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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: I Think, Therefore Eyeblink: The Importance of Contingency Awareness in Conditioning Gabrielle Weidemann, Michelle Satkunarajah, and Peter F. Lovibond Associative learning in humans is thought to be able to occur both unconsciously and consciously; however, studies of this dual-system for learning have produced conflicting results. Participants performed a conditioning task in which one of several stimuli was paired with a puff of air. Researchers manipulated how much information they gave participants about the pairing, giving them no information, some information, or detailed information.
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Why Your Office Isn’t Doing You Any Favors
The business world is not known for being warm and fuzzy, but new research demonstrates that the workplace really can stifle generous behavior. “In five studies, using both attitudinal and behavioral measures, we consistently found that people primed to think of themselves in an organizational context (e.g., co-worker) felt less motivated to reciprocate, and did reciprocate than those in an otherwise parallel personal (e.g., friend or acquaintance) situation,” writes Stanford University researchers Peter Belmi and Jeffrey Pfeffer. Previous research has shown that reciprocation is a strong, and often automatic, social norm.
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NIMH Launches User-Friendly RDoC Matrix Format
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) recently announced an update to the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative. RDoC is a new research framework for studying mental disorders by focusing on fundamental neurobehavioral processes using integrative and complementary methods. While the content of the RDoC Matrix will remain the same, a new user-friendly redesign offers improved navigation, a better user experience, and responsive design, which makes the matrix easier to read and navigate on mobile and desktop devices.
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Natural Resilience to Major Life Stressors Not So Common
Natural resilience may not be as common as once thought — data suggests that many people confronted with a major life-altering event can struggle considerably and for longer periods of time.
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Does a “Triple Package” of Traits Predict Success?
What makes one person more successful than another? For decades, social scientists have been trying to identify the factors that lead some people, but not others, to land dream jobs in high-paying, prestigious careers. While there’s certainly no set formula for becoming a success, researchers have identified several social factors that can certainly help your chances. Educational attainment, general intelligence, and the Big-Five personality trait of conscientiousness have all been shown to consistently predict job performance, income, wealth accumulation, and status attainment. But what about other social factors?
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Seeing Isn’t Required to Gesture Like a Native Speaker
People the world over gesture when they talk, and they tend to gesture in certain ways depending on the language they speak. Findings from a new study including blind and sighted participants suggest that these gestural variations do not emerge from watching other speakers make the gestures, but from learning the language itself. “Adult speakers who are blind from birth also gesture when they talk, and these gestures resemble the gestures of sighted adults speaking the same language.
