Most People Only Use 10% of Their Brain Power
Whenever one of us ventures out of the Ivory Tower to give a public lecture on brain science, one of the questions we most commonly hear is: "Is it true that we only use 10% of our brains?" ... Read More
From 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry L. Beyerstein. Copyright © 2010 by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry L. Beyerstein. This material is reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Newsweek: Why do psychologists reject science? (from Psychological Science in the Public Interest)
By Sharon Begley
Newsweek columnist Sharon Begley discusses a new PSPI report on the current state of clinical psychology and what psychologists can do to steer their field (and their patients) in the right direction.
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The Michelangelo Phenomenon (from Current Directions in Psychological Science)
By Caryl E. Rusbult, Eli J. Finkel, and Madoka Kumashiro
Close partners are able to sculpt one another’s selves, shaping each other’s skills and helping each other reach their goals. Although most research on goal pursuit has focused on the individual, recent studies suggest that our partners have a large impact on whether or not we meet our goals. For example, when our partners affirm our goals, we may be more likely to achieve them.
Motivating Change in Relationships: Can Prayer Increase Forgiveness? (from Psychological Science)
By Nathaniel M. Lambert, Frank D. Fincham, Tyler F. Stillman, Steven M. Graham, and Steven R.H. Beach
Prayer may be beneficial to relationships by increasingly the likelihood of forgiveness. Study volunteers who prayed for their romantic partners or friends were more likely to forgive them than were volunteers who merely described their partners or thought about their friends. The prayer-forgiveness link may be mediated by selfless caring: Volunteers who prayed for friends over a 4-week period reported an increase in selfless caring for others.
Increasing Speed of Processing With Action Video Games (from Current Directions in Psychological Science)
By Matthew W.G. Dye, C. Shawn Green, and Daphne Bavelier
Video games may be good for you after all: Across various tasks, video game players have faster reaction times than non-gamers, with no loss of accuracy, suggesting video games may help increase speed of information processing even in non-video-game situations. Identifying which aspects of games are most beneficial will allow for the development of games that have universal appeal for use in both clinical contexts (e.g., helping brain trauma patients) and educational settings.
Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects Are Seen as Closer (from Psychological Science)
By Emily Balcetis and David Dunning
Our personal desires may bias the way we view our surroundings. When volunteers threw beanbags toward gift cards of different values, throws toward a $25 gift card fell shorter than throws toward a $0 gift card, suggesting that volunteers perceived the more valuable gift card as being nearer to them. These findings indicate we perceive desirable objects as being physically closer to us, possibly helping to motivate us to reach our goals.
