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Psychopathy: A Misunderstood Personality Disorder
Psychopathic personalities are some of the most memorable characters portrayed in popular media today. These characters, like Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, Frank Abagnale Jr. from Catch Me If You Can and Alex from A Clockwork Orange, are typically depicted as charming, intriguing, dishonest, guiltless, and in some cases, downright terrifying. But scientific research suggests that psychopathy is a personality disorder that is widely misunderstood. “Psychopathy tends to be used as a label for people we do not like, cannot understand, or construe as evil,” notes Jennifer Skeem, Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior at the University of California, Irvine.
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Mental Illness Is Brain Illness
Huffington Post: You voted, and this December, we are talking nerdy about the science of mental health. In last week's video introduction, I stated that "we now know that the mind does not exist somewhere outside of the brain. Consciousness is a function of neurobiology, and mental illness cannot be separated from biochemistry." This appears to be a point of contention for many readers. Before we can engage in a meaningful conversation about the science of mental health, we must ensure that we're operating with similar definitions of its associated terms.
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Impatient People Have Lower Credit Scores, Research Finds
LiveScience: While patience may be a virtue, a new study is showing that it can also help your credit score. According to research by two economists at Boston's Federal Reserve Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Making, people who were willing to wait for long-term benefits had better credit scores than people who accepted immediate rewards. "Most often, the reasons economists put forward (for why people default) are, maybe there was not enough screening for mortgage applicants, or securitization, or other institutional reasons," said Stephan Meier, co-author of the study. Read the whole story: LiveScience
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The WEIRD Evolution of Human Psychology
Scientific American: Does psychology’s over-reliance on American undergraduates distort our image of the human species? Imagine that you’re in a room with 100 psychopaths. The first thing you’ll probably want to do is leave that room. However, once you do, you discover a booth installed with one-way glass where you can watch what’s taking place without anyone seeing you. Comfortably seated, you observe a strange experiment taking place. A few of the individuals have on white coats and are carrying around clipboards while most are being run through a battery of psychological tests. Slowly the frantic activity begins to make sense.
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Babies learn who to trust at early age
ABC Science: You can fool them once, but babies will not be fooled again if adults trick them, according to a new Canadian study. Infants normally mimic sounds, facial expressions and actions they observe but researchers at Concordia University in Montreal found that if an adult tricks them, they will no longer follow along with that person. The findings published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development bolster previous evidence that infants can differentiate between credible and un-credible sources, the study says.
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Creativity Linked to Rule Bending
Scientific American: Why do cheaters cheat? Perhaps because they can think up original ways to avoid work: a new study finds that creativity is tied to a willingness to cheat. The work is in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. [Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely, "The dark side of creativity: Original thinkers can be more dishonest"] The teacher hands back copies of a multiple-choice test where you circled your answers. She then tells you to transfer your answers to a sheet where you fill in circles next to each answer. But your copy of the test includes her marks for the correct answers.
