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Can We Reverse Aging? The Astonishing Power Of The Human Mind
The human mind has always been an object of great astonishment. A tremendous amount of research has been done to understand the functioning and power of the brain. Scientists have pushed the boundaries of possibilities and have introduced us to facts that have left us flabbergasted. In the year 1981, renowned Harvard social psychologist Ellen Langer conducted one such study (subscription required). She was on a mission to test that if we could turn the clock back psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? She was going to test whether our attitude, beliefs and mindset played a role in our physical health, more specifically, in our aging process.
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In Wake Of George Floyd’s Death, Psychologist Reexamines Racial Bias In Policing
The back-to-back deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have spurred protests across the country. Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, was shot multiple times by Louisville Metro Police Department officers after they forced their way inside her home. The officer who arrested Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was videotaped kneeling on Floyd's neck for multiple minutes before Floyd died. The current moment raises serious questions about the future of policing, how bias affects police work, and the mistrust many communities of color feel toward the police. Stanford University’s Dr.
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Protests Over Killings of Black People Could Erode Racism, Researcher Says
Images and reports of people taking to the streets to protest last month’s killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police have sparked conversations among Americans on police use of force to control crowds, the morality of looting, and the destruction of property to vent anger and garner attention for a cause. Divergent perceptions of the unrest have roots in unconscious biases and knowledge of historical contexts, says James Jones, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Delaware, Newark, who has studied the psychology underlying prejudice and racism.
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Feeling Upset? Try This Special Writing Technique
After his father was rushed to the hospital with gastrointestinal bleeding, Yanatha Desouvre began to panic. So he did the one thing he knew would calm himself: He wrote. “I’m so scared,” Mr. Desouvre started. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose my dad.” In the next few weeks, Mr. Desouvre filled several notebooks, writing about his worry as well as his happy memories—the jokes he’d shared with his dad, the basketball games they’d watched, the time they put up hurricane shutters together, then cooled down with ice cream. Sometimes he cried as he wrote. Often he laughed. “Writing allowed me to face my fear,” says Mr.
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Policing and Law Enforcement: Further Considerations from Psychological Science
A review of some research on police and stereotyping, police officers’ aggressiveness, and the impact of psychological science on policing in the United States.
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National Institute of Mental Health Unveils New Strategic Plan
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the largest funders of psychological science research at the National Institutes of Health, has unveiled a new strategic plan that outlines the goals and objectives that the institute will follow in its funding decisions for research over the next 5 years.
