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Rejection sets off alarms for folks with low self-esteem
Few can tolerate such romantic or professional rebuffs as "It's not you, it's me" and "we regret to inform you that your application was not successful." But while a healthy dose of self-esteem can absorb the shock of rejection, poor self-esteem can trigger the primal fight-or-flight response, according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley. That doesn't mean people with low self-esteem are doomed to respond defensively to criticism and rejection. The UC Berkeley study suggests that those among them who are better at controlling their impulses are less vulnerable to rejection.
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Women Affected by Male to Female Ratio in Math, Science and Engineering Settings
Have you ever felt outnumbered? Like there are just not that many people like you around? We’ve all felt outnumbered in one situation or another and walking into a situation in which you sense the possibility of being ostracized or isolated can be quite threatening.
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In Birds, Expecting to Mate Leads to Higher Fertilization Rates
From an evolutionary perspective, the primary task of an organism is to pass along its genes to future generations. Such genetic transmission is usually assumed to be instinctive. However, a new study shows that species also learn to adapt to their surroundings in order to increase their “reproductive fitness”— the likelihood that they will successfully reproduce. One form of learning that increases reproductive fitness is Pavlovian conditioning, the ability to associate a neutral stimulus with a stimulus of significance.
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Children’s math and reading skills are linked to genetics
Why do children differ in their ability to read, to use language, or to understand mathematics? Decades of research makes is clear that genetics play a surprisingly large part in both learning abilities and learning disabilities. What throws a quirk in an otherwise fixed set of abilities is the environment. In order to distinguish the impact of genes and the environment on cognitive abilities researchers use “multivariate genetic analysis,” which essentially estimates the extent to which genetic and environmental factors that affect one ability (e.g. reading) also affect another ability (e.g. mathematics).
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Why Quitting May Be Good for You
Are there times when it is better to simply give up? Psychologists have been exploring this question, and more specifically a possible link between tenacity and both physical and mental health. It would seem that persistence would be tonic over the long haul; hanging tough should increase the odds that you’ll succeed, and personal success is closely linked to well-being. But what if the goal is extremely unlikely? When does an admirable trait like perseverance start to look more like beating your head against the wall?
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New Study Discovers Why Few People Are Devoid of Racial Bias
Why are some individuals not prejudiced? That is the question posed by a provocative new study appearing in the September issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The authors investigate how some individuals are able to avoid prejudicial biases despite the pervasive human tendency to favor one’s own group. Robert Livingston of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Brian Drwecki of the University of Wisconsin conducted studies that examined white college students who harbored either some or no racial biases.
