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Going through some hard times may make people tougher
Los Angeles Times: During the holidays people can experience an enormous amount of stress, even more so these days with a bad economy thrown in. But a study finds that having some adverse experiences in the past may make you mentally tougher. A meta-analysis of studies that looked at how traumatic events affect mental health and well-being found a pattern: The number of adverse experiences may determine whether someone becomes more resilient and better able to handle what life throws at him or her.
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Math for baby boys
The Boston Globe: The Nuremberg Trials established that individuals cannot fall back on a claim that they were merely conforming and “following orders” to justify immoral actions. Nevertheless, a new study suggests that people consider those involved in group behavior to have less responsibility for their actions. An individual in a group with more of a “group mind”--as in a more cohesive group--is judged to have less of “a mind of his or her own.” As such, responsibility is attributed to the group and not the individual. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
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How Pregnancy Changes a Woman’s Brain
We know a lot about the links between a pregnant mother’s health, behavior, and moods and her baby’s cognitive and psychological development once it is born. But how does pregnancy change a mother’s brain? “Pregnancy is a critical period for central nervous system development in mothers,” says psychologist Laura M. Glynn of Chapman University. “Yet we know virtually nothing about it.” Glynn and her colleague Curt A. Sandman, of University of the California Irvine, are doing something about that.
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Markets may play jilted lover in euro zone drama
Reuters: The euro zone debt crisis may be as much about the heart as it is about the head -- like a jilted lover, markets are just finding it hard to trust again. Behavioural economists say financial bubbles can create an emotional high that turns into a irrationally deep low when the bubble pops -- people begin to ignore fundamentals and have only negative associations with certain investments. "Something like that is now happening with the euro (zone) where it has become contaminated on a psychological level and hated," said David Tuckett, psychoanalyst and author of "Minding the Markets". Read the whole story: Reuters See Peter Ayton at the 24th APS Annual Convention
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Reframing the Debate Over Using Phones Behind the Wheel
The New York Times: For years, policy makers trying to curb distracted driving have compared the problem to drunken driving. The analogy seemed fitting, with drivers weaving down roads and rationalizing behavior that they knew could be deadly. But on Tuesday, in an emotional call for states to ban all phone use by drivers, the head of a federal agency introduced a new comparison: distracted driving is like smoking.
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For ugly Don Juans, false confidence aids when looks are lacking
The Vancouver Sun: When it comes to sex, a new study finds that fortune favours the bold — and the clueless. Reporting in the journal Psychological Science, researchers say men who falsely presume women's sexual interest may actually fare best from an evolutionary perspective. Though there's certainly a cost to getting it wrong — namely, embarrassment or a blow to the ego — the study suggests guys who take for granted that women want them will "score" more often, compared to men who are less presumptuous about mutual desire.
