explaining the negative influence of poverty on health, with stress and negative stereotypes playing key roles.
Research reveals that human resource executives should view training as a holistic process, considering factors like job analysis, employee motivation, and structured guidance. Effective training programs also incorporate empirically tested insights into learning, such as repetition, error handling, and behavioral role modeling.
A study found that baby names with popular phonemes in previous years became more popular, demonstrating a connection between cultural evolution and name popularity. The researchers also discovered a correlation between hurricane names and baby names, highlighting the influence of exposure on cultural trends.
Researchers investigated children's performance on a drawing game and found that referencing social groups can lead to poor performance. Additionally, infants help others due to genuine concern for the person in need, not seeking credit. Childhood poverty is linked to elevated stress markers in adolescence.
Research highlights suggestion's wide-ranging impact on human memory, learning, and behavior. The 'response expectancies' phenomenon explains how anticipating outcomes influences thoughts and actions.
Recent studies in Current Directions in Psychological Science investigate the role of retrieval-based learning, attention to information in working memory, accurate personality judgment, and the use of neuroeconomic games to examine social decision making in children with externalizing disorders. These findings provide insights into th...
A new study found that men with wider faces, traditionally associated with aggression, are actually more self-sacrifying when their group is competing. The researchers tested this hypothesis by giving students money to play a cooperative game and found that the wider faced men were more generous to their in-group.
A new study from University of New Mexico researchers found that college undergraduates are less upset by questionnaires about sex and trauma than expected. Participants reported higher negative emotion but also more positive emotions, personal insight, and less boredom compared to standard intelligence tests.
A study by Adam Galinsky et al. suggests that team hierarchies improve efficiency and productivity due to reduced conflict and increased coordination. The research confirms the theory that all high-power individuals lead to elevated conflict, undermining group performance.
Researchers discovered that people are equally good at finding the right balance between task completion time and reward points, regardless of task complexity. This suggests that humans may not be intrinsically bad or good at making decisions, but rather capable of adapting to different situations.
Research in Psychological Science explores public reaction to task force recommendations, citing factors such as anecdotes and perception of medical treatments. The study suggests that changing the public's view on prostate-cancer screenings may require pictorial displays to help evaluate data more effectively.
A new report in Perspectives on Psychological Science explores the tradeoffs of reforms to eyewitness identification procedures, finding that reducing false identifications can also lower correct identifications. Reforms aim to minimize suggestive practices and increase reliability, but may compromise accuracy.
A study found that students with Caucasian male names were more likely to get an appointment, but only if they requested a meeting for next week. In contrast, appointments scheduled for the same day were equally likely for all groups.
A new study suggests that tailored advertising campaigns can be more effective when targeting specific personality traits, rather than just demographic groups. By highlighting motivational concerns associated with each trait, advertisements can be designed to resonate with individual consumers and increase their persuasive appeal.
Recent studies explore how technology is changing the questions asked by psychological scientists, with a focus on data collection from social media platforms like Facebook. Researchers are leveraging smartphone sensors to gather insights into human behavior and environments, offering new avenues for scientific inquiry.
A new study published in Psychological Science finds that both men and women perceive images of sexy women's bodies as objects, while they view sexy-looking men as people. This study contributes to our understanding of objectification and its impact on human perception.
A new study suggests that religious belief serves to enhance self-control, a crucial cognitive process for fostering valuable social behaviors. The research, published in Psychological Science, found that priming volunteers with religious thoughts improved their discipline and ability to delay gratification.
A study published in Psychological Science finds that regifting is not as offensive to givers as perceived. Researchers discovered that receivers equate regifting with discarding, while givers view it as less bad than throwing a gift away. The study aims to destigmatize regifting and promote its benefits.
Research explores treatment options, disorder management, and memory for children with ADHD and autism. The studies shed light on the challenges of learning and school performance for these children.