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Do You Miss Hugs?
Not everyone is a hugger. Hugs can feel awkward or uncomfortable for some people. At the same time, hugging can be essential for humans. Hugs can reduce stress by calming our sympathetic nervous system; they can make us feel safe, loved and not alone. ... Research has shown that hugs can lower our cortisol levels during stressful situations, and can raise oxytocin levels and maybe even lower our blood pressure. A 2015 paper published in Psychological Science even found that study subjects who got more hugs were less likely to get sick when exposed to a cold virus than those who weren’t hugged as often. ...
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New Research in Psychological Science
A sample of research on how people think that others are more likely to be “bad” than themselves, intuitive physical reasoning, effects of COVID-19 on relationship satisfaction, recreational fear, alcohol experiences, visuospatial attention, and age advantages in emotional experience during COVID-19.
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Eleven Psychological Scientists Receive APS’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Awards: Association’s Highest Honors Recognize Outstanding Contributions to Science
APS is pleased to announce its lifetime achievement award recipients for 2021.
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Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You Think It Does
At the very beginning of her new book Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett writes that each chapter will present “a few compelling scientific nuggets about your brain and considers what they might reveal about human nature.” Though it’s an accurate description of what follows, it dramatically undersells the degree to which each lesson will enlighten and unsettle you. It’s like lifting up the hood of a car to see an engine, except that the car is you and you find an engine that doesn’t work at all like you thought it did. ...
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Legendary Harvard Psychologist Dan Gilbert Outlines 8 Money Principles Will Bring You the Most Happiness for Your Dollar
Money can't buy happiness. "This sentiment is lovely, popular, and almost certainly wrong," says Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert in a paper he coauthored. Money provides an "opportunity for happiness," the authors say, since moneyed people can live longer and healthier lives, enjoy financial security, have leisure time, and control what they do every day. What's puzzling, Gilbert and his colleagues Elizabeth Dunn of the University of British Columbia and Timothy Wilson of the University of Virginia say, is that money doesn't buy more happiness. ...
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How to Navigate Conflict With Your Research Adviser
APS Authors/Members: Jay J. Van Bavel and Leah H. Somerville We all know mentor-mentee relationships can be tricky. This crucial topic was brought into relief for Jay when he served on a panel that discussed mentorship in July. Beforehand, panel organizers sent a survey to student and postdoc participants, asking them to anonymously disclose what frustrates them about their advisers. Hundreds of complaints poured in, ranging from the mundane to the seriously unethical.
