Psychological Science

Weight gain linked with personality trait changes

People who gain weight are more likely to give in to temptations but also are more thoughtful about their actions, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Scienc ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 06, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows how bilinguals switch between languages

(Medical Xpress)—Individuals who learn two languages at an early age seem to switch back and forth between separate "sound systems" for each language, according to new research conducted at the University of Arizona.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 20, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Political motivations may have evolutionary links to physical strength

Men's upper-body strength predicts their political opinions on economic redistribution, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 15, 2013 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

What motivates rejection of (climate) science?

(Medical Xpress)—Researchers from The University of Western Australia have examined what motivates people who are greatly involved in the climate debate to reject scientific evidence.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Aug 23, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 1

Calling Miss Congeniality—do attractive people have attractive traits and values?

We've all been warned not to "judge a book by its cover," but inevitably we do it anyway. It's difficult to resist the temptation of assuming that a person's outward appearance reflects something meaningful about his or her ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Oct 15, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Grin and bear it -- smiling facilitates stress recovery

Just grin and bear it! At some point, we have all probably heard or thought something like this when facing a tough situation. But is there any truth to this piece of advice? Feeling good usually makes us smile, but does ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jul 30, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Denied the chance to cheat or steal, people turn to violent video games

A new study suggests that people get frustrated when they are offered the opportunity to cheat or steal and that chance is then taken away from them.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 11, 2013 | popularity 2.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Respect matters more than money for happiness in life

New research suggests that overall happiness in life is more related to how much you are respected and admired by those around you, not to the status that comes from how much money you have stashed in your bank account.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jun 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Reminders of mortality increase concern for environmental legacy

When we turn on the A/C in the summer, our first thought is probably one of relief. If it's 100 degrees in the shade, we're probably not thinking about how our decision might influence the environmental legacy we leave for ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jun 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Speaking two languages also benefits low-income children

(Medical Xpress)—Living in poverty is often accompanied by conditions that can negatively influence cognitive development. Is it possible that being bilingual might counteract these effects? Although previous research has ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Aug 27, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Expressing your emotions can reduce fear: study

(Medical Xpress)—Can simply describing your feelings at stressful times make you less afraid and less anxious? A new UCLA psychology study suggests that labeling your emotions at the precise moment you ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Sep 04, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Applying information theory to linguistics suggests 'functional design' in cross-language variations

The majority of languages—roughly 85 percent of them—can be sorted into two categories: those, like English, in which the basic sentence form is subject-verb-object ("the girl kicks the ball"), and those, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Oct 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Experiencing existential dread? Tylenol may do the trick

Thinking about death can cause us to feel a sort of existential angst that isn't attributable to a specific source. Now, new research suggests that acetaminophen, an over-the-counter pain medication, may help to reduce this ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Apr 16, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Early math and reading ability linked to job and income in adulthood

Math and reading ability at age 7 may be linked with socioeconomic status several decades later, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The ch ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The road to language learning is iconic

Languages are highly complex systems and yet most children seem to acquire language easily, even in the absence of formal instruction. New research on young children's use of British Sign Language (BSL) sheds light on one ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Nov 13, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast