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New Research From Psychological Science
A sample of research articles exploring the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying math achievement, genetic and environmental links with divorce, developmental pathways to literacy, and the temporal dynamics of food choices.
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A Brain Implant Improved Memory, Scientists Report
Scientists have developed a brain implant that noticeably boosted memory in its first serious test run, perhaps offering a promising new strategy to treat dementia, traumatic brain injuries and other conditions that damage memory. The device works like a pacemaker, sending electrical pulses to aid the brain when it is struggling to store new information, but remaining quiet when it senses that the brain is functioning well. In the test, reported Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, the device improved word recall by 15 percent — roughly the amount that Alzheimer’s disease steals over two and half years.
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Talking with—Not Just to—Kids Powers How They Learn Language
Children from the poorer strata of society begin life not only with material disadvantages but cognitive ones. Decades of research have confirmed this, including a famous 1995 finding by psychologists Betty Hart and Todd Risley: By age four children reared in poverty have heard 30 million fewer words, on average, than their peers from wealthier families. That gap has been linked to shakier language skills at the start of school, which, in turn, predicts weaker academic performance. But the sheer quantity of words a toddler hears is not the most significant influence on language acquisition.
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In Promoting Green Behaviors, Pride Beats Guilt
When it comes to our relationship to the environment, we have a lot to feel guilty about. That has led many environmental organizations to leverage that uncomfortable feeling. Don't recycle that bottle, and it'll probably end up in the ocean, where fish will eat the degraded plastic and die. How does that make you feel? It turns out that this is not an optimal approach to promoting environmentally friendly behavior. Recent research concludes that, when it comes to saving the Earth, pride is a far stronger motivator than guilt.
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The More Gender Equality, the Fewer Women in STEM
Though their numbers are growing, only 27 percent of all students taking the AP Computer Science exam in the United States are female. The gender gap only grows worse from there: Just 18 percent of American computer-science college degrees go to women. This is in the United States, where many college men proudly describe themselves as “male feminists” and girls are taught they can be anything they want to be. Meanwhile, in Algeria, 41 percent of college graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math—or “STEM,” as its known—are female. There, employment discrimination against women is rife and women are often pressured to make amends with their abusive husbands.
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Why admitting a weakness makes people like you more
Your main task this afternoon is to interview the last two candidates for the position of manager on your team. At the close of the second interview you realize both candidates have the same relevant experience, strong academic results and practical ideas to implement once they start. You’re wondering how you’ll ever choose between them. As the final candidate gets up to leave, he catches his foot awkwardly on the table leg, upending the dregs of his coffee over the new floor. He leaves ashen-faced. Who do you think you’ll end up picking? If the Pratfall Effect is correct, it’ll be the clumsy candidate. The bias was discovered in 1966 by Harvard University psychologist Elliot Aronson.
