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Alcohol Dampens Stress Responses, Especially for Uncertain Threats
Whether it's a glass of wine, a pint of beer, or a tumbler of whiskey, people often turn to alcohol to calm their nerves. Anecdotally, alcohol does seem to help dampen our stress response, but the specifics of how, when, and for whom this stress reduction actually occurs remains unclear. Researchers John Curtin, Daniel Bradford, and Benjamin Shapiro of the University of Wisconsin-Madison wanted to better understand the mechanisms and boundary conditions that contribute to the stress-dampening properties of alcohol. In particular, they wanted to explore how alcohol influences our responses to threats of varying certainty and severity.
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Think Again: Nostalgia Increases Positive Feelings Towards Out-Groups
Have you ever caught yourself wistfully thinking about a past event? If so, you aren’t alone; research has shown that almost everyone engages in nostalgic thinking and that these types of memories occur quite often — around 3 times per week. Historically, nostalgia was thought to be a variant of depression, but new research is changing the way we view this emotion. There is now a large body of evidence suggesting nostalgia has positive impacts on how people feel about themselves and how connected they feel towards others.
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BCS Seeking Program Directors in 4 Different Programs
The National Science Foundation is seeking candidates for four program director positions in its Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science (SBE). The job openings are for program directors for the Biological Anthropology Program, the Cognitive Neuroscience Program, the Geography and Spatial Sciences Program, and the Social Psychology Program.
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Our Estimates of Food Value Run “Hot” and “Cold”
It stands to reason that you’d be willing to pay more for a nice slice of pumpkin or apple pie before Thanksgiving dinner, when you’re hungry and salivating, than afterwards, when you’re full to bursting.
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Hungry? Low Blood Sugar May Increase Support for Social Welfare
Think “Hunger Games” and you’ll undoubtedly think of heroine Katniss Everdeen fighting against a totalitarian state in the blockbuster series of books and movies. Fortunately for us, those Hunger Games are entirely fictional, but new research suggests that we may have developed a different kind of real-world “hunger games” as a way of getting others to share a particularly precious resource: Food.
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Holiday Travelers Take Note: Scientists Explore Roadway Aggression
It’s that time of year again – the time to gather with family and friends, to celebrate the passing of another year…to spend hours in a car dealing with pent-up roadway aggression? According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, long-distance trips increase by 54% in the 6-day period surrounding Thanksgiving and by 23% in the weeks around Christmas and New Year’s. Most of those trips take place in personal automobiles. Being stuck in traffic on a regular day is frustrating enough, but racing to be home for the holidays could make driving at this time of year a particularly fraught endeavor.
