-
Having to Make Quick Decisions Helps Witnesses Identify the Bad Guy in a Lineup
Eyewitness identification evidence is often persuasive in the courtroom and yet current eyewitness identification tests often fail to pick the culprit. Even worse, these tests sometimes result in wrongfully accusing innocent suspects. Now psychological scientists are proposing a radical alternative to the traditional police lineup that focuses on eyewitnesses’ confidence judgments.
-
Speaking Two Languages Also Benefits Low-Income Children
Living in poverty is often accompanied by conditions that can negatively influence cognitive development. Is it possible that being bilingual might counteract these effects? Although previous research has shown that being bilingual enhances executive functioning in middle-class children, less is known about how it affects lower income populations. In a study forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientist Pascale Engel de Abreu of the University of Luxembourg and colleagues examine the effects of speaking two languages on the executive functioning of low-income children.
-
New Research on Judgment and Decision-Making From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research on judgment and decision-making published in Psychological Science and Current Directions in Psychological Science. Negotiation Topic as a Moderator of Gender Differences in Negotiation Julia B. Bear and Linda Babcock Although research has shown that women are less likely to initiate negotiations than men are, research in this area has focused mostly on negotiations of "masculine" issues, such as monetary compensation or legal situations.
-
Language and Emotion – Insights from Psychological Science
We use language every day to express our emotions, but can this language actually affect what and how we feel? Two new studies from Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, explore the ways in which the interaction between language and emotion influences our well-being. Putting Feelings into Words Can Help Us Cope with Scary Situations Katharina Kircanski and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles investigated whether verbalizing a current emotional experience, even when that experience is negative, might be an effective method for treating for people with spider phobias.
-
Time Flies When You’re Having Goal-Motivated Fun
Though the seconds may tick by on the clock at a regular pace, our experience of the 'fourth dimension' is anything but uniform. When we're waiting in line or sitting in a boring meeting, time seems to slow down to a trickle. And when we get caught up in something completely engrossing - a gripping thriller, for example - we may lose sense of time altogether. But what about the idea that time flies when we're having fun? New research from psychological science suggests that the familiar adage may really be true, with a caveat: time flies when we're have goal-motivated fun.
-
Politics and Prejudice – Insights from Psychological Science
New research from psychological science explores factors operating in political attitudes that could explain why political ideology and prejudice are often linked. Liberals and Conservatives Both Prejudiced Against Groups with Opposing Values Research has associated political conservatism with prejudice toward various stereotyped groups. But research has also shown that people select and interpret evidence consistent with their own pre-existing attitudes and ideologies. In this article, Chambers and colleagues hypothesized that, contrary to what some research might indicate, prejudice is not restricted to a particular political ideology.
