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Your Spouse’s Voice Is Easier to Hear – And Easier to Ignore
With so many other competing voices, having a conversation on a bustling subway or at a crowded cocktail party takes a great deal of concentration. New research suggests that the familiar voice of a spouse stands out against other voices, helping to sharpen auditory perception and making it easier to focus on one voice at a time. “Familiar voices appear to influence the way an auditory 'scene' is perceptually organized,” explains lead researcher Ingrid Johnsrude of Queen’s University, Canada. Johnsrude and her colleagues asked married couples, ages 44-79, to record themselves reading scripted instructions out loud.
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Science Reveals the Benefits of an Aging Workforce
The over-65 set is not only increasing in numbers (by 2030 the percentage of people age 65 and older is expected to increase from almost 13 percent to almost 20 percent, according to data from the Stanford Center on Longevity). They are also healthier and more active than in previous generations. That means many of them will be working longer than a generation ago. Does their increasing presence in the workplace predict an increase or decrease in ageism? Psychological researchers are stepping up research on bias against older adults as part of an effort to break stereotypes on aging and curb age discrimination.
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Forensic Experts May Be Biased By the Side That Retains Them
Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists are ethically bound to be impartial when performing evaluations or providing expert opinions in court. But new research suggests that courtroom experts’ evaluations may be influenced by whether their paycheck comes from the defense or the prosecution. The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings reveal that experts who believed they were working for prosecutors tended to rate sexually violent offenders as being at greater risk of re-offending than did experts who thought they were working for the defense.
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The Job Candidate’s GPA: There’s More Than Meets the ‘A’
At face value, a job applicant’s grade point average seems a reasonable predictor of effective job performance – a high GPA signals the individual has a considerable degree of competence. No wonder two-thirds of all employers use it as a screening tool, and more than half eliminate applicants with a 3.0 or lower. Indeed, GPA is a powerful indicator. But according to new research, many employers and admissions professionals use it imperfectly – without comparing an individual’s GPA to their school’s average – a practice that leads to systematic mistakes in selection decisions.
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Divorce Elevates Risk for Depression, But Only for Some People
A data analysis uncovers some new clues as to why depressive episodes follow divorce for some people, but not others.
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Do Girls Really Experience More Math Anxiety?
Girls report more math anxiety on general survey measures but are not actually more anxious during math classes and exams, according to new research forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Existing research suggests that females are more anxious when it comes to mathematics than their male peers, despite similar levels of achievement.
