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The Oldest Living Land Animal Teaches a Master Class in Pavlovian Conditioning
Longevity is not the only reason why we should find Jonathan the tortoise to be of special interest. He’s confirming what Pavlov said about conditioning a century ago: It isn’t just about salivation!
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Navigating Regret in Decision-Making
Human reasoning is not flawless. In this episode, Under the Cortex examines how human reasoning can be contextual, as well as the biases that people have in decision making.
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Visual Memory Distortions Paint a Picture of the Past That Never Was
Basic research on our imperfect visual memories is bringing to light how and why we may misremember what we have seen.
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Quit Being a Cynic at Work. It’s Holding You Back.
We don’t want to be friends with our co-workers. We don’t want to help out with that project. We don’t trust the CEO…or our boss…or that guy in accounting. Have we taken our cynicism at work too far? In some ways, our bad attitude makes sense. Many of us made work our church, only to end up laid off, burned out or underpaid. Now we check out, do less, gossip and snark. It isn’t getting us anywhere good, according to Jamil Zaki, a Stanford University psychology professor who runs the school’s social neuroscience lab.
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Programs to Prevent Sexual Violence Show No Evidence of Curbing Assaults
Sexual violence prevention programs effectively change ideas and beliefs that underscore assaults, but show no evidence of reducing their actual occurrence, according to a new analysis published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
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Adolescent Anxiety Is Hard to Treat. New Drug-Free Approaches May Help
Adolescence is a remarkable period of development and learning, a time when youths explore and adapt to changes in their social worlds and begin to form a sense of who they are and hope to be. It is a time when they first demonstrate a dramatic adaptability to the unique cognitive, emotional, physical, social and sexual demands placed on them as they transition from dependence on their parents or caregivers to relative independence. It is also, unfortunately, a time when the emergence of most mental health problems peaks.