There are some bad memories — whether of a crime or a painful life event — that we’d rather not recall. New research shows that people can successfully inhibit some incriminating memories, reducing the memories’ impact on automatic behaviors and resulting in brain activity similar to that seen in “innocent” More
Humans are an easily distracted species, but we’ve always longed for ways to regulate our own attention. Psychological science has shed a lot of light on this issue, says APS William James Fellow Michael I. Posner. More
Watch the ICPS Keynote Addresses: Decoding the Neural Signature of Consciousness Stanislas Dehaene The Lasting Power of Patience Terrie E. Moffitt How Brains Think George Lakoff Years ago, it was common for psychological scientists to talk about the role of genes in behavior without any input from geneticists; they would More
Psychological science, once criticized for underestimating the impact of socioeconomic factors on psychological development and functioning, now plays a lead role in investigating how wealth and poverty affect thought, emotion, and action throughout our lives. Top researchers from the United States and Europe presented some of the most profound findings More
From dangerous driving to drug use, numerous studies have shown that teens are far more likely to engage in a slew of risky behaviors when they’re with peers than when they’re alone. For example, studies conducted by Laurence Steinberg of Temple University demonstrated that teens—who are already among the most More
To submit a new book, email apsobserver@psychologicalscience.org. The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Mindfulness edited by Amanda Ie, Christelle T. Ngnoumen, and Ellen J. Langer; Wiley–Blackwell, April 2014. Psychology Gone Wrong: The Dark Sides of Science and Therapy by Tomasz Witkowski and Maciej Zatonski; Brown Walker, January 29, 2015. Tales From More
