PsychNews Headlines

Want To Feel Happier? Enjoying Childish Pleasures - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
My children make me happy for many reasons, of course. But it strikes me that one reason that they make me happy is that they encourage me to engage more deeply with the physical world. Left to my own instincts, I’d drift absent-mindedly through the apartment, reading, writing, and eating cereal…

Buying New Experiences, Not Things, Tied to Happiness - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
A new study suggests that those who spend money to do things are happier than those who spend their money on possessions. In the study, investigators determined extraverts and people who are open to new experiences are more apt to spend more of their disposable income on experiences, such as…

Best Friends Provide Buffers in Bad Times - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
The presence of a best friend directly affects children going through negative experiences, according to new research from Concordia University. “Having a best friend present during an unpleasant event has an immediate impact on a child’s body and mind,” said co-author William M. Bukowski, Ph.D.,…

Belief in Conspiracies Can Lead to Contradictions - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
Distrust and paranoia about government has a long history in the U.S and can lead to suspicion about claims made by authorities and belief in conspiracies. Now, a new study suggests that the attraction to conspiracy theories can lead some to endorse entirely contradictory beliefs. Researchers…

Adult Depression Influenced by Parents’ Education - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
Emerging research suggests depression in adulthood may be tied to a parent’s level of education. Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, Ph.D., a medical sociologist from McGill University, and co-researcher Miles Taylor reviewed 29 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. In their…

Men May Have Higher Risk of Memory Loss - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
A new study suggests men may be at higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) than women. MCI is the stage of mild memory loss that occurs between normal aging and dementia. Experts were surprised ag the finding as women generally have higher rates of dementia than men. Mayo Clinic…

Best of Our Blogs: January 27, 2012 - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
It’s very easy to fall down what I like to call the, “Woe is me rabbit hole.” It can start innocently enough. Maybe you’re having a particularly difficult day or you’re feeling tired, fed-up or emotionally exhausted. It’s during these times that the question you’ve been ruminating on such as, “Why…

Media Violence Leads to Real Violence - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
A few short decades ago, the most violent scenes we were exposed to in the media involved Wile E. Coyote and an anvil. The nightly news did not display graphic evidence of riots or murders or even war. Movies did not market themselves based on the amount of gunfire packed into two hours. Video…

Link Between Prenatal Testosterone And An Increased Risk Of Language Delay For Male Infants - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
New research by Australian scientists reveals that males who are exposed to high levels of testosterone before birth are twice as likely to experience delays in language development compared to females…

A Path To The Brain Through The Nose Aids Schizophrenia Research - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
A significant obstacle to progress in understanding psychiatric disorders is the difficulty in obtaining living brain tissue for study so that disease processes can be studied directly. Recent advances in basic cellular neuroscience now suggest that, for some purposes, cultured neural stem cells…

Feeling Left Out? Being Ignored Hurts, Even By A Stranger - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
Feeling like you’re part of the gang is crucial to the human experience. All people get stressed out when we’re left out. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that a feeling of inclusion can come from something as simple as…

Does The Military Make The Man Or Does The Man Make The Military? - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
“Be all you can be,” the Army tells potential recruits. The military promises personal reinvention…

The life-long curse of an unpopular name - Fri, 27 Jan 2012
Receiving an unpopular name can have lifelong consequences, according to new research Making assumptions about someone based on their name is ridiculous. A few attention-seeking celebrities aside, most of us were given our names, rather than choosing them, so why should they be any indicator of…

Family history of psychiatric disorders shapes intellectual interests, study suggests - Thu, 26 Jan 2012
A family history of psychiatric conditions such as autism and depression could influence the subjects a person finds engaging, new research suggests. Although preliminary, the findings provide a new look at the oft-studied link between psychiatric conditions and aptitude in the arts or sciences.

Embracing Darwin in an Uncertain World - Thu, 26 Jan 2012
February 12th is Darwin Day, the anniversary of Darwin’s birth and an excuse for scientists, educators, and Darwin enthusiasts worldwide to celebrate the theory of natural selection and its central role throughout the biological and social sciences. While scientists overwhelmingly accept natural…

Scientists link evolved, mutated gene module to syndromic autism - Thu, 26 Jan 2012
Medical researchers reports that newly discovered mutations in an evolved assembly of genes cause Joubert syndrome, a form of syndromic autism.

Learning to ‘talk things through in your head’ may help people with autism - Tue, 24 Jan 2012
Teaching children with autism to “talk things through in their head” may help them to solve complex day-to-day tasks, which could increase the chances of independent, flexible living later in life, according to new research.

Learning to ‘talk things through in your head’ may help people with autism - Tue, 24 Jan 2012
Teaching children with autism to “talk things through in their head” may help them to solve complex day-to-day tasks, which could increase the chances of independent, flexible living later in life, according to new research.

Breaking Bad Habits Using The Now Effect - Thu, 26 Jan 2012
The brain is an organ that makes things we do in life routine so that it can handle more complex tasks. Some of these routines help us, like walking, putting on clothes and exercising, while others hinder us, like overeating, drinking, and procrastination. How can we begin to recognize that space…

Don’t Beat Yourself Up - Thu, 26 Jan 2012