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Non-fatal attraction? Hollywood should add condoms to sex scenes in same way as it cut out cigarettes, says scientist
The Daily Mail: Hollywood studios should be forced to add condoms to sex scenes to make teenagers have safe sex, a researcher has said. Teenagers often use sex scenes in films as a 'script' for their real-life sex - but Hollywood films tend to portray condoms as comical. A researcher found that watching screen sex led teenagers to use condoms less - and called for regulation. ‘One important observation from our evaluation of the films was that few showed contraceptive use or safe sexual practices,’ researcher Ross O’Hara from the University of Missouri said. ‘When safe sex is portrayed in films, it is often in comedies and is presented as an inconvenience or embarrassment.
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Jaw-dropping moments really do make time appear to stand still
The Telegraph: Regular "awesome" experiences may also improve our mental health and make us nicer people, claim psychologists. The findings raise the prospect of "awe therapy" to overcome the stressful effects of fast-paced modern life. Awe is the emotion felt when encountering something so vast and overwhelming it alters one's mental perspective. Examples might include experiencing a breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon, taking in the ethereal beauty of the Northern Lights, or becoming lost in a dazzling display of stars on a clear, dark night. The new research found that by fixing the mind to the present moment, awe seems to slow down perceived time. Read the whole story: The Telegraph
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Speaking Multiple Languages Can Influence Children’s Emotional Development
On the classic TV show I Love Lucy, Ricky Ricardo was known for switching over to rapid-fire Spanish whenever he was upset, despite the fact Lucy had no idea what her Cuban husband was saying. These scenes were comedy gold, but they also provided a relatable portrayal of the linguistic phenomenon of code-switching. This kind of code-switching, or switching back and forth between different languages, happens all the time in multilingual environments, and often in emotional situations.
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Who Influences Your Vote? It May Depend on How Soon the Election Is
Neighbors’ lawn signs, public opinion polls and even a conversation in the next restaurant booth can affect how people vote in an election. But it all depends on how far away the election is.
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Disharmony in the Land of Nod
The most compelling personal memoirs—Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life, Mary Karr’s The Liars' Club, and others—are not happy stories. They are recollections of childhood adversity, and rarely are they triumphant survivors' tales. The most honest of these remembrances are accounts of the lingering scars and damage done. And damage is done. Scientists have thoroughly documented the pernicious effects of traumatic childhood events, right down to the cellular level. The young brain is highly vulnerable to all sorts of stress, and study after study has shown that childhood troubles can skew the development of key neural networks involved in emotional stability.
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Mind games help athletes psych their way to victory
msnbc: Nearly three dozen studies have analyzed sports "self-talk," in which athletes tell themselves variants of "I've got this!" or "I can beat this guy!" Sports psychologist Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis of the University of Thessaly in Greece and his colleagues found that the strategy doesn't always work. In general, self-talk worked better for fine motor movements such as those involving the fingers, as in archery, rather than for gross motor skills using the large muscles of the legs and arms, as in track.
