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People Value Resources More Consistently When They Are Scarce
We tend to be economically irrational when it comes to choosing how we use resources like money and time but scarcity can convert us into economically rational decision makers, according to research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Research from psychological science has shown that we humans make economically irrational decisions all the time, influenced by contextual factors that have no bearing on the utility or pleasure we will derive from a good or a service. We may scoff at the idea of buying a $4 hot dog from a street vendor, for example, but have no qualms about getting a $7 hot dog at a baseball game.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Targeted Rejection Predicts Decreased Anti-Inflammatory Gene Expression and Increased Symptom Severity in Youth With Asthma Michael L. M. Murphy, George M. Slavich, Edith Chen, and Gregory E. Miller Targeted rejection -- the intentional rejection of a person by an individual or group -- seems to be a uniquely damaging form of interpersonal stress. Participants between the ages of 9 and 18 with diagnosed asthma were assessed every 6 months for 2 years. At each assessment, participants underwent a blood draw and a stress interview and reported their daily asthma symptoms for 2 weeks following each visit.
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Increasing Individualism in US Linked with Rise of White-Collar Jobs
Rising individualism in the United States over the last 150 years is mainly associated with a societal shift toward more white-collar occupations, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study, which looked at various cultural indicators — including word usage in books, trends in baby names, and shifts in family structure — suggests that a shift toward greater individualism is systematically correlated with socioeconomic trends, but not with trends in urbanization or environmental demands such as frequency of diseases or disasters.
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Babies Can Follow Complex Social Situations
Infants can make sense of complex social situations, taking into account who knows what about whom, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Our findings show that 13-month-olds can make sense of social situations using their understanding about others’ minds and social evaluation skills,” says psychological scientists and study authors You-jung Choi and Yuyan Luo of the University of Missouri.
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Transgender Kids Show Consistent Gender Identity Across Measures
A study with children ages 5 to 12 indicates that the gender identity of these children is deeply held and is not the result of confusion about gender identity.
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Playing With Puzzles and Blocks Could Build Children’s Spatial Skills
Play may seem like fun and games, but new research shows that specific kinds of play are actually associated with development of particular cognitive skills. Data from a nationally representative study show that children who play frequently with puzzles, blocks, and board games tend to have better spatial reasoning ability. The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Our findings show that spatial play specifically is related to children's spatial reasoning skills,” says psychological scientist and lead researcher Jamie Jirout of Rhodes College.
