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Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011: Meet the Brain, BBC Two, preview
The Telegraph: If you ever wondered how your brain works, take this chance to catch Professor Bruce Hood’s superb three-part lecture series, aptly titled Meet Your Brain, first shown on BBC Four over Christmas. Hood is professor of experimental psychology at Bristol University, and his ability to reduce complex concepts to bite-sized chunks for children (of which this audience is made up) makes these lectures perfect also for adults keen to get a taste of the latest developments in psychological research without going to any trouble. In tonight’s opener Hood starts out by showing how the brain not only governs all our physical processes, but also gives each of us individuality and identity.
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Mind Over Matter: Patients’ Perceptions of Illness Make a Difference
Whenever we fall ill, there are many different factors that come together to influence the course of our illness. Additional medical conditions, stress levels, and social support all have an impact on our health and well-being, especially when we are ill. But a new report suggests that what you think about your illness matters just as much, if not more, in determining your health outcomes. In the February issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Keith Petrie, of the University of Auckland, and John Weinman, of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, review the existing literature on patients’ perceptions of illness.
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The psychology of uncertainty, repeal and the individual mandate
The Washington Post: Eric Horowitz flags new research in the journal Psychological Science that sheds some light on why the uncertainty around the health reform law’s fate may be making Americans more resistant to its individual mandate, the requirement to purchase health insurance. Psychologists Kristin Laurin, Aaron Kay and Gavin Fitzsimmons note that people tend to react to laws restricting their freedom in two different ways. We either rationalize the new restriction, telling ourselves to make the best of it, or we resist, responding negatively to new limits on freedom.
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Irrational Positivity: Saving the Last for Best
The Huffington Post: The year 2011 was a dismal time in American public life. The nation came close to defaulting, and lost its AAA credit rating for the first time ever. The do-nothing Congress did -- well, nothing. The GOP seriously offered up the likes of Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain as its best and brightest for the country's future. Policemen in riot gear pepper-sprayed peaceful protesters. And public discourse sank to an all-time low in coarseness and partisanship. So how will we recall 2011 when we look back on it? Most likely with warmth and good cheer. Say what? That's right.
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Being Ignored Hurts, Even by a Stranger
Feeling like you’re part of the gang is crucial to the human experience. All people get stressed out when we’re left out. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that a feeling of inclusion can come from something as simple as eye contact from a stranger. Psychologists already know that humans have to feel connected to each other to be happy. A knitting circle, a church choir, or a friendly neighbor can all feed that need for connection. Eric D. Wesselmann of Purdue University wanted to know just how small a cue could help someone feel connected. He cowrote the study with Florencia D.
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Survival’s Ick Factor
The New York Times: Disgust is the Cinderella of emotions. While fear, sadness and anger, its nasty, flashy sisters, have drawn the rapt attention of psychologists, poor disgust has been hidden away in a corner, left to muck around in the ashes. No longer. Disgust is having its moment in the light as researchers find that it does more than cause that sick feeling in the stomach. It protects human beings from disease and parasites, and affects almost every aspect of human relations, from romance to politics. In several new books and a steady stream of research papers, scientists are exploring the evolution of disgust and its role in attitudes toward food, sexuality and other people.
