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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Is Playing Video Games Related to Cognitive Abilities? Nash Unsworth, Thomas S. Redick, Brittany D. McMillan, David Z. Hambrick, Michael J. Kane, and Randall W. Engle Although many recent studies have indicated that playing video games may enhance various cognitive abilities, other studies have failed to replicate these findings. The authors suggest that this discrepancy may be a result of methodological issues such as small sample sizes and extreme-groups designs. The authors reanalyzed two large sets of data on participants' video-game playing in relation to their performance on a variety of cognitive-ability assessments.
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Educational App or Digital Candy? Helping Parents Choose Quality Apps for Kids
There are now over 80,000 apps marketed as “educational” in the Apple app store, the majority of which are targeted towards children and even babies. Parents are led to believe that these apps provide real learning opportunities for their children, but scientific research suggests that many of the apps are nothing more than digital candy. “Many apps marketed as ‘educational’ are basically the equivalent of sugary foods,” says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Temple University, co-author on a new report investigating educational apps.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Self-Distancing From Trauma Memories Reduces Physiological but Not Subjective Emotional Reactivity Among Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Blair E. Wisco, Brian P. Marx, Denise M. Sloan, Kaitlyn R. Gorman, Andrea L. Kulish, and Suzanne L. Pineles Self-distancing (i.e., taking a third-person perspective) has been shown to reduce emotional and physiological reactivity during self-reflection. In this study, veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were instructed to recount and analyze their worst traumatic event from either a first-person or a third-person perspective.
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Framing Time in Days, Not Years, Could Spur Action Toward Goals
Measuring time in days instead of months, or months instead of years, can make future events seem closer and thus more urgent.
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Online ‘Mindset’ Interventions Help Students Do Better in School
Brief web-based interventions with high school students can produce big results in their schoolwork and their appreciation of a positive, purposeful mindset, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "Two interventions, each lasting about 45 minutes and delivered online, raised achievement in a large and diverse group of underperforming students over an academic semester," wrote Gregory Walton, an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University, along with his colleagues.
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Ambiguous Situations Make It Easier to Justify Ethical Transgressions
Two experiments show that people are apt to cheat in favor of their self-interest but only when the situation is ambiguous enough to provide moral cover.
