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Wie Gesichter in der Erinnerung bleiben
Der Spiegel: Auge, Nase, Mund - wer Gesichter nur als Summe ihrer Bestandteile wahrnimmt, erkennt sie später schlechter wieder. Wer das Antlitz seines Gegenübers allerdings im Ganzen wahrnimmt, wird sich später eher an die Person erinnern. Das berichten Forscher von der chinesischen Beijing Normal University in dem Fachjournal "Psychological Science". "Im täglichen Leben nehmen wir unsere Welt sowohl holistisch, also im großen Ganzen wahr, aber auch analytisch, also in ihren Details", sagt der Autor der Studie, Liu Jia. Während das Gehirn generell alle möglichen Objekte wie Autos, Tiere und Häuser analysiere, sei für Gesichter eine ganzheitliche Verarbeitung bedeutsam.
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Breast-Feeding Is Important to Mother-Baby Bonding
TIME: Breast milk may be the key to mother-baby bonding, according to research that found that breast-feeding mothers demonstrate stronger brain responses when they hear their baby cry. They're also more likely than formula-feeding moms to bond with their babies, says a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Researchers at the Child Study Center at Yale University performed functional MRIs (fMRIs) on nine breast-feeding moms and eight formula feeders about a month after their babies were born. Participants listened to clips of their own baby and an unknown child crying, as researchers analyzed which areas of their brains lit up.
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National Pride Brings Happiness—But What You’re Proud of Matters
Research shows that feeling good about your country also makes you feel good about your own life—and many people take that as good news. But Matthew Wright, a political scientist at American University, and Tim Reeskens, a sociologist from Catholic University in Belgium, suspected that the positive findings about nationalism weren’t telling the whole story. “It’s fine to say pride in your country makes you happy,” says Wright. “But what kind of pride are we talking about?
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Impatient? Then Your Credit Probably Stinks
TIME: Were you sitting and drumming your fingers while waiting for this page to load? Do you think instant coffee takes too long? If you’re impatient, more than just your blood pressure will suffer: You’re also liable to have poor credit, according to a new study. Stephan Meier and Charles Sprenger, professors at Columbia University and Stanford University, respectively, collaborated on research that will be published in the Journal of Psychological Science next month. The key finding of their paper, “Time Discounting Predicts Creditworthiness,” is that people who demand instant gratification pay for their gotta-have-it-now attitude in the form of lower FICO scores.
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How to Save an Unproductive Day in 25 Minutes
The Wall Street Journal: How often have you had a work day when, as mid-afternoon races toward late-afternoon, you realize that you haven't really gotten anything done? Painfully often, if you're like many of the professionals we talked to for a recent study on everyday work life through Harvard Business School. Not only do unproductive days like this detract from the success of your projects, your team and your organization; they can endanger your own well-being. We discovered that nothing makes people feel happier and more engaged at work than making meaningful progress on something they care about. We call that the progress principle.
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Virginia Psychological Association Fall Convention
The 2012 Virginia Psychological Association Fall Convention will be held October 24-26 in Wintergreen, VA. For more information visit http://www.vapsych.org/cde.cfm?event=312055
