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5 Surprisingly Simple Ways To Enjoy Your Vacation More
Americans take fewer vacations than we used to, and many people don’t have paid time off. That means it’s important to savor the vacations we do take. ... “Anticipation is a free source of pleasure,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia who studies happiness. She’s planning a trip with friends for next spring. “I happen to have time to do it now, and it actually is very pleasurable to me,” Dunn said. “I spend an unjustifiable amount of time looking at photographs and reviews.” ...
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Motor Abnormalities Predict Mental Illness in Both General and Specific Symptoms
Understanding how motor abnormalities relate to psychological disorders may provide insight into mechanisms underlying mental health issues, disease progression, and potential treatments.
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Monkeys Understand Shapes in Almost the Same Way as Humans
You (probably) won’t find a monkey in a geometry class, but it looks like our fellow primates can swing the basics. ... This shared foundation suggests that our geometric intuition evolved long before humans did, which isn’t a surprise to many researchers who study animal cognition. “These are hardly the only animals on Earth that have to deal with geometry,” said Ed Wasserman, an experimental psychologist at the University of Iowa, who was not involved in the new study.
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Cut the Number of Choices You Make Each Day. Your Brain Will Thank You
Jeans that fit perfectly. The ideal Netflix show for a Tuesday night. Your one and only soulmate. Modern life promises that with enough options, you will happily find the best of everything. But behavioral scientists say the increasing flood of choices — whether it comes to shopping, social lives or relationships — is doing the opposite. The idea that more choice is better is baked into Western culture, but research shows that having more options can make people anxious, indecisive and, paradoxically, less happy with what they pick, said Barry Schwartz, an emeritus psychology professor at Swarthmore College and author of “The Paradox of Choice.”
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What’s Behind the Rise in Mild Autism?
... I spoke with five researchers and clinicians who say they’re concerned about the possibility that too many people are being diagnosed with mild autism. They say that some individuals who have received these diagnoses might instead have anxiety or another mental illness. Others might not have any diagnosable mental-health condition, and may be incorrectly perceiving their typical social struggles as a sign that they have a disorder. “Some of those people absolutely have autism,” Catherine Lord, a clinical psychologist at UCLA who specializes in autism, told me.
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New Content From Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science
New content covering data, artificial intelligence, data models, and more.
