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Heart Disease Risk Linked With Spouses’ Social Support
Matters of the heart can influence actual heart health, according to new research. A study from researchers at the University of Utah shows that the ways in which your spouse is supportive -- and how you support your spouse -- can actually have significant bearing on your overall cardiovascular health. The findings reveal that when both partners perceive the support they get from each other as ambivalent -- that is, sometimes helpful and sometimes upsetting– each partner’s levels of coronary artery calcification (CAC) tend to be particularly high. These results are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Wider-Faced Dates More Attractive as Short-Term Mates
Women may perceive men with wider faces as more dominant and more attractive for short-term relationships, according to a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Our study shows that within three minutes of meeting in real life, women find more dominant, wider-faced men attractive for short-term relationships, and want to go on another date with them,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Katherine Valentine of Singapore Management University. According to Valentine, there’s considerable academic debate about whether physical dominance is advantageous in mating – that is, actually attractive to women.
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For Athletes, There’s No Place Like Home
Research on sports and athletic competition suggests that there is scientific support for the idea of a “home field advantage.”
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For Infants, Stress May be Caught, Not Taught
Babies not only pick up on their mother’s stress, they also show corresponding physiological changes, research shows.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Show Me the Numbers: Precision as a Cue to Others' Confidence Alexandra Jerez-Fernandez, Ashley N. Angulo, and Daniel M. Oppenheimer The authors investigated a newly identified indicator of confidence -- precision. In the second of two studies, participants played a "The Price Is Right"-style game in which they had to give price ranges for three objects. Participants were provided with audience suggestions that were more or less precise before choosing members of the audience to help them with subsequent price estimations.
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Infants Know Plants Provide Food, but Need to See They’re Safe to Eat
Infants as young as six months old tend to expect that plants are food sources, but only after an adult shows them that the food is safe to eat, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings show that, after watching an adult put part of a plant and part of a man-made object in her mouth, infants at 6- and 18-months of age preferentially identify the plant as the food source.