I am a big fan of the guys on the Stuff You Should Know podcast. In case you don’t know them, they give 30-45 minute talks on all sorts of interesting topics, from historical, to scientific, to current events. In quite a few of these podcasts they have …
I opened the Atlantic this week to read the cover story, with the subheading “In today’s economy, men are falling apart. What that means for sex and marriage.” The article includes personal anecdotes, historical notes on the history of marriage, sociol …
Whether you’re conducting research, reading about research, or learning research methods so you can ace your research methods course, you need to know exactly what a confounding variable is. If you think you’ve got it, then this isn’t the post for you. …
Common Sense Media released a study today about media use of children from 0 to 8 years of age. The research is an extension of research originally conducted by Kaiser; the study appears to be quite thorough (for example, this study also contacted peo …
Although the ending is not revealed, some spoilers from the film 50/50 follow in the article
While we often picture hallucinations and delusions when thinking about the clinical presentation of schizophrenia, cognitive symptoms are an incredibly impairing aspect of the disorder. For example, they make it difficult for patients to perform every …
Behavioral scientists have been studying depression and depressive symptoms for a long time, yet the etiology is still not fully known. There are many myths in public about what depression is, and what causes it. And it doesn’t help that the scientific …
The quote above comes from a perspective published in Nature Neuroscience this past summer by Nieuwenhuis and colleagues. They detail a surprisingly common mistake in the statistical analyses carried out by some studies published in prominent journals. …
In a recent issue of Psychological Science, researchers report on a new finding that our immune systems may be dictating our behavior. When we notice that someone else is sick or has a rash, we instinctively try and avoid that person to keep ourselves …
By now the news is focused more on the contested UC Berkeley “Diversity” Bake Sale than the issue itself. The Berkeley College Republicans group has decided they will hold a bake sale that prices items based on race and gender, with items being more ex …
Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed today, charged with murdering a Savannah police officer in 1989. Davis’ execution has been scheduled 4 times, and appealed again and again. The most recent appeal to halt the lethal injection was rejected yesterda …
A friend recently asked me why our lab is called the “Learning and Forgetting Lab.” He pointed out, “I know learning is important, but why would you study forgetting?” That is an excellent question. Most people think of forgetting as a negative occurre …
The idea of “positive illusions” is one that has been popular in social psychology since Taylor and Brown published their 1988 paper, “Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health.” Simply put, positive illusions are bia …
Say what you will about the findings in evolutionary psychology—they certainly have good narratives. One of the latest, published in the July issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, uses sexual selection theory to argue that humor is impor …
A version of this article will appear in the next Psychology in Action Newsletter. Turn on the TV or open a magazine these days, and chances are your eyes will be filled with images of “beauty”: ultra-thin models, men with bulging biceps and washboard …
Finding a good therapist is important. As a graduate student in clinical psychology, I am often asked where to find one. Typically, I would recommend the psychology clinic associated with my university, or point them in the direction of therapists who …
Keeping children eating healthy foods is one of the most important things one can do as a parent. And one of the most difficult. It’s probably no surprise that most food companies market directly to children, spending $1.6 billion a year to do so. I …
This past weekend, many of us took some time to remember the events of September 11, 2001. Between all of the news specials, memorial openings, and documentaries, many of you probably also thought about your personal experience of the day. Where were y …
UCLA psychology graduate student Shimon Saphire-Bernstein and Dr. Shelly Taylor identified the first gene to be linked to the psychological resources of optimism, self-esteem and mastery (the belief that you have control over your own life). They have …
One of the most fascinating and quickly growing subareas of psychology and the cognitive sciences is music cognition, the interdisciplinary study of how the brain processes and perceives music. Music cognition is driven primarily by the perception of …
How does stress impact your health? That question has been studied intensely by psychoneuroimmunology researchers for over 30 years. Vaccines, wound healing, and chronic diseases are some of the ways researchers have measured our immune system health. …