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‘Was Doing’ Versus ‘Did’: Verbs Matter When Judging Other People’s Intentions
Your English teacher wasn't kidding: Grammar really does matter. The verb form used to describe an action can affect how the action is perceived—and these subtle variations could mean the difference between an innocent or guilty verdict in criminal law, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. William Hart, of the University of Alabama, was inspired to conduct the study by research on how people think about narratives.
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Calories on menus don’t affect kids’ food choices
Reuters: Requiring fast-food restaurants in New York City to post calorie counts on menus did little to cut the number of calories children and teens consumed, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. They found that children and adolescents noticed the calories posted on the menu but the calorie counts made little difference in what they chose to order. The researchers said taste was the most important factor the children and teens gave for their menu selections. Read the whole story: Reuters
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Got a Goal? A Helpful Partner Isn’t Always Helpful
Thinking about the support a significant other offers in pursuing goals can undermine the motivation to work toward those goals.
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Grief, Unedited
The New York Times: EVER since Joan Didion’s book “The Year of Magical Thinking” began its long run as a best seller in 2005, a number of first-person accounts of losing a husband have been published. Among them are Kate Braestrup’s “Here If You Need Me,” Anne Roiphe’s “Epilogue” and Kay Redfield Jamison’s “Nothing Was the Same.” This week, they are being joined by Joyce Carol Oates’s memoir “A Widow’s Story,” which recounts the death of her 77-year-old husband, Raymond Smith, from complications of pneumonia in 2008. While these memoirs are often moving, they are also highly subjective snapshots that don’t teach us much about how we typically grieve, nor more important, for how long.
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Web of Popularity, Achieved by Bullying
The New York Times: For many teenagers navigating the social challenges of high school, the ultimate goal is to become part of the “popular” crowd. But new research suggests that the road to high school popularity can be treacherous, and that students near the top of the social hierarchy are often both perpetrators and victims of aggressive behavior involving their peers. Read the whole story: The New York Times
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Does Social Anxiety Disorder Respond to Psychotherapy? Brain Study Says Yes
When psychotherapy is helping someone get better, what does that change look like in the brain? This was the question a team of Canadian psychological scientists set out to investigate in patients suffering from social anxiety disorder. Their findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science. Social anxiety is a common disorder, marked by overwhelming fears of interacting with others and expectations of being harshly judged. Medication and psychotherapy both help people with the disorder. But research on the neurological effects of psychotherapy has lagged far behind that on medication-induced changes in the brain.
