A new study found that preschoolers with special needs are more influenced by their peers' language skills, particularly those with weak skills. Children with disabilities show stronger effects when surrounded by highly-skilled peers, improving their language skills over the course of the school year.
Research suggests that cultural stereotypes form and evolve as social information is repeatedly passed down a chain of individuals. Stereotypes become simpler, more structured, and easier to learn, reflecting cognitive limitations and biases.
Research found that sleep-deprived individuals who viewed photos of a crime and then read false information were more likely to report remembering the false details. The study suggests that chronic sleep deprivation may increase susceptibility to false memories, with implications for eyewitness reliability.
A study published in Psychological Science found that individuals with high subjective knowledge are more prone to choice overload and are less likely to purchase products with numerous options. In contrast, those with low subjective knowledge tend to prefer a wide range of choices when the information is easily understandable.
Researchers found that preschoolers aged 3-5 can assess the strength of their memories and make decisions based on self-assessments. The study suggests that even young children display some ability to reflect on their own knowledge, which has important implications for educational practices.
Researchers found that motivation, crystallized knowledge, and compensatory mechanisms can help maintain cognitive function in older adults. Contrary to popular beliefs, older adults may not be more susceptible to consumer fraud.
A recent study published in Psychological Science found that accumulated practice accounts for only about 12% of individual differences in performance across various domains. The study suggests that domain-specific factors, such as age and cognitive abilities, may play a more significant role in determining expertise.
A study found that stories praising honesty, such as the tale of George Washington, inspire children to tell the truth. In contrast, cautionary tales like 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' had no effect on honest behavior.
Exposure to neuroscientific information diminishes people's support for retributive punishment and perceived moral responsibility. Students who learned about brain processes proposed less severe punishment than their peers, indicating a shift in moral attributions.
Research by Emily Garbinsky and colleagues reveals that memories for the last bites of a food drive decisions about when to eat it again. Smaller portion sizes lead to faster repeat consumption. The findings have implications for companies and consumers, suggesting strategies like thinking back to initial bites could encourage re-purch...
Research led by INSEAD Professor Roderick Swaab found that too many individuals with top talent can undermine players' willingness to coordinate, compromising effective teamwork and overall team performance. In contrast, most people believe that piling on more top talent is the key to team success.
Researchers discovered that taking an outsider's perspective, rather than one's own, can eliminate bias and lead to wise reasoning about interpersonal relationship conflicts. This strategy is referred to as Solomon's Paradox.
A study found that angry facial expressions lend weight to negotiators' threats, leading the other party to offer more money. The findings have broad relevance to all kinds of negotiations and highlight the importance of emotions in bargaining situations.
Research reveals that young children use gestures to segment information and reorganize it into language-like sequences, mirroring how languages break down complex info into simpler units. This finding suggests that generations of young children's preference for communication may have shaped the structure of languages.
Researchers found that slight variations in facial expressions can lead to varied first impressions, challenging the assumption that face images accurately represent an individual's personality. The study suggests that online images can have unintended consequences on how others perceive us.
Researchers found that people's private opinions are influenced by group norms, but this effect only lasts for three days. The study controlled for methodological issues and suggests a neurological explanation for the short-lived impact of social influence.
A new study finds that mothers' depressive symptoms predict both increased and reduced negative reactivity to their children's behavior. When the child's behavior is pleasant, mothers with depression tend to be less responsive, but when it becomes unpleasant, they become more over-reactive.
A study published in Psychological Science found that women's sexual satisfaction in long-term relationships is linked to their changing use of hormonal contraception. Women who were on the pill or had never used it reported higher levels of sexual satisfaction compared to those who changed their use during the relationship.
Research reveals that people tend to choose tasks with more physical effort to get them done faster, despite it being less efficient. This preference is driven by the desire to relieve stress and lighten their mental load.
Researchers found that forgiving a transgression can facilitate forgetting of its details, especially when the participant is instructed to forget. The study's findings suggest that forgiveness may be linked to suppression of negative memories and emotions.
A study published in Psychological Science found that finding a direction for life and setting overarching goals can help people live longer. The research analyzed data from over 6000 participants and found that greater purpose in life consistently predicted lower mortality risk across the lifespan.
Research suggests that economic conditions during the formative years of emerging adulthood can leave a lasting mark on individuals' self-concept. People who entered their adulthood during hard economic times are less narcissistic later in life than those who came of age during more prosperous times.
The study found that brain activity in reward areas predicts food cravings, while prefrontal regions predict resistance to temptation. Participants with high prefrontal activity were more successful at controlling their desires.
Researchers at Lund University found that participants accepted manipulated words as their own in 85% of non-detected trials, suggesting a significant role of auditory feedback in speech meaning. This challenges traditional models of speech production, instead suggesting that speech is influenced by both internal and external factors.
A study published in Psychological Science found that taking notes by hand is more effective for remembering conceptual information over the long term than using laptops. Longhand note takers tend to engage in more processing and select more important information, leading to better study outcomes. In contrast, laptop note takers often ...
Researchers found that methylphenidate, an ADHD medication, can prevent the depletion of self-control by blocking regulatory depletion in healthy volunteers. The study suggests that this medication may help boost performance of brain circuits compromised after sustained exertion of self-control.
