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Women Perform Better At Spacial Tasks When More Confident, Study Shows
Huffington Post: Two new studies out last week show that the brain is mightier than the baggage -- especially when it comes to those stereotypes we women carry around in our backpacks. Parallel parking: Good at it? And speaking of driving: Get lost much? Stereotypes tell us that if you're a woman, your answer to the first question is probably a "nope." And to the second, often a "yes." But guess what? A new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior tells us that it's often garden-variety confidence at play when it comes to spatial tasks like parking the car or reading a road map -- rather than gender-related abilities (or lack of same.) Read the whole story: Huffington Post
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Inside the Psychologist’s Studio: Elizabeth Loftus
APS Past President Elizabeth Loftus speaks about her research — investigating false memory, the reliability of eyewitness reports, and memories “recovered” through therapy — and its impact on how we think about eyewitness testimony.
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Psychopathic Personality: Bridging the Gap Between Scientific Evidence and Public Policy
Read the Full Text The word “psychopath” brings to mind diverse and often conflicting images, from the superficially charming and manipulative corporate boss to the coldly violent serial killer. Although the public has a fascination with psychopathy, there are still misconceptions and uncertainty about what it means to be a psychopath. How does psychopathy develop? At what age can it be diagnosed? Is it necessarily linked with violence? Is treatment possible? This new, comprehensive review summarizes what is known about psychopathy from psychological science.
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Grumpy old gorilla apes aging human males
The Globe and Mail: “For the past 100 years or so, psychologists have supported the notion that all humans have the same set of basic biological emotions,” says Psych Central News. “But a new paper in Current Directions in Psychological Science challenges this belief and holds that some of our established security procedures may be misguided. In her article, clinical psychologist Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett of Northeastern University said a current method to train security workers to recognize ‘basic’ emotions from expressions might be ill-advised, potentially placing individuals at risk.
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Seksuele hints vaak overschat
MSN Nederland: Seksueel getinte hints worden vaak verkeerd geïnterpreteerd, blijkt uit Amerikaans onderzoek. Er zijn twee manieren waarop je als man een fout kunt maken: of je denkt 'Wow die vrouw ziet mij wel zitten', en dat blijkt niet zo te zijn. Of de dame in kwestie is werkelijk geïnteresseerd, maar dat ontgaat de man compleet. Beide gevallen komen vaak voor, beweren onderzoekers van de Universiteit van Texas in Austin. Voor hun onderzoek werden 96 mannen en 103 vrouwen, drie minuten lang in een speeddate sessie tegenover vijf potentiële kandidaten van het andere geslacht gezet.
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Liar, liar, pants on fire? Your baby will be the judge
msnbc: Babies may be a lot more savvy than we think. A new study has found that babies little more than a year old can tell whether we’re trustworthy enough to listen to, according to a report published in Infant Behavior and Development. “Even at a young age, children do not blindly swallow information,” said the study’s lead author Diane Poulin-Dubois, a professor of psychology at the Centre for Research in Human Development at the University of Concordia. “Doubtful or contradictory information is automatically screened by their cognitive system.