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Eggs, Butter, Milk – Memory Is Not Just A Shopping List!
Often, the goal of science is to show that things are not what they seem to be. But now, in an article which will be published in an upcoming issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, a veteran cognitive psychologist exhorts his colleagues in memory research to consult the truth of their own experience. “Cognitive psychologists are trying to be like physicists and chemists, which means doing controlled laboratory experiments, getting numbers out of them and explaining the numbers,” says Douglas L.
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Caregivers of mentally ill carry heavy burden
The Montreal Gazette: Having a brother with schizophrenia has defined Ellen's life. When she's not feeling guilty for having a normal life, she is using all of her time, energy and emotion to cope with her brother's many issues. "There is just no relief," said Ellen, who didn't want her real name used. She is not alone. On the day after comedian Howie Mandel told a Montreal crowd that mental health issues are ubiquitous in today's society, a study shows that caregivers of the mentally ill face a level of burden that is almost off the charts and must learn how to refocus their priorities in order to cope. Read more: The Montreal Gazette
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Using the Psychology of Evil To Do Good
Science: Forty years after presiding over the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, Phil Zimbardo has reinvented himself as a social entrepreneur, leading a new project that will attempt to turn the Stanford Prison Experiment and other studies of the dark side of the human psyche into a force for good. Last year, Zimbardo founded the Heroic Imagination Project, which operates out of a former Army post in San Francisco's Presidio park.
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The Four Loko Effect
The popular, formerly caffeinated, fruity alcoholic beverage, Four Loko, has been blamed for the spike in alcohol-related hospitalizations, especially throughout college campuses. Initially, caffeine was deemed the culprit and the Food and Drug Administration ordered all traces of caffeine to be removed from Four Loko and all other similar beverages. However, according to an upcoming evaluation in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, caffeine might not be the primary cause of the spike in hospitalizations.
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Ha valaki nem fél, pszichopata lesz?
HVG Hungary: A pszichopátia működésével kapcsolatos egyik feltevés szerint az állapot kialakulása egyfajta félelemhiánnyal függ össze. A Psychological Science folyóirat legújabb számában megjelenő tanulmány kimutatta, hogy a pszichopátia bizonyos kockázati tényezőjével bíró gyermekek nem ismerik fel ugyanolyan gyorsan a félelmet, mint az egészséges gyermekek. A tanulmányt vezető Patrick D. Sylvers, a Washington Egyetem kutatója elmondta, az a hipotézis, hogy a pszichopaták nem éreznek vagy nem ismerik fel a félelmet egészen az 1950-es évekre nyúlik vissza.
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The Language of Love: Word Usage Predicts Romantic Attraction
Scientific American: What distinguishes a fling that ends in tears from long-term love? Past research suggests that the most successful couples share common interests, values and personality traits. Now new research published in Psychological Science proposes that the simplest words lovebirds use to speak to each other also make a difference—both in determining how attracted they are and how likely they are to stay together. James Pennebaker and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin recorded 40 men and 40 women as they participated in a speed-dating exercise in which they talked to 12 strangers of the opposite sex for four minutes apiece.
