Studies found that even minor choices, such as picking a color, can increase the enjoyment of touch. The results suggest that providing patients with perceived control over their treatment may yield greater benefits in clinical settings. This study provides new insights into how choice shapes our experiences on a fundamental level.
A new study found that spending money on experiences, such as concerts, restaurants, or travel, increases feelings of social connection and similarity with others. In contrast, buying material goods has a lesser effect on these connections. The research suggests that this could lead to improved health and happiness.
A research team at Kyoto University found that interactive AI programs can reduce prejudice and anxiety among historically divided ethnic groups in Afghanistan during online interactions. Participants in the AI intervention group showed more engagement and significantly less prejudice and anxiety compared to the control group.
Researchers surveyed 260 chronic cannabis users, finding they are motivated to exert effort while high and not lazy. Chronic use also affects self-regulation, leading to increased impulsivity and decreased thoughtfulness.
Researchers have developed a network model that replicates the experimental findings of how short-term history effects lead to central tendency bias in working memory. The model shows that neural circuits can give rise to both recency and central tendency biases at the same time through a single mechanism.
Researchers found that participants who followed healthy eating Instagram accounts ate an extra 1.4 portions of fruit and vegetables per day, compared to those in the control group. The study suggests that exposure to positive social norms on social media can encourage higher consumption of fruit and vegetables.
A recent study published in Attention, Perception & Psychophysics found a correlation between pupil dilation and working memory. Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington discovered that individuals with better working memory had larger pupil dilations during tasks, indicating improved focus and attention.
Research published by the American Psychological Association found that individuals who use willpower to achieve goals are perceived as more trustworthy. Those who rely on external strategies, such as commitment strategies, are viewed as less capable of self-control and therefore less trustworthy.
A new study published in PNAS found that AI-generated messages made recipients feel more 'heard' than messages generated by untrained humans, and that AI was better at detecting emotions. However, recipients reported feeling less heard when they learned a message came from AI.
A new study published in Nature Communications found that people tend to prefer shorter-term options when presented with the delay first, but choose longer-term options when presented with the reward first. By focusing on the benefits of waiting, individuals can improve their self-control and make better long-term choices.
A researcher at West Virginia University is using 'reverse engineering' to study the structural characteristics of slot machines and their impact on players. The study aims to understand what makes these games immersive and how they interact with individual vulnerabilities, ultimately informing the development of safer gambling products.
The study found that heart rate decreases and parasympathetic activity increases when interacting with friends, but not strangers. This suggests that social relationships influence physiological responses during social interactions.
Researchers at Lehigh University found that reading a personal history of an opposing party member can significantly reduce animosity towards members of the opposing party. The study tested interventions with both Democrats and Republicans, finding that historicist narratives can lead to increased compassion and reduced moral emotions.
Researchers found that greater insecurity and anxiety trigger overly optimistic thinking, which can prevent people from taking necessary actions. Interventions reduced wishful thinking by making patterns easier to recognize or offering higher rewards for correct answers.
Researchers at Stockholm University discovered that sleep affects how old one feels, with insufficient sleep adding 0.23 years to age perception. A study found that restricting sleep for two nights increased participants' perceived age by an average of 4.4 years, highlighting the importance of safeguarding sleep for a youthful feeling.
A new study by the University of Southampton found that a commonly used questionnaire for monitoring depression treatment in primary care does not provide immediate benefits. However, patients who tracked their scores reported improved overall wellbeing and quality of life after six months.
A study using fMRI found that speaking and listening rely on the same brain regions, but with crucial differences in activity levels across the language network. Regions associated with social processing were more involved when speaking.
A new study published in The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology reveals that high-tech bots are more likely to be held responsible for civilian deaths, even when the incidents are identical. Researchers found that people perceive robots as more culpable if described in a more advanced way.
Researchers found that spaced learning benefits item memory, but associative memory improves with stability. Variability in content across repetitions affects the timing of spacing effects.
Researchers found that our brain processes vision in a rhythmic manner, increasing sensitivity during steps and decreasing it. This discovery has implications for understanding human behavior, decision-making, and potential applications in sports science and diagnostics.
