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How We Explain Things Shapes What We Think Is Right
New research focuses on a fundamental human habit: When trying to explain something (why people give roses for Valentine’s Day, for example), we often focus on the traits of the thing itself (roses are pretty) and not its context (advertisers promote roses). In a new study, researchers found that people who tend to focus on “inherent traits” and ignore context also are more likely to assume that the patterns they see around them are good. The findings are forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Breaking Bad News Doesn’t Have To Be So Bad
In many situations, it's not just what you say, but how you say it that matters. In the 2009 movie Up in the Air, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a full-time corporate "downsizer" known for his finesse in firing people. When Ryan starts training a younger colleague on the art of the layoff, his first piece of advice is to never use the word “fired.” Losing a job is one of the most stressful events that can happen to someone, but does candy-coating the bad news actually help soften the blow? Led by Manuela Richter and Cornelius J.
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Girls Can’t Even Take the SAT Without Getting Stressed Out About Gender Stereotypes
New York Magazine: Ah, the bygone days of high school: long nights gossiping with friends, hanging out behind the supermarket, stress dreams over getting an SAT score that will get you into the college your parents want you to go to. Weren't they fun? While some of us wouldn't be caught dead taking the SAT again, a handful of professional SAT tutors sat down this year to get insight into how the test has changed. Believe it or not: they think parts of it are sexist. Read the whole story: New York Magazine
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A psychologist told me how she successfully navigated her way through a dilemma we’ve all faced
Business Insider: In May, when I spoke with the psychologist Gabriele Oettingen at the Psychological Science convention, she'd recently navigated her way out of a common dilemma. There she was at the convention, eager to discuss her own research and attend other psychologists' presentations. At the same time, she had a bunch of manuscripts to write and review. She couldn't possibly give her full attention to both the conference and the papers. She couldn't do two things at once. And so she WOOPed. That is, she engaged in a process of setting a goal and planning for ways to achieve it.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Heart Rate Variability Moderates the Association Between Separation-Related Psychological Distress and Blood Pressure Reactivity Over Time Kyle J. Bourassa, Karen Hasselmo, and David A. Sbarra Divorce-related stress has been shown to negatively influence later health outcomes. To examine the mechanisms underlying this relationship, researchers measured the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; a measure of changes in heart rate during the respiratory cycle) and blood pressure of recently divorced or separated adults while they performed a stressful math task and a divorce-related mental-activation task.
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Is Success in Our Genes?
Many factors influence the course of a person’s career, from a strong personal motivation to succeed to a leg up because of a family connection. One factor that psychological scientists are increasingly exploring is the extent to which our professional success is shaped by our genes. In a recent study, published in Psychological Science, a team of researchers led by Daniel W. Belsky of Duke University School of Medicine investigated the link between genetics and upward social mobility.
