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4th Brain Development & Learning: Making Sense of the Science Conference
Date : July 24-28, 2013 Location : Westin Bayshore Hotel, Vancouver, BC, Canada Learn about (a) important cutting-edge research in neuroscience and mental health, and (b) promising new evidence-based approaches, that can improve patient care, in clear terms you can understand and see the immediate relevance of. Topics include: Sex Differences in the Effects of Prenatal Stress on the Brain; Babies Brains DO Recover, but Habit Often Hides That; Trauma, Stress, & Healing; How Women’s Brains Differ From Men’s; The Neural Basis of Empathy. For information & registration: http://braindevelopmentandlearning.com
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To regift or not to regift: Is it ever OK?
TODAY: OK, I’ve done it. And quite frankly, I always feel guilty about regifting. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the present. But sometimes you get something that you really don’t like or can’t use, and there’s no way to take it back to the store. You don’t want to offend the person who gave it to you and you don’t want to throw it away. So you pass it along to someone else who might appreciate it more. Is this a resourceful way of dealing with an unwanted gift? Or is this rude and distasteful behavior? ...
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The 21-Minute Marriage Cure!
I know. I know. It sounds like one of those late-late night TV pitches, or some volume on the self-help shelf of a bookstore. Six-pack abs or a lucrative new career today—no effort required. Only $19.95—half off if you act now! I’m as cynical as you are about such claims, and we’re right to be. Any offer of something for nothing is almost always a gimmick or scam. But what if such a claim were based on scientific theory and supported by credible evidence? Would we be able to put our skepticism aside and give the claim a fair hearing, even if it sounds outlandish? Eli Finkel is hoping that you can. Finkel is a psychological scientist at Northwestern University and an expert on relationships.
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Don’t underestimate your willpower
Los Angeles Times: Every year about this time, I write a list of New Year's resolutions. It's the usual stuff: Work out three times a week, cut back on coffee and alcohol, floss daily, relearn Spanish, watch less television, etc. I then put the list in the drawer of my bedside table, where it remains until I take it out a year later and laugh at my lack of progress. I'm not alone. The enthusiasm with which Americans make New Year's resolutions is matched only by our chronic inability to see them through. Gyms are packed in January but clear out by March. According to surveys, only about 10% of resolutions survive a full year.
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The Challenges Of Treating Personality Disorders
NPR: Personality disorders represent some of the most challenging and mysterious problems in the field of mental health. People suffering from antisocial personality disorder or obsessive compulsive personality disorder are often misdiagnosed. The effects on the sufferers and their families can be wrenching. ... Joining us now to shed some light on how the psychiatric community is dealing with these disorders is Mark Lenzenweger. He is the psychology professor at Binghamton University and professor of psychiatry at the Personality Disorders Institute at the Weill Cornell Medical College, and he's with us by phone from his home in New York. Read the whole story: NPR
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Courtroom Justice
Scientific American: In another feature in the issue, a psychologist and a lawyer team up to show how psychological science can improve the accuracy of courtroom decisions, preventing miscarriages of justice in which the wrong person is put behind bars. They present evidence-based solutions for incorrect eyewitness accounts, false confessions, racial bias, prejudicial courtroom procedure and picking innocent individuals in subject line-ups. It’s an important story with widespread implications and clear prescriptions for change (see “Your Brain on Trial,” by Scott O. Lilienfeld and Robert Byron). Read the whole story: Scientific American
