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Shared Pain Brings People Together
What doesn’t kill us may make us stronger as a group, according to findings from new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research suggests that, despite its unpleasantness, pain may actually have positive social consequences, acting as a sort of “social glue” that fosters cohesion and solidarity within groups: “Our findings show that pain is a particularly powerful ingredient in producing bonding and cooperation between those who share painful experiences,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Brock Bastian of the University of New South Wales in Australia.
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Faces Are More Likely to Seem Alive When We Want to Feel Connected
Feeling socially disconnected may lead us to lower our threshold for determining that another being is animate or alive, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “This increased sensitivity to animacy suggests that people are casting a wide net when looking for people they can possibly relate to -- which may ultimately help them maximize opportunities to renew social connections,” explains psychological scientist and lead researcher Katherine Powers of Dartmouth College.
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Food Craving Is Stronger, but Controllable, for Kids
Children show stronger food craving than adolescents and adults, but they are also able to use a cognitive strategy that reduces craving, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association
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New Research From <em>Clinical Psychological Science</em>
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Najwa C. Culver, Bram Vervliet, and Michelle G. Craske Although exposure therapy has been shown to be effective for treating anxiety disorders, fear symptoms can sometimes return. In this study, the researchers tested whether compound-presentation extinction trials -- in which two fear-inducing stimuli are presented simultaneously -- are better than single-presentation extinction trials for reducing the likelihood of relapse. Participants completed a fear-conditioning procedure before undergoing an extinction procedure that used single- and compound-stimulus presentation or only single-stimulus presentation.
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Stigma as a Barrier to Mental Health Care
Despite the availability of effective evidence-based treatment, about 40% of individuals with serious mental illness do not receive care and many who begin an intervention fail to complete it.
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Public Trust Has Dwindled With Rise in Income Inequality
Trust in others and confidence in societal institutions are at their lowest point in over three decades, analyses of national survey data reveal.
