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New Research in Psychological Science
A sample of research on visual illusions, the use of gestures to communicate, well-being and altruism across nations, sensory encoding, empathy, semantic similarity and attention, the neuronal processing of faces, categorical perception, and a learning disability affecting the acquisition of arithmetic skills.
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To Remember The Moment, Try Taking Fewer Photos
The sun is setting at the end of a gorgeous day at the beach — the light is just right, illuminating your kids' faces as they play in the waves. You reach for your phone because you want to remember this perfect moment. But before you do, here's a bit of surprising science that avid photo-takers need to know: Taking photos is not the perfect memory-retention tool you think it is. Snapping too many pictures could actually harm the brain's ability to retain memories, says Elizabeth Loftus, a psychological science professor at the University of California, Irvine. So you get the photo but kind of lose the memory.
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Can Coping With COVID Make Things Worse?
How people respond to health threats can influence their own health and, when people are facing communal risks, even their community’s health. This interview explores how reducing fear may jeopardize health behaviors.
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New Content From Current Directions in Psychological Science
A sample of articles on messaging to older adults, loyalty, mindfulness and motivation, semantic working memory and language, a new paradigm for conflict resolution, treatment of substance use disorders, stereotypes and social roles, self-control during adolescence.
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The Surprising Benefits of Talking to Strangers
Nic spent most of her childhood avoiding people. She was raised by a volatile father and a mother who transferred much of the trauma she’d experienced onto her daughter. The combination left Nic fearful and isolated. “My primitive brain was programmed to be afraid of everybody, because everybody’s evil and they’re gonna hurt you,” she told me. (Nic asked to be referred to by only her first name to protect her privacy.) Nic’s fear isn’t uncommon in a country where valid lessons about “stranger danger” can cast all people you don’t know as threats to be feared, but she recognized it was unhealthy, so she took steps to engage with the world.
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Second Best in the World, but Still Saying Sorry
Kenichiro Fumita was crying so hard that he could barely get the words out. “I wanted to return my gratitude to the concerned people and volunteers who are running the Olympics during this difficult time,” Mr. Fumita, a Greco-Roman wrestler, said between sobs after finishing his final bout at the Games this week. “I ended up with this shameful result,” he said, bobbing his head abjectly. “I’m truly sorry.” Mr. Fumita, 25, had just won a silver medal. In what has become a familiar — and, at times, wrenching — sight during the Tokyo Olympics, many Japanese athletes have wept through post-competition interviews, apologizing for any result short of gold. Even some who had won a medal, like Mr.
