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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science. Vividness of the Future Self Predicts Delinquency Jean-Louis van Gelder, Hal E. Hershfield, and Loran F. Nordgren Does failure to think about the future lead people to engage in delinquent behavior? Participants wrote a letter to themselves either 20 years or 3 months in the future. They were then asked how they would respond to several scenarios involving committing delinquent acts. Participants who wrote letters to a more distant future self made fewer delinquent choices than did those who wrote to a less distant future self.
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Is Google Glass Dangerous?
The New York Times: NEWS about Google Glass is everywhere these days, and so are its critics. Some charge it only with fashion crimes. Others worry about invasion of privacy: when out on a date with a Glass wearer, you won’t know if they are recording you — or Googling “seduction tips,” for that matter. Nonetheless, most agree that a smartphone-linked display and camera placed in the corner of your vision is intriguing and potentially revolutionary — and like us, they want to try it. But Glass may inadvertently disrupt a crucial cognitive capacity, with potentially dangerous consequences.
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Teenagers Are Wired for Peer Approval, Study Says
Education Week: It's true: Adolescents really do want to jump off a bridge just because their friends are doing it. But new research suggests changes in how teenagers view risks and rewards around their peers are not only a critical part of their development, but may also provide a key to motivating them. From the DARE anti-drug program to abstinence-only curricula, education has been full of high-profile attempts to curtail risky behavior that have met with mixed success at best. The emerging evidence suggests, however, that changing teenagers' behavior demands accounting for their social circles, not just asking them to stand up to their peers.
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Technology Use Before Bed Linked with Increased Stress
LiveScience: Using technology before bed may be stressing us out, preliminary results from a new study suggest. In the study, people who surfed the web or sent a text message within two hours of going to bed reported higher levels of stress than those who didn't engage in these behaviors. However, the link was not seen with all forms of technology: neither emailing nor watching TV before bed was linked with greater stress. Read the whole story: LiveScience
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Who’s (Socially) Smarter: The Dog or the Wolf?
Science: Since they split from wolves, domestic dogs have changed in many ways. Unlike their wild ancestors, they're comfortable around humans, pay close attention to us, and follow orders—at least sometimes. That social intelligence is critical to making a dog man's best friend. But research presented here last week at the annual meetingof the Association for Psychological Science shows that dogs may have also lost some of their social smarts in the process. One of the classic experiments that shows the cognitive difference between wolves and dogs is the pointing task: Whereas a dog—even a 3-month-old puppy—will readily follow the direction a person points in, wolves just don't get it.
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Resiliency May Come at a Physical Cost for Some Kids
Children who overcome overcome adversity are seen as resilient, but this resiliency may have health costs that last well into adulthood.
