-
Self-Proclaimed Experts More Vulnerable to the Illusion of Knowledge
Research reveals that the more people think they know about a topic in general, the more likely they are to allege knowledge of completely made-up information and false facts.
-
Are You a Head Person or a Heart Person?
New York Magazine: Imagine meeting a stranger and having a chance to learn what sort of person they are by asking just one question. You might try the obvious: “Are you an introvert or an extrovert?” Or you could probe their political leanings: “Are you Republican or Democrat?” In each case, you’d hope the answer would tell you a fair bit about the person’s psychology. Here’s a question you probably wouldn’t think of, but which new research suggests could be surprisingly informative: “Do you think your ‘self’ is located in your heart or in your brain?” Read the whole story: New York Magazine
-
Aggression in Children Makes Sense—Sometimes
The Wall Street Journal: Walk into any preschool classroom and you’ll see that some 4-year-olds are always getting into fights—while others seldom do, no matter the provocation. Even siblings can differ dramatically—remember Cain and Abel. Is it nature or nurture that causes these deep differences in aggression? The new techniques of genomics—mapping an organism’s DNA and analyzing how it works—initially led people to think that we might find a gene for undesirable individual traits like aggression.
-
Do people become more prejudiced as they grow older?
BBC Magazine: Admirers of Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird have been shocked by the transformation of the lawyer Atticus Finch into a racist in the newly published Go Set a Watchman, set 20 years later. But psychologist William von Hippel says it should not necessarily be a surprise - he argues that it's not unusual for people to become more prejudiced as they get older. This article contains language that some readers might find offensive. Atticus may be fictional, but his transition from the lone defender of an unjustly accused African American in To Kill a Mockingbird to a 72-year-old who resists school desegregation in Go Set a Watchman is all too real.
-
Teenagers Who Don’t Get Enough Sleep at Higher Risk for Mental Health Problems
Scientific American: Many studies have examined the effects of sufficient versus insufficient sleep on mental health. A new study, published in February in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, takes a more nuanced look, attempting to determine just how much each hour less per night really costs—where teenagers are concerned. ... These correlational findings do not prove that lack of sleep is causing these problems. Certainly the reverse can be true: depression and anxiety can cause insomnia.
-
New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Clarifying the Behavioral Economics of Social Anxiety Disorder: Effects of Interpersonal Problems and Symptom Severity on Generosity Thomas L. Rodebaugh, Richard G. Heimberg, Kristin P. Taylor, and Eric J. Lenze Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is associated with lower interpersonal warmth, something previous studies have detected via behavioral economic tasks. In two studies, the researchers attempted to replicate and expand on these findings by having participants with and without an anxiety disorder complete a flexible iterated prisoner's dilemma (FIPD) task.
