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Living in Deprived Neighborhoods May Hinder Reward Anticipation, Moderating Mental Health
Reduced access to rewards may influence brain development, contributing to the increased prevalence of mental health disorders in children living in economically impoverished environments.
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Health and Happiness Depend on Each Other, Psychological Science Says
New research adds to the growing body of evidence that happiness not only feels good, it is good for your physical health. [July 22, 2020]
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We’re Trying To Get People To Wear Masks The Wrong Way
The words “please wear a face mask” is on almost every sign that’s posted in the windows of grocery stores, hair salons, and shops. In many places it’s now mandatory to wear a mask and while the a lot people have embraced the new norm, in some parts of the U.S., the requirement to put on a mask has brought about political protests, arrests and violence. In fact, a security guard in Michigan was killed after telling a customer to put on a mask. And a lot of it comes down to how things are communicated. There’s been plenty of critique on the inconsistencies of messaging from public health officials and how that’s made it harder to get people to start wearing a mask.
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Gordon Bower, Inventive Memory Researcher, Is Dead at 87
APS Past President Gordon H. Bower (1932-2020) Gordon H. Bower, a research psychologist who spent more than half a century studying how the brain learns and remembers, as well as a host of related subjects, and who was among the leaders in his field, died on June 17 at his home in Stanford, Calif. He was 87. Stanford University, where he taught for almost 50 years, announced his death. The cause was complications of pulmonary fibrosis. When Dr. Bower joined the Stanford faculty in 1959, he became part of a psychology department that was already highly regarded.
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The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in the Pandemic
APS Members/Authors: Elliot Aronson and Carol Tavris Members of Heaven’s Gate, a religious cult, believed that as the Hale-Bopp comet passed by Earth in 1997, a spaceship would be traveling in its wake—ready to take true believers aboard. Several members of the group bought an expensive, high-powered telescope so that they might get a clearer view of the comet. They quickly brought it back and asked for a refund. When the manager asked why, they complained that the telescope was defective, that it didn’t show the spaceship following the comet.
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The Mug Shot, a Crime Story Staple, Is Dropped by Some Newsrooms and Police
For more than a century, police departments and news organizations have worked together to disseminate photos of people after their arrest, often bleary-eyed and despondent, sometimes defiant and smiling. It’s a practice as old as the mug shot itself: publicizing an unflattering close-up of a person’s face and profile, taken at one of the worst possible moments. And in some police departments and newsrooms across the country, it may be on its way out. William Scott, the San Francisco police chief, announced on Wednesday that his department would no longer release mug shots of people who had been arrested unless there was an immediate public safety reason to do so.
