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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: psychological research

psychological research stories: 10 news summaries

The Power
of Negative Thinking

Better to acknowledge bad feelings than recite phony good ones

Jul 8, 09 2:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Deliberate positive thinking—from Norman Vincent Peale to Stuart Smalley—has long been touted as a way to overcome feelings of worthlessness and self-doubt. But a new study suggests that repeating positive mantras may often backfire, making people with low self-esteem feel even worse about themselves. For many, it may... More »

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study • psychology • mind • self-help • psychotherapy • psychological research • positive thinking

 Your Toddler's Listening, Really 

It just might not seem that way

Mar 25, 09 12:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - If your toddler seems to be ignoring everything you tell them to do, take heart: They’re just squirreling that advice away for later, researchers tell LiveScience. “The good news is what we’re saying to our kids doesn’t go in one ear and out the other, like... More »

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parenting • children • toddler • cognitive development • psychological research

Salary Gender Gap May Be All in Your Head

Traditional-minded men outearn supporters of equal pay

Sep 22, 08 12:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - Not only is the gender gap in pay persistent, it affects men as well as women. Men with traditional views on a woman's place in the world earn, on average, $12,000 more per year than men who believe in egalitarian business practices, the Washington Post reports. Traditionally minded women... More »

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wages • salary gap • gender roles • gender bias • psychological research • gender in business

Cruel TV Makes for Crueler Viewers: Study

Meanness of Mean Girls as influential as killing in Kill Bill

Sep 16, 08 1:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Psychologists have long known about the link between on-screen violence and real-life aggression, but a new study suggests video cruelty has much the same effect, USA Today reports. Groups of subjects shown either footage from Mean Girls of the hands-off hostility known as "relational aggression" or a knife fight... More »

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psychology • television watching • psychological research • movies • viewership • relational aggression • Mean Girls • Kill Bill

Children Can Count Without Numbers

Study suggests
that kids have innate
math abilities

Aug 19, 08 8:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - A study sure to fan a fiery disagreement among developmental psychologists has found that children can count objects even if their language lacks words for the numbers involved. Researchers found that Australian Aboriginal children, who know words for only a few small numbers, did just as well as English-speaking children... More »

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Australia • Aborigines • brain • psychology • language • mathematics • psychological research

Bronze Medalists Happier Than Silver Winners

2nd place a letdown, 3rd is a thrill

Aug 18, 08 4:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Newly minted gold medalists are ecstatic, second-place finishers slightly less so, and bronze winners the least happy—or so conventional wisdom would have it. But psychologists find that bronze medalists are usually happier than those who finish with silver, the Washington Post reports. Why does this Olympic paradox play out... More »

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psychology • happiness • psychological research • gold medal • Olympic athletes • Olympics

Single Men Close Health Gap With
Married Peers

Advantages shrinking, say researchers

Aug 13, 08 7:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Married people are still healthier, on average, than their unmarried peers, but longtime bachelors are closing the gap between them and their married counterparts, HealthDay reports. Researchers who examined 32 years of data found that the self-reported health of never-married men has increased markedly in that time. Women's health also... More »

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health • marriage • bachelors • psychological research • married couples • spouse

Traumatized? Keep It to Yourself

Talking things out after crises not always beneficial: study

Jun 2, 08 6:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Contrary to popular belief, talking about your emotions after a traumatizing large-scale event can be less helpful than keeping your feelings bottled up. A study of nearly 3,000 people who were exposed to but not directly affected by the 9/11 attacks reached the startling conclusion that people who didn't... More »

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September 11 • emotion • psychological research • trauma

Mental Exercises Boost
Brain Power, Study Says

Researchers in field of memory call it a breakthrough 

Apr 29, 08 8:37 PM CDT
(Newser) - Psychological research has long supported the conclusion that training on cognitive tasks doesn’t result in intelligence gains that transfer to other tasks—ie, memorizing long strings of numbers doesn’t help learning long strings of letters. But researchers say they've made a long-sought breakthrough that could lead to better... More »

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memory • intelligence • training • psychological research • far transfer • intelligence tests • fluid intelligence

Humans Wired to Fear Snakes

Scientists find innate ability to discern slithering critters in the wild

Mar 5, 08 4:42 PM CST
(Newser) - Evolution seems to have given humans a hard-wired ability to recognize snakes and spiders, LiveScience reports. Intrigued by the widespread fear of serpents despite the fact that most humans rarely interact with them, researchers showed groups of adults and 3-year-olds natural scenes containing various hidden animals. Both groups were consistently... More »

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snakes • genes • human evolution • fear • spiders • phobias • natural selection • psychological research • fear of spiders

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