-
Science on Love (and Hate, Too) at the APS Convention
Although Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, psychological scientists study love all year round — and it’s not always pretty. In this video, Douglas T. Kenrick discusses his book Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life. Plan to see Kenrick and others present research on love, sex, online dating, and more at the 24th APS Annual Convention in Chicago. Passionate Love: Looking Back and Looking Ahead Elaine Hatfield will talk about how research on passionate love and sexual desire has evolved over the last 50 years. Hatfield will be introduced by Ellen Berscheid, with whom she will share the 2012 APS William James Fellow Award.
-
Does Online Dating Make It Harder to Find ‘the One’?
TIME: Everyone knows someone who met their spouse online. A friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen in years told me recently that she, too, met her husband on an Internet dating site. They’re happily married, just moved into a new house, and are now talking about starting a family. When I asked her if she thought online matchmaking was a better way than offline dating to find guys who were more compatible with her — and, therefore, better husband material — she laughed. “No, because I couldn’t stand him when I first met him,” she says of her husband. She thought he was full of himself and rude during their first encounter. It definitely wasn’t love at first sight, she said — that took a while.
-
Secrets of a super successful introvert
CNN: I was in a terrible hurry, running late for a business meeting in Philadelphia. I'd spent more than $100 for my train ticket from a vending machine at New York's Penn Station -- but in my haste had grabbed only the receipt, which I now presented to the conductor. "You need the ticket," he said. I apologized and explained that the receipt was all I had. "The rules are the rules," said the conductor. "Either you pay the fare or you leave the train." I'm constitutionally opposed to following rules for their own sake; plus, this man was treating me rudely. But I'm not confrontational, so I wasn't going to let my annoyance show.
-
Yet another study confirms your tech addiction
msnbc.com: Scientists, online dating sites, your constantly irritated significant other and Wilhelm Hofmann at University of Chicago's Booth Business School could all save a lot of time over whether we are "addicted" to social media and/or our cellular devices. Rather than pondering or conducting surveys, they could simply do what most normal answer-seeking people do: Go to Wikipedia. Read the full story: msnbc.com
-
Oxytocin’s (not so) Better Half
Feeling all warm and fuzzy? Chalk it up to oxytocin, the touchy-feely hormone that allows us to trust, bond, and even fall in love. Despite nicknames such as “the moral molecule,” “love potion,” and “liquid trust,” this feel-good chemical may have a surprising dark side. According to research published in the August 2011 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, the role of oxytocin is not so simple. Andrew Kemp and Adam Guastella, of the University of Sydney, say the “cuddle hormone” may play a role in negative social emotions.
-
Older Drivers Can be Trained to Avoid Car Crashes
Why are older drivers, especially those over 70, involved in crashes primarily at intersections? You may tend to attribute this to cognitive or physical decline, such as slower reaction time or poor sight. These factors are undoubtedly part of the problem; however new research by some University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have come up with another explanation - older drivers acquire bad habits, and those habits can be unlearned. “The effectiveness of our training program indicates that at least a major part of older drivers’ problems can be remediated,” says psychologist Alexander Pollatsek, who authored the article with Mathew R. E. Romoser, and Donald L.