A new study from UC San Diego's Rady School of Management found that individuals with high self-control are perceived as more powerful and better suited for powerful roles than those with low self-control. People who act in line with their goals, such as meeting ambitious reading goals, are seen as more powerful.
A UC Riverside-led study found that moderately anxious children from minoritized groups are hypervigilant to threats, exacerbating their general state of anxiety. The study used MRI scanners and involved preadolescent Latina girls from low-income families.
Researchers found that people do not reward the expression of anger with more status, perceiving it as inappropriate and counter-instrumental for workplace goals. The study challenges previous research suggesting a positive correlation between expressing anger and achieving high status in the workplace.
A new study reveals that online images reinforce powerful gender stereotypes, with female and male associations being more extreme among Google Images than within text. The study also found that bias in images is more psychologically potent than in text, leading to stronger biases even three days later.
A recent study found that people are more satisfied in relationships where they feel like they are being supported, rather than when they feel like they know their partner. By highlighting what you want to be known by a potential partner, you can increase your appeal on dating sites.
A new study suggests that instrumental lies and white lies told by parents can encourage children to lie, with the effect seen only when children know they have been lied to. This finding highlights a need to understand the relation between parental lying and children's outcomes.
A study published by the American Psychological Association found that people from all political spectra are more likely to support programs encouraging socioeconomic diversity after learning about social class disparities, test scores, and work experiences. Learning about these issues reduces perceived fairness of merit-based processe...
Researchers from Staffordshire University developed a cognitive-behavioral intervention to help young athletes manage stress. The program taught them to view stress as an enhancing factor for performance, rather than a debilitating one, leading to improved wellbeing and performance.
A recent US study challenges the notion of a replication crisis in psychology, arguing that flawed intuition and low power in replication studies are to blame. The researchers propose using formal models to estimate expected replication rates, rather than relying on intuitive assumptions.
A new study reveals that people's expectations of being judged negatively by others are often miscalculated when revealing adverse information. In reality, recipients rate the revealers' honesty and trustworthiness more highly than expected. This finding suggests that secrecy may not have the negative impact we think it will.
A Washington State University study found that job ads with very wide pay ranges evoked less favorable impressions of employers. Participants viewed these ads as less trustworthy and doubted the organization would offer high salaries to employees. However, some saw the large range as a positive sign of possible 'room for growth',
A new study led by Christina Bauer found that women from low socio-economic backgrounds rate themselves as the least talented, even when performing equally well as others. This distorted self-image has far-reaching consequences, including reduced confidence and lower chances of success in male-dominated fields such as STEM subjects.
New Harvard study finds that perceived time influences actual physical healing time, challenging conventional beliefs about psychological influence on health. The study used a standardized procedure to mildly wound volunteer subjects and found that wounds healed faster when participants believed more time had passed.
A study synthesizing over 50 years of research found that even mild sleep deprivation causes measurable negative changes in how people react to everyday events. Sleep loss results in fewer positive emotions, increased anxiety symptoms, and blunted arousal in response to emotional stimuli.
A comprehensive review of 50+ years of research on sleep deprivation and mood found that disrupted sleep leads to fewer positive emotions and increased anxiety symptoms. The study's findings suggest that even short periods of sleep loss can negatively impact emotional functioning.
A study found that cutting daily social media use by 30 minutes per day improves job satisfaction, mental health, and reduces stress. Participants who reduced their social media time reported feeling less overworked, more committed to their jobs, and experiencing decreased Fear of Missing Out.
Researchers tested whether people find others more attractive while drunk due to their faces appearing more symmetrical. The study found no link between facial symmetry and attractiveness under alcohol.
Researchers found that people with untrustworthy facial features were more likely to be sentenced to death. A new training intervention was developed to eliminate this bias, which successfully reduced both conscious and unconscious judgments.
Researchers found that AI systems are skilled at solving problems by finding novel uses for everyday objects, like humans. However, they lack the ability to innovate on these ideas and often rely on statistical pattern prediction.
A study published in Appetite found that the taste perception of ultra-processed foods is no better than that of less processed foods. Foods with a balanced carbohydrate-to-fat ratio and high dietary fibre content were more liked, while those with intense sweetness and saltiness were preferred.