A study published in Psychological Science suggests that speed-reading apps, which eliminate eye movements, can impair reading comprehension. The researchers found that readers who are unable to make 'regressions' during reading have impaired comprehension levels.
Researchers found that participants were more likely to forget justifications for atrocities committed by Afghan soldiers than American soldiers. However, they showed no memory impairment for unrepeated justifications when the perpetrator was American, highlighting the role of in-group membership in shaping memories.
Researchers propose a new, integrated framework of cognitive styles that eliminates confusing labeling and enables integration of findings on individual differences in cognition across different disciplines. The taxonomy offers a clear categorization of styles from various fields, highlighting the importance of adaptive patterns or sty...
A study published in Psychological Science found that people's orientation affects their perception of distance. The researchers discovered that moving in a certain direction makes places ahead feel nearer than those behind, regardless of actual distance. This phenomenon is linked to feelings of social similarity and emotional engagement.
A study published in Psychological Science found that increased diversity leads to a wider partisan divide among White Americans, with more support for conservative policies. The research suggests that this shift is driven by a perceived threat to their social status, rather than the actual changes in demographics.
Research published in Psychological Science found that procrastination and impulsivity are genetically linked, with a complete genetic overlap between the two traits. This suggests that procrastination may be an evolutionary byproduct of impulsivity, manifesting itself more in modern times.
Research published in Psychological Science found that infants' heart rate slows in response to medium-velocity touch, indicating sensitivity to pleasant touch. The findings suggest a link between caregiver sensitivity to touch and infant responses, potentially supporting both nurture and nature explanations.
A study published in Psychological Science found that children who participated in the Fast Track program showed reduced aggression later in life. The researchers believe that the program's success may be linked to changes in testosterone reactivity to social threats.
Research published in Psychological Science suggests that unconscious associations may be more accurate than conscious thought in detecting deceit. Participants were only able to detect liars 43% of the time and truth-tellers 48% of the time in a mock-crime interview scenario.
Researchers found a social feedback loop between parents and children is essential for speech development, but this loop occurs less frequently and is weaker in autistic interactions. The study used audio recordings to analyze interactions and found that higher maternal education was associated with faster speech development.
A mobile gaming app based on attention-bias modification training (ABMT) has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress in stressed individuals. Playing the game for 25 minutes can have potent effects on anxiety, suggesting a potential 'cognitive vaccine' against anxiety and stress.
Research shows that children as young as 3 judge character traits based on physical features, with trustworthiness being the most consistent trait. Consensus in face-to-trait inferences suggests a fundamental social cognitive capacity emerging early in life.
A study published in Psychological Science found that almost 59% of participants cheated on a task, leading to increased creative thinking on a subsequent task. Cheating seemed to encourage creativity by priming people to be less constrained by rules.
New research suggests that people deal with difficult decisions by blaming fate to alleviate stress and fears. The study found that participants who faced more difficult decisions were more likely to believe in fate.
Research from INSEAD and The Wharton School found that mindfulness meditation can counteract the sunk-cost bias, a behavior where people hold on to losing stocks or bad relationships. By cultivating awareness of the present moment, mindfulness meditation reduces negative emotions and facilitates rational decision-making.
Research found that inmates who express guilt about specific behaviors are less likely to re-offend, while those feeling shame are more likely to commit crimes again. The study suggests that understanding the role of guilt and shame can inform restorative justice interventions and improve outcomes for incarcerated individuals.
New research suggests that playing as a heroic or villainous avatar in video games can impact participants' behavior towards anonymous strangers. For example, those who played as Superman poured more chocolate than chili sauce, while those who played as Voldemort poured more chili sauce than chocolate.
A new study reveals that couples who perceive their spousal support as ambivalent experience higher levels of coronary artery calcification, a significant predictor of heart disease. Researchers found that this ambivalence can lead to increased stress and undermine supportive interactions in the relationship.
A recent study published in Psychological Science found that women are drawn to men with wider faces, which is associated with increased dominance. The researchers studied speed-dating events and found that women were more likely to choose men with higher facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) for short-term relationships.
A recent study reviews existing research on sports competition and concludes that playing at home can have a significant psychological impact on athletes, with findings including increased testosterone levels and higher cortisol stress hormone levels. However, the exact mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still unclear.
A study published in Psychological Science found that infants can pick up on their mother's stress and show corresponding physiological changes. Infants of mothers who received negative feedback during an evaluation session showed significant increases in heart rate relative to baseline.
Infants prefer fruits from plants over man-made objects after an adult demonstrates edibility. Younger infants also exhibit plant-based bias due to social learning mechanisms.
A new study suggests that subjective well-being may 'nudge' adults into altruistic acts like kidney donation. States with higher per capita donation rates tend to have higher levels of well-being, and the link holds even after accounting for regional variation in other factors.
A new study found that labeling obesity as a disease can lead to less importance on health-focused dieting, greater body satisfaction, and unhealthier food choices among obese individuals. The findings suggest that the messages individuals hear about obesity have self-regulatory consequences.