Psychology

Every night, I—like millions of others—put on a noise machine to help me sleep. Mine offers several types of noise: white, pink, green, and brown. I’ve noticed something strange, though. After about 30 minutes of the noise pumping into my head, I start to hear things. Sometimes it’s music, like a full orchestral score. Other times it’s people having a conversation just out of the range where I’d hear actual words. Occasionally, it sounds like my husband playing a video game.So I do what most people would do when a random…

India is a land of contrasts, and this extends to the roads as well. Driving in India is an experience like no other, a kaleidoscope of chaos and order, competition and cooperation. To navigate Indian traffic, drivers must possess a unique psychological makeup – a blend of resilience, adaptability, and a high tolerance for uncertainty. And if you are used to disciplined ‘Western’ driving, courage like that of a Roman soldier on the frontlines! At the heart of the Indian driving experience lies a remarkable…

A groundbreaking study by the University of Essex has found that a brief smile can make neutral faces appear happier, using electrical stimulation to influence emotional perception. This research opens new avenues for understanding facial feedback and developing treatments for emotional expression disorders.Smiling for just a split second makes people more likely to see happiness in expressionless faces, new University of Essex research has revealed.The study led by Dr Sebastian Korb, from the Department of Psychology,…

New studies reveal a connection between a negative-leaning attitude and procrastination, suggesting that modifying one’s valence weighting bias towards neutrality can help overcome the tendency to delay tasks. Credit: SciTechDaily.comStudy finds a lean toward negative attitude predicts procrastination.Putting off a burdensome task may seem like a universal trait, but new research suggests that people whose negative attitudes tend to dictate their behavior in a range of situations are more likely to delay tackling the task…

A Linköping University study reveals that researchers often overestimate their adherence to ethical practices compared to peers and other fields, risking ethical complacency and hindering collaboration. Surveying over 33,000 Swedish researchers, the findings highlight the importance of continuous ethical self-reflection to mitigate potential lapses and promote the greater good of science.The average researcher thinks they are better than their colleagues at following good research practices. They also think that their own…

Jamey Simpson was 10 when he watched the space shuttle lift off from Kennedy Space Center with his mother, astronaut Cady Coleman, on board. A voice from a hand-held radio counted down as fire spewed from the rocket and propelled it skyward in a chest-crushing roar. Now 23, Jamey recalls the existential weight that followed. “It was in that moment, I realized, `My mom is really gone and she’s not on the planet anymore.’”Space: The Longest Goodbye, which premieres March 8 in theaters and on Amazon and AppleTV, is not your…

In the 1960s the Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel devised a way to measure self‑control in four-year-olds. He would leave the preschoolers alone in a room with a plate of marshmallows and a challenge: they could eat one marshmallow right away, or wait until the adult returned and eat two. In the decades that followed, he noticed something interesting. The four-year-olds who had waited for the two marshmallows did better at school, were less likely to take drugs or end up in jail, were happier and earned more. He came…

The beginning of a new series that explores seven stories and the thread that ties them together: artificial intelligence. In this prologue, Hannah (not her real name) has met Noah and he has changed her life for the better. So why does she have concerns about him? How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Quick and easy interventions that inspire people to take direct climate action are the holy grail. Behavioral scientists and policymakers are keen to learn which small steps can make the biggest difference. One of the largest experiments ever conducted in climate change psychology shows that the same interventions have different outcomes depending on the specific context, and crucially, the…

By Elizabeth Fernandez, University of California - San Francisco February 27, 2024UCSF research establishes a connection between childhood trauma and lifelong health consequences, emphasizing the critical need for early detection and intervention to mitigate the risk of physical and cognitive impairments in later life. Credit: SciTechDaily.comAdverse childhood experiences have impacts deep into old age, especially for those who experienced violence, and include both physical and cognitive impairments.It’s known that a…