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THE FADING MEMORIES OF YOUTH
You might think you remember taking a trip to Disneyland when you were 18 months old, or that time you had chickenpox when you were 2—but you almost certainly don’t. However real they may seem, your earliest treasured memories were probably implanted by seeing photos or hearing your parents’ stories about waiting in line for the spinning teacups. Recalling those manufactured memories again and again consolidated them in your brain, making them as vivid as your last summer vacation. ...
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Exciting News from APS Meetings!
APS is excited to announce the merging of Annual Convention and the biennial International Convention of Psychological Science (ICPS) and a new APS Global Psychological Science Summit scheduled for October 2024.
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Can We Keep Time?
It can be tough to face our own mortality. Keeping diaries, posting to social media, and taking photos are all tools that can help to minimize the discomfort that comes with realizing we have limited time on Earth. But how exactly does documenting our lives impact how we live and remember them? In this episode, diarist and author Sarah Manguso reflects on the benefits and limitations of keeping track of time, and Charan Ranganath, a professor of psychology and researcher at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience, discusses what research reveals about how memories work and how we can better keep time.
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Does your ‘love language’ really matter? Scientists are skeptical.
If you have ever contemplated ways to improve your romantic relationships, you have probably heard about love languages. Love language, a theory about how people express and receive love, was introduced 30 years ago by Baptist pastor Gary Chapman. The notion that we all speak a love language has become so entrenched in public consciousness that it has spawned memes, satire and even a song by Ariana Grande. But some scientists are questioning the validity of the concept. And others have suggested, that in some situations, love language thinking can do harm, encouraging adherents to stay in difficult or even abusive relationships.
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Nancy E. Adler, Who Linked Wealth to Health, Dies at 77
Nancy E. Adler, a health psychologist whose work helped transform the public understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic status and physical health, died on Jan. 4 at her home in San Francisco. She was 77. The cause was pancreatic cancer, her husband, Arnold Milstein, said. Dr. Adler was instrumental in documenting the powerful role that education, income and self-perceived status in society play in predicting health and longevity. Today, the connection is well known — a truism among public health experts is that life expectancy is determined more by your ZIP code than your genetic code. But it was an obscure notion as recently as 30 years ago.
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Close friends can help you live longer but they can spread some bad habits too
When you were a teenager, your parents probably warned you once or twice not to get a tattoo or go to sketchy parties just because your friends do it. A new study shows that the influence of friends – for good and for well, mischief – extends into our older years, as well. ... While many previous studies have connected having good friends with particular health benefits, this is the largest and most comprehensive study done to date, according to study co-author William Chopik, an associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University.
