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Imagining Positive Outcomes May Bring Pleasure Now But Pain Later
Positive fantasies about how future events will turn out can boost your mood in the here and now, but they may actually lead to increased depressive symptoms in the long run, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Our findings suggest that as pleasurable and helpful as positive fantasies are for depressive mood in the moment, they can be problematic and cumbersome over time,” says lead researcher Gabriele Oettingen of New York University.
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Replication Effort Finds No Evidence That Grammatical Aspect Affects Perceived Intent
A multi-lab replication project found no evidence that the verb form used to describe a crime influences the way people judge criminal intent, in contrast to previously published findings. The Registered Replication Report (RRR), published in the January 2016 issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, synthesizes the results from 12 independent replication attempts. In 2011, William Hart and Dolores Albarracín published a striking study in Psychological Science examining how the verb aspect in which a passage is written affects how that passage is interpreted.
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2016 Singapore Conference on Applied Psychology
The 2016 Singapore Conference on Applied Psychology (SCAP 2016), organized by East Asia Research and supported by the Association of Psychotherapists and Counselors (Singapore), Hong Kong Shue Yan University, and Singapore University of Technology and Design, will be held Singapore from June 14–15, 2016. Researchers and practitioners from all fields of psychology research and practice will present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, concerns, and practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted in the field of applied psychology.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Daily Actigraphy Profiles Distinguish Depressive and Interepisode States in Bipolar Disorder Anda Gershon, Nilam Ram, Sheri L. Johnson, Allison G. Harvey, and Jamie M. Zeitzer Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized, in part, by disruption in physical activity; however, few studies have adequately tracked activity levels in BD to see if they are truly an indicator of mood states. Participants with and without BD wore a watch-based activity-monitoring device for 3 months. Participants completed demographic, symptom, and medication assessments at the beginning of each month.
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How to Become the Smartest Group in the Room
You’re a manager tasked with putting together a team to tackle a new project. What qualities do you look for in creating such a crack team? Research from psychological scientists Anita Williams Woolley (Carnegie Mellon University), Ishani Aggarwal (Fundação Getulio Vargas), and Thomas Malone (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) finds that the smartest groups don’t necessarily have the highest IQs – rather, what they do tend to have are excellent social skills.
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Teens Take Fewer Risks Around Slightly Older Adults
Adolescents are known risk takers, especially when they're surrounded by same-aged peers. But new research suggests that being in a group that includes just one slightly older adult might decrease teens' propensity to engage in risky behavior. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "The take home message is that decision making in groups of adolescents and young adults is more prudent when a somewhat older adult is present," explains psychological scientist and lead researcher Laurence Steinberg of Temple University.