Researchers tested EMDR, a therapy proven to treat PTSD and depression, to reduce addiction cravings. The study found Addiction-focused EMDR was as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy for cravings, reducing symptoms by clinically significant amounts.
A study by the American Psychological Association found that keeping positive secrets can boost energy levels. Participants who reflected on their good news felt more energized than those who thought about other news.
A new study from Carnegie Mellon University found that men are less eager and likely to share negative information than women, while sharing positive news shows no difference. The study suggests that this may be due to a greater concern among men over how others perceive them, leading to a tendency to self-promote.
A study published by the American Psychological Association found that anger improves people's ability to reach their goals in challenging situations. Anger was associated with increased scores or shorter response times, and even motivated participants to vote in elections.
Listening to preferred music reduces pain intensity and unpleasantness, while emotional responses play a key role in predicting its effect. The study found that moving or bittersweet emotional themes are associated with lower pain ratings.
A study by Duke neuroscientists found that curiosity increases people's patience for an answer while making them more eager to hear it. Curiosity also motivated viewers to withhold from hitting the 'spoiler' button and kept watching animated line-drawing videos unfold.
Regular snoozers who get an extra half hour of sleep show no negative effects on night sleep, mood, or cognitive abilities. In fact, they tend to wake up feeling more alert and quick-thinking.
Researchers found that working memory was the most significant predictor of writing ability among English learner students. Cognitive functions such as phonological awareness and oral language development were also important, but only working memory consistently predicted higher scores in writing.
A recent University of Florida study found that nine out of ten dogs chose food over toys in a simulated training experience. Dogs responded more strongly to the food reward and gave up earlier when offered a preferred toy reward.
Researchers found that participants chose different grey colours when exposed to various scents, such as coffee and caramel. The study suggests that our sense of smell can influence how we perceive colour, with the presence of certain odours leading to anticipated correspondences in colour perception.
Researchers found that humans can inherit AI biases after interacting with a biased system, leading to a permanent negative impact on human decisions. This effect was observed in three experiments, where participants who were aided by a biased AI system continued to replicate its bias even when unaided.
A 15-minute reflection exercise strengthens job seekers' belief in themselves, making them more effective applicants. The study found that this self-reflection increased the chances of finding a job, even for those over 50 and long-term unemployed.
SourceETH Zurich·JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·TypeExperimental study·DateOct 3, 2023
A new study found that ChatGPT-4 can generate highly accurate personal narratives based on stream-of-consciousness thoughts and demographic details. The AI model was used in conjunction with therapists to guide patients toward healthier thoughts and behaviors, suggesting a potential tool for improving therapeutic approaches.
Companies perceived as more trustworthy and committed to diversity when revealing struggles with racial diversity, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. Disclosing negative data signals genuine progress, rather than suppressing it.
Researchers at Aalto University mapped the physical sensations of different types of love, finding a continuum from weaker to stronger loves. The strongest forms of love were felt most widely throughout the body, while others were more localized.
A groundbreaking study by Florida Atlantic University reveals that agency emerges from the coupled relation between humans and their environment. Infants are found to discover their causal powers and transition from spontaneous to intentional behavior at a critical level of coordination, marking an abrupt increase in movement rate.
A new study found that negative behavior can spill over to unrelated third parties, regardless of the initial intent. When individuals face resource loss due to negative action, they are inclined to seek compensation from both immediate offenders and unrelated third parties.
A new study by Hebrew University researchers reveals that conformity impairs group performance in temporally variable settings. In contrast, lower conformity facilitates more efficient adaptability in groups, shedding light on the nuanced relationship between conformity and group outcomes.
A study found that Spanish-speaking Latino preschoolers were more generous than their English-speaking peers, while English-speaking children chose competitive options. This suggests that children from collectivist cultures prioritize group well-being over individualism even at a young age.
A new UCLA study reveals that subjects consistently perceive players in jerseys numbered from 10 to 19 as thinner than those in jerseys numbered from 80 to 89, even when body sizes are the same. This finding suggests that learned associations between numbers and sizes influence perception of body size.