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Sex and Trauma Research Is Less Upsetting to College Students Than Previously Assumed
Research on sex and trauma faces an ethical dilemma: how can we find out more about the effects of such psychologically sensitive topics without hurting the people who participate in the study? Institutional review boards that approve research on human subjects believe that asking people about sex and trauma is riskier and more distressing than asking people to complete standard intelligence tests or personality questionnaires.
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Biggest Convention Ever!
Look for more coverage of the biggest Convention ever in the July/August issue of the Observer. APS President Asks ‘Who Owns Science?’ Scientists from Diverse Perspectives Reply The question is as expansive and provocative as were the answers provided at the Presidential Symposium of the twenty-fourth annual convention of the Association for Psychological Science. APS president Douglas Medin called for “diverse perspectives” when he posed the profound, three-word question “Who owns science?” How to Spot Pseudoneuroscience and Biobunk When it comes to pseudoscience, social psychologist and writer Carol Tavris is a self-appointed curmudgeon.
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When Equality Loses
Despite our inclination to believe equality within a team or group is important, new research suggests that a built-in hierarchy leads to fewer group conflicts and higher productivity. The research finds a team or group with all high-performers will not outperform teams or groups with an established hierarchy. Teams in which everyone has high power are likely to experience elevated levels of conflict, reduced role differentiations, less coordination and integration, and poorer productivity than teams with a broader distribution of power and status.
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People Know When to Move On
People make decisions all the time. What sandwich to order, whether to walk through that puddle or around it, what school to go to and so on. However, psychologists disagree on how good we are at making decisions. “In the literature on human decision-making, there are two almost parallel stories,” said Andreas Jarvstad of Cardiff University. “One goes, ‘humans are terrible at making choices.’ The other goes, ‘humans are close to being as good as they possibly can be.’” Jarvstad is an author of a new study on decision-making published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. His study is about choosing how long to spend on the task at hand.
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God’s Flipside: Religion Without Kindness
I recently watched one of the most brutal and upsetting films I’ve ever seen, called The Stoning of Soraya M. I suppose the title of this 2008 film should have warned me away, but I really don’t believe that anything could prepare viewers for the graphic, bloody and excruciatingly prolonged scene that gives the film its name. It’s the story of a 35-year-old mother, falsely accused of adultery by her bullying husband and local mullah, who is convicted under Islamic law and executed by the men of a rural Iranian village. The stoning, based on a true story, took place in 1986, but the small-mindedness and hate-filled religiosity are medieval. The Stoning of Soraya M.
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Writing Away Academic Anxiety
A simple, 10-minute writing exercise can significantly improve test performance for students with math anxiety. These findings were reported by Sian L. Beilock of the University of Chicago, who spoke about her research on math anxiety at the 24th APS Annual Convention before signing copies of her book Choke: The Secret to Performing Under Pressure. Beilock discussed behavioral and brain imaging work examining how students’ knowledge and general cognitive abilities interact with social and emotional factors to influence performance in academic arenas such as math.
