-
Social Ecology: Lost and Found in Psychological Science
Various aspects of our environment—including political systems, economic systems, and even climate and geography—can affect our thinking and behavior, a field of study known as socioecological psychology. In a report in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientists Shigehiro Oishi and Jesse Graham from the University of Virginia examine the impact of social and physical environments on human thought and behavior. A society's economic system may have long-reaching effects on its citizens’ behaviors, beyond how much money they can make.
-
Brain Study Shows That Thinking About God Reduces Distress–But Only for Believers
Thinking about God may make you less upset about making errors, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The researchers measured brain waves for a particular kind of distress-response while participants made mistakes on a test. Those who had been prepared with religious thoughts had a less prominent response to mistakes than those who hadn't. "Eighty-five percent of the world has some sort of religious beliefs," says Michael Inzlicht, who cowrote the study with Alexa Tullett, both at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
-
Culture Wires the Brain: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective
Where you grow up can have a big impact on the food you eat, the clothes you wear, and even how your brain works. In a report in a special section on Culture and Psychology in the July Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientists Denise C. Park from the University of Texas at Dallas and Chih-Mao Huang from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discuss ways in which brain structure and function may be influenced by culture. There is evidence that the collectivist nature of East Asian cultures versus individualistic Western cultures affects both brain and behavior.
-
Signs of Autism May Show in Early Infancy
Yale Medical Group: Signs of autism may show up in babies as young as 1 month old, a new study shows. But the tip-offs are not the usual red flags, such as a lack of eye contact or smiling, the researchers noted. Instead, they found babies who needed neonatal intensive care and were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder were more likely to have abnormal muscle tone and differences in their visual processing than babies who went on to develop normally after time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Read the whole story: Yale Medical Group
-
I Love Him, I Love Him Not
Scientific American: Over a decade ago, I devised a test for detecting attitudes and biases operating below the level of a person’s awareness. Known as the Implicit Association Test, or IAT, it is presently the most widely used of the measures of implicit attitudes that have been developed by social psychologists over the past 25 years. It has been self-administered online by millions, many of whom have been surprised—sometimes unpleasantly—by evidence of their own unconscious attitudes and stereotypes regarding race, age, gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Read the whole story: Scientific American
-
Is Your Memory Playing Tricks on You?
A new study claims that some of our vivid memories are simply figments of the imagination. Remembering events from our past that we know have never actually happened is actually a relatively common phenomenon, according to psychologists from the University of Hull. As part of the research study, which is the first of its kind and is published this week in the journal Psychological Science, more than 1600 students were asked to recall memories of events that they no longer believed had taken place. The results revealed that one in five had experienced these types of memories, and most of them related to when they were between four and eight years old.
