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UW psychologist Kristina Olson thought the MacArthur Foundation had the wrong ‘genius’
The word “genius” makes Kristina Olson squirm. When the MacArthur Foundation rang last year to tell her she’d won one of its coveted fellowships — colloquially called genius grants — the University of Washington psychologist figured it was a mistake. “Are you sure you have the right Kristina Olson?” she asked. Even though the caller ticked off items on Olson’s résumé, including her groundbreaking research on transgender children, it was weeks before she was convinced it wasn’t all an elaborate prank. Olson still won’t mention the prize unless pressed. Where she comes from, in central Illinois, boasting is almost as inexcusable as not being nice.
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Leading expert explains why you would falsely confess to a crime you did not commit
Would you confess to a crime you did not commit? Many people would respond instantaneously with a firm, "No." But they do and often, says Saul Kassin, one of the country’s leading experts on false confessions. “Your belief that you would never confess to a crime you didn't commit is your frame of reference for evaluating others. And it's a fair frame of reference. We do it all the time,” Kassin said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt. Kassin, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has been researching false confessions for over 30 years. He says false confessions can happen to anybody, not just certain types of people.
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The Scientific Debate Over Teens, Screens And Mental Health
More teens and young adults — particularly girls and young women — are reporting being depressed and anxious, compared with comparable numbers from the mid-2000s. Suicides are up too in that time period, most noticeably among girls ages 10 to 14. ... Amy Orben, the lead author of each paper and a psychologist at Oxford University, says the team found that the actual negative relationship between teens' mental health and technology use is tiny. "A teenagers' technology use can only explain less than 1% of variation in well-being," Orben says.
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Sound-Shape Associations Depend on Early Visual Experiences
Data from individuals with different types of severe visual impairment suggest that the associations we make between sounds and shapes — a “smooth” b or a “spiky” k — may form during a sensitive period of visual development in early childhood.
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New Research From Psychological Science
A sample of research exploring brain networks involved in sustained attention and individual differences in music reward.
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Psychological Research Is Turning Thumbs Down on Facebook ‘Likes’
Facebook is considering hiding the “like” count on posts, a move that may stem from psychological findings on the emotional and neurological effects of social media.
