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Diagnosis, Disorders and Decisions
For more than six decades, the vast majority of mental health professionals have relied on the same handbook for classifying and diagnosing disorders of the mind—and for prescribing treatment. For that same period of time, the DSM (for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, reissued in its fifth version last year) has been the target of harsh criticism, both scientific and political. One recurring line of criticism holds that the manual focuses too much on superficial symptoms of mental disorders, ignoring the underlying dynamics.
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Predicting When Employees Will Lash Out at a Nasty Boss
A mobile game series called Beat the Boss is one of the most popular items in the Google and Apple app stores. The games allow users to vent their rage toward their supervisors by engaging in virtual acts of violence against seven “boss” characters. While most workers wouldn’t dare carry out these actions in real life, many have found themselves disciplined or fired because they sought revenge on a mean or exasperating boss outside of the virtual world. An international team of behavioral scientists, led by Huiwen Lian of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, recently set out to study the circumstances that lead to such retaliations.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Task-Focused Behavior Mediates the Associations Between Supportive Interpersonal Environments and Students' Academic Performance Noona Kiuru, Eija Pakarinen, Kati Vasalampi, Gintautas Silinskas, Kaisa Aunola, Anna-Maija Poikkeus, Riitta-Leena Metsäpelto, Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen, and Jari-Erik Nurmi Does providing students with a supportive environment help them learn, and if so, how? Participating children were followed from the 1st through the 4th grades. Measures of parental authoritative behavior, teacher support, and peer acceptance were collected for children when they were in the 1st grade.
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How Do I Avoid Being A Micromanager?
Fast Company: The micromanager might be one of the most common "bad boss" stereotypes, but it's a tricky situation when you are on the other side. This week's reader question comes from a newly minted supervisor, unsure of how to manage her entry-level employees without becoming a micromanager. For advice on how to deal with this tricky situation we turned to leadership coach Lolly Daskal and psychologist Art Markman Read the whole story: Fast Company
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Why all babies love peekaboo
BBC: One of us hides our eyes and then slowly reveals them. This causes peals of laughter from a baby, which causes us to laugh in turn. Then we do it again. And again. Peekaboo never gets old. Not only does my own infant daughter seem happy to do it for hours, but when I was young I played it with my mum ("you chuckled a lot!" she confirms by text message) and so on back through the generations. We are all born with unique personalities, in unique situations and with unique genes. So why is it that babies across the world are constantly rediscovering peekaboo for themselves?
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Spoilers Can Make a Joke Funnier
Scientific American Mind: Hearing a punch line before the setup will predictably spoil a joke. But what of running gags and callbacks? Often a joke is funnier when it is familiar. An article published online in December 2013 in Cognition and Emotion resolves this paradox by applying research on insight. Sascha Topolinski, a psychologist at the University of Cologne in Germany, studies processing fluency: when information is absorbed easily, it feels more true and beautiful. Repetition can increase fluency, which is why we prefer familiar music and art. Research also shows that “spoilers” do not always spoil.
