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Why Sports Wins and Sunshine May Lead You to Gamble
A sunny day or the fact that your favorite sports team unexpectedly won yesterday won’t improve your chances of winning the lottery and yet they might increase the likelihood that you’ll buy a ticket.
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No Evidence of Seasonal Differences in Depressive Symptoms
A large-scale survey of U.S. adults provides no evidence that levels of depressive symptoms vary from season to season, according to new research published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings are inconsistent with the notion of seasonal depression as a commonly occurring disorder. “In conversations with colleagues, the belief in the association of seasonal changes with depression is more-or-less taken as a given and the same belief is widespread in our culture,” says Steven LoBello, a professor of psychology at Auburn University at Montgomery and senior author on the new study.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: The Evolutionary Basis of Honor Cultures Andrzej Nowak, Michele J. Gelfand, Wojciech Borkowski, Dov Cohen, and Ivan Hernandez In honor cultures, people often fight to defend their reputation, even if doing so is personally risky or costly. Under what circumstances is this type of behavior likely to arise?
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Speed Reading Promises Are Too Good to Be True, Scientists Find
There is little scientific evidence to suggest that speed reading offers a shortcut to understanding lots of text.
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Couples’ Quality of Life Linked Even When One Partner Dies
When one spouse passes away, his or her characteristics continue to be linked with the surviving spouse’s well-being, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings also indicate that this link between the deceased spouse and surviving spouse is as strong as that between partners who are both living. “The people we care about continue to influence our quality of life even when we they are gone,” says lead researcher Kyle Bourassa, a psychology doctoral student at the University of Arizona.
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Basic Ratio Capacity May Serve as Building Block for Math Knowledge
Understanding fractions is a critical mathematical ability, and yet it’s one that continues to confound a lot of people well into adulthood. New research finds evidence for an innate ratio processing ability that may play a role in determining our aptitude for understanding fractions and other formal mathematical concepts. The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
