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New tech promises to predict your moods. That might not be a good thing
If your phone could warn you of impending stormy internal weather, you could theoretically do the emotional equivalent of grabbing an umbrella on a cloudy day to ensure you don’t get doused later. That’s the basic idea behind a number of new technologies, many still in development, that attempt to predict emotions based on certain biomarkers. Psychologists and technologists are together trying to build emotional databases that teach machines how to read human feelings by compiling a bunch of data about biological signals that indicate impending changes in order to digitally predict moods.
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How culture shapes your mind — and your mental illness
THE PATIENT, A man in his early 20s, was clearly distressed, anxious. There were insects, he said, insects crawling around under his skin. The graduate student doing the initial assessment was immediately concerned and went straight to her advisor, Dr. Brian Sharpless, a clinical psychologist and professor at Argosy University in Virginia. The patient sounded psychotic — possibly schizophrenic, she said, and she wanted to know what to do. “Is he by any chance Nigerian?” Sharpless asked. “Yes!” she replied. “How did you know?” “He’s not psychotic — that’s Ode Ori,” Sharpless responded.
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So Your Child Has Failed. Here’s What to Do Next
Just like adults, children sometimes fail. And when they do, parents too often do not react. They figure that failure is a part of life—that it teaches an important lesson. But that may not actually be the case. While tough love worked fine for parents when they were children, we know more now about child psychology. And we have a better understanding of what methods truly help children learn from failure. When a child fails, think of two goals. The first is comfort. Parents need to convey how much they care and can be relied upon. This may seem a little obvious, and so most parents stop there.
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Comment By 1/16: Draft Research Plan for Prevention of Opioid Use Disorder: Interventions
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF) is seeking input on its Draft Research Plan for Prevention of Opioid Use Disorder: Interventions, and welcomes psychological scientists, as members of the public, to submit comments by January 16, 2019. USPTF is a panel of experts which systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness and develops recommendations for clinical preventive services. Specifically, the draft research plans which USPTF creates are initial documents which guide USPTF’s future systematic reviews of evidence. This is one of two key opportunities to comment on USPTF’s efforts related to interventions for the prevention of opioid use disorder.
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Comment By 1/31: NSF Seeking Community Input for International Research Experiences for Graduate Students
The National Science Foundation wants your input on how it can enhance international research opportunities for graduate students. Comments are requested by January 31, 2019. “The National Science Foundation (NSF) has offered international research opportunities to US graduate students in several programs … All these programs have had meaningful positive impact in strengthening key 21st century skills in their student participants. At the same time, the programs face challenges,” says NSF in a Dear Colleague Letter requesting community input.
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Research Spotlights December 2018
Happy childhood memories related to better health in later years Prior research shows positive memories from childhood are related to better health in young adults, but a new NIA-funded study extends these findings to older adulthood as well. Using data from the National Survey of Midlife Development (MIDUS; n = 7,108; Mage = 46.38, followed for 18 years) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; n = 15,234; Mage = 67.73, followed for 6 years), researchers retrospectively analyzed childhood memories of parental support and the relation with present day physical health.
