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Want to be happier and live longer? Protect green spaces
Scientific American: Central Park almost didn’t exist. When it was first proposed, no comparable urban green space could be found in the whole of the United States—and it seemed unlikely that one would arise on land that could be put to other, more profitable use – especially with New York real estate values on a steady rise. But on May 5, 1851, Mayor Ambrose Kingsland proposed that a large public park might be just the thing for the growing city. Not only could it have a salutary impact, but it would allow Europeans to see that Americans could, too, be cultured and refined. Their Hyde Parks and Tuileries Gardens had nothing on us. ...
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science. The Frequency and Impact of Exposure to Potentially Traumatic Events Over the Life Course Christin M. Ogle, David C. Rubin, Dorthe Berntsen, and Ilene C. Siegler How does the timing and impact of traumatic events differ across the lifespan? Participants between the ages of 55 and 69 reported the number of times and the age at which they experienced traumatic events, the extent to which the trauma formed a central component of their identity, and their symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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Psychology uses 'registered replication reports' to improve reliability
The Guardian: On Tuesday a group of scientists published a protocol, a set of instructions for running an experiment, which represents the culmination of a year's discussion on the problems inherent in academic publishing. The protocol is the first in the Registered Replication Reports project. The scheme, led by Alex Holcombe, Bobbie Spellman and Daniel Simons, is far reaching, and requires putting aside egos and working together across universities and research groups to raise the standard of research.
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High-Testosterone Competitors More Likely to Choose Red
Why do so many sports players and athletes choose to wear the color red when they compete? A new study to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that it may have to do with their testosterone levels. The new study, conducted by psychological scientist Daniel Farrelly of the University of Sunderland and colleagues, demonstrated that males who chose red as their color in a competitive task had higher testosterone levels than other males who chose blue. “The research shows that there is something special about the color red in competition, and that it is associated with our underlying biological systems,” says Farrelly.
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Secrets of the Criminal Mind
Scientific American: What is science revealing about the nature of the criminal mind? Adrian Raine, a professor at the university of Pennsylvania, is an expert in the expanding field of “neurocriminology.” He has written The Anatomy of Violence, a sweeping account of crime’s biological roots, including genetics, neuro-anatomy and environmental toxins like lead. He spoke with Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook. ... What do you think of the argument put forward by Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature, suggesting that violence has dropped dramatically as our social structures have changed?
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Mice, Men, and Fate
The New Yorker: Almost fifteen years ago, in a book called “Chance, Development, and Aging,” the gerontologists Caleb Finch and Thomas Kirkwood described a truly elegant study of biology: a batch of roundworms, all genetically identical, raised on identical diets of agar. Despite having identical genetics and near-identical environments, some worms lived far longer than others. The lesson? The classical equation of “life = nature + nurture” had left out chance. Of course, that was just worms.
