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Study: Sadism more common than people think
Salon: People who enjoy being cruel are scarily prevalent, new research says. There may be more sadists lurking in our midst than we’d like to think, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia and the University of Texas at El Paso. After offering a group of college students the chance to play exterminator and kill live bugs, researchers found “acts of apparent cruelty” and evidence of “everyday sadism”-a less pathological variety of deriving pleasure from being cruel. More than 70 psychology students participated in the study, which they thought was about “personality and tolerance for challenging jobs.” Read the whole story: Salon
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Matters of the Heart: Whither the Type A Personality?
The Huffington Post: I first studied psychological science in the 1970s, and one of the most popular ideas at that time was the Type A personality. Two cardiologists, Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, had made the case that a certain type of person -- competitive, driven, hurried, easily angered -- had a much higher risk of heart attack and heart disease than did easy-going types, which they labeled Type B. The idea of Type A personality took hold in the public imagination, and it's still heard in the common parlance today. The concept was scientifically controversial from the start, but it did provoke a lot of debate -- and an explosion of research.
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A Map for the Future of Neuroscience
The New Yorker: On Monday, the National Institutes of Health released a fifty-eight-page report on the future of neuroscience—the first substantive step in developing President Obama’s BRAIN Initiative, which seeks to “revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and cure brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury.” Assembled by an advisory panel of fifteen scientists led by Cori Bargmann, of Rockefeller University, and William Newsome, of Stanford, the report assesses the state of neuroscience and offers a vision for the field’s future. ...
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Can You Detect Your Partner’s Feelings Without Seeing His Or Her Face?
The Huffington Post: Younger adults are more adept at reading emotion in their partner's face than older adults. But when the partner isn't present, older and younger adults are equally able to detect their significant others' moods. Or so suggests a new study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany. "When judging others' emotions in real life, people do not exclusively rely on emotional expressions," said lead researcher Antje Rauers in a press release.
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Study: Deep down, we love our parents’ music
Pacific Standard: Pretty much everyone has a soft spot for particular pop songs from the past, however cheesy they may seem today. These tunes, which trigger positive memories and produce warm feelings, tend to be hits from our adolescence and early adulthood. You never forget what was playing when you enjoyed your first kiss. But here’s a surprise: We respond with similar pleasure to the much older songs that served as background music to our parents’ first kiss. And possibly their parents’ as well. Newly published research suggests musical nostalgia is a multigenerational phenomenon.
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Study Says Yelling Is As Hurtful as Hitting
The Wall Street Journal: Parents who yell at their adolescent children for misbehaving can cause some of the same problems as hitting them would, including increased risk of depression and aggressive behavior, according to a new study. A good, warm relationship with Mom and Dad doesn't protect teens from the negative effects of parents' yelling, cursing or lobbing insults, such as calling teens "lazy" or "stupid," the study found. Conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan, the study was published Wednesday on the journal Child Development's website. ...
