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Buffering Stress with Optimism
Everything from traffic to tests can cause us to “freak out,” yet some people naturally handle stress better than others. Joëlle Jobin, 2012 APSSC Student Research Award winner, wanted to see if being an optimist or a pessimist could change the way stress affects individuals. When we stress out, our bodies release cortisol, a steroid hormone from the adrenal gland. Too much cortisol can have an adverse effect. Jobin and Carsten Wrosch, both from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, tested the association among stress, cortisol, and the buffering effect of optimism.
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In Sales, Confidence and Charisma May Not Seal the Deal
Think of a stereotypical salesperson and you’re likely to conjure up someone who’s extraverted, gregarious, and assertive. But a new study reveals that “ambiverts,” people who are neither introverted nor extraverted but who fall somewhere
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Challenges and Successes in Dissemination of Evidence-Based Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress: Lessons Learned From Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD
Read the Full Text (PDF, HTML) Each year, millions of individuals experience a trauma -- whether it is a car accident, an assault, an injury, or a natural disaster. Although many individuals recover from a traumatic event, others go on to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- an anxiety disorder characterized by severe and persistent stress reactions in response to the trauma. The individual and societal effects of PTSD are great; therefore, it is imperative to treat PTSD using the best and most effective methods available, as backed by psychological science. In this report, Edna B. Foa (University of Pennsylvania), Seth J. Gillihan (University of Pennsylvania), and Richard A.
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Low on Self-Control? Surrounding Yourself With Strong-Willed Friends May Help
Research suggests that people with low self-control prefer and depend on people with high self-control, possibly as a way to make up for the skills they themselves lack.
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Reframing Stress: Stage Fright Can Be Your Friend
Scientists find that simply encouraging people to reframe the signs of stress before public speaking was a surprisingly effective way of handling stage fright.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science. Common DNA Markers Can Account for More Than Half of the Genetic Influence on Cognitive Abilities Robert Plomin, Claire M. A. Haworth, Emma L. Meaburn, Thomas S. Price, Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, and Oliver S. P. Davis Although past research has shown that cognitive ability is heritable, it has proved difficult for genome-wide association studies to identify the genetic variants that account for this heritability.