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Residents of Poorer Nations Find Greater Meaning in Life
While residents of wealthy nations tend to have greater life satisfaction, new research shows that those living in poorer nations report having greater meaning in life. These findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggest that meaning in life may be higher in poorer nations as a result of greater religiosity. As countries become richer, religion becomes less central to people’s lives and they lose a sense of meaning in life. “Thus far, the wealth of nations has been almost always associated with longevity, health, happiness, or life satisfaction,” explains psychological scientist Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia.
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Boosting Self-Worth Can Counteract Cognitive Effects of Poverty
For people in poverty, remembering better times — such as past success — improves cognitive functioning by several IQ points and increases their willingness to seek help from crucial aid services, a study finds.
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Income Inequality Is Rising, But Maybe Not as Fast as You Think
Americans’ perceptions of income inequality are largely over-inflated when compared with actual census data, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “With the genuine rise in wealth inequality over the past several decades, and the popular media’s intensive coverage of this issue, we wondered how income inequality is perceived by the average American,” says psychological scientist John Chambers of St. Louis University.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Behavioral Sensitivity to Reward Is Reduced for Far Objects David A. O'Connor, Bernard Meade, Olivia Carter, Sarah Rossiter, and Robert Hester Does spatial distance affect the ways people respond to rewarding objects? Participants received a reward for correctly identifying red, green, or blue squares and spheres presented in near or far space using a 3-D screen. They received a reward for correct responses, and the magnitude of the reward was linked to the color of the object.
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Scientists and Practitioners Don’t See Eye to Eye on Repressed Memory
Skepticism about repressed traumatic memories has increased over time, but new research shows that psychology researchers and practitioners still tend to hold different beliefs about whether such memories occur and whether they can be accurately retrieved. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Whether repressed memories are accurate or not, and whether they should be pursued by therapists, or not, is probably the single most practically important topic in clinical psychology since the days of Freud and the hypnotists who came before him,” says researcher Lawrence Patihis of the University of California, Irvine.
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Mitt Romney’s Face Looks Different to Republicans and Democrats
Political bias can influence how people perceive the facial characteristics of a presidential candidate – even after seeing his face on TV thousands of times, according to research forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study of Ohioans immediately before and after the 2012 presidential election showed that people’s mental representation of Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s face differed based on their political persuasion.
