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Study Identifies Genetic Tie to Marital Satisfaction
Psychological researchers have found, for the first time, a link between a gene variant and marital satisfaction. “An enduring mystery is, what makes one spouse so attuned to the emotional climate in a marriage, and another so oblivious?,” said APS Past President Robert Levenson, a professor at University of California, Berkeley and lead author of the study. “With these new genetic findings, we now understand much more about what determines just how important emotions are for different people.” Specifically, researchers from UC Berkeley and Northwestern University found a link between relationship fulfillment and a gene variant, or “allele,” known as 5-HTTLPR.
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Is Beauty in the Average or the Individual?
The beauty-in-averageness effect stems from research showing that a blended face, a morph of multiple individual faces, is generally rated as being more attractive than its individual component faces.
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Mind Reading: Human Origins and Theory of Mind
Join the live webcast! "Mind Reading: Human Origins and Theory of Mind" is a free public symposium hosted by the University of California, San Diego/Salk Institute for Biological Studies Center for Academic Research & Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA) on Friday, October 18th (1:00 – 5:30 pm Pacific Time), co-chaired by Donald Pfaff (Rockefeller University) and Terry Sejnowski (Salk Institute).
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General Psychopathology Factor May Describe Structure of Psychiatric Disorders
Mental disorders have traditionally been viewed as distinct categorical entities, but the high incidence of comorbid, or co-occurring, disorders challenges this view. As researchers Terrie Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, and colleagues observe in their new article in Clinical Psychological Science, about half of the people who meet diagnostic criteria for one disorder also meet the diagnostic criteria for another disorder at the same time.
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Recognizing 125 Years of Psychological Research Excellence
Tucked away in a corner of the Philosophy Department, Indiana University’s first psychology laboratory opened in 1888 with humble beginnings. But 125 years later, it now stands as the longest continuing psychology laboratory in the United States. Emphasizing a collaborative and interdisciplinary focus from the start, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) as a whole now stands as a prime example of cutting-edge and multi-faceted research. "The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences has an enormous worldwide impact," said Lauren Robel, Indiana University Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President.
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Uncovering the Intricacies of Unethical Behavior
Various factors — including values and beliefs about what is correct, patterns of social orientation, and cost-benefit expectations — interact to produce unethical behavior.
