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Young Children Take Authoritarian Cues From Their Parents
Some people bridle at the very idea of having to bend to authority. Others, however, value following a leader and playing by the rules, a trait that researchers refer to as “authoritarianism.” Studies suggest that a person’s level of authoritarianism is correlated with various sociopolitical orientations, and they further indicate a strong link between young adults’ and their parents’ levels of authoritarianism. And yet, “research on the topic has rarely examined or even anticipated early-childhood manifestations of authoritarianism,” says psychological scientist Michal Reifen Tagar of the University of Minnesota.
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Personal Zen app promises to reduce stress in 25 minutes
CNET: Feeling stressed? There's an app for that. Personal Zen for iOS promises to reduce your stress and anxiety by way of a simple game played a few times per week. What's behind that promise? Science. According to the development team, which consists of "leading neuroscientists and mobile developers," the app is clinically proven to reduce stress. And here's the research to back that up: A newly published study in Clinical Psychological Science suggests that attention-bias modification training -- the kind provided by Personal Zen -- can lower anxiety levels. Read the whole story: CNET
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Gauging the Intelligence of Infants
The New York Times: This occasional column explores topics covered in Science Times 25 years ago to see what has changed — and what has not. The claim about babies was startling: A test administered to infants as young as 6 months could predict their score on an intelligence test years later, when they started school. “Why not test infants and find out which of them could take more in terms of stimulation?” Joseph F. Fagan III, the psychologist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland who developed the test, was quoted as saying in an article by Gina Kolata on April 4, 1989. “It’s not going to hurt anybody, that’s for sure.” Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Steven Pinker on music
TRBQ: Pinning down a definition of music is harder than it sounds. A song composed by a human easily fits into the category of music. But what about a song composed by a bird? Or the rumble of a freight train? Steven Pinker is a cognitive scientist at Harvard, and he’s written best-selling books about evolutionary psychology and language. He says music is tied to language. “Music has a set of rhythms within rhythms that can align uncannily with those of speech,” Pinker says. There’s an ongoing debate about whether music is “adaptive” — whether it serves a direct evolutionary purpose. Steven Pinker doesn’t think it does.
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A Quest to Understand What Makes Things Funny
The New Yorker: What would happen if Communism were introduced to Saudi Arabia? Nothing—at first. But soon there’d be a shortage of sand. This—one of many political jokes circulating inside the Soviet Union during the late Cold War—is Joel Warner’s favorite. Warner is the co-author, with Peter McGraw, of “The Humor Code,” which was released on April Fool’s Day. “It can be analyzed all sorts of ways,” he told me. “Did Soviet citizens tell jokes like this as a form of coping, of using humor to lessen their psychological distress? Or was it a reflection of changing attitudes and growing unease among the populace?
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Piccole carezze ai neonati migliorano il loro sviluppo sociale (pleasant touch may promote early social development in infants)
La Stampa: Accarezzare gentilmente un neonato è importante anche per il suo sviluppo sociale e fisiologico. Lo hanno scoperto alcuni scienziati del Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences di Leipzig, Germania. A quanto si legge sulla rivista Psychological Science, i risultati di questa ricerca forniscono prove fisiologiche e comportamentali che la sensibilità alle piccole carezze si sviluppa molto presto nel neonato e gioca un ruolo importantissimo nella regolazione delle interazioni sociali umane. Read the whole story: La Stampa
