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Study: Botox Users Have Trouble Reading Emotions in Others
TIME: We all know that Botox injections paralyze facial muscles — which is why it's used between the brows to iron out frown lines — and can therefore make users appear less emotional. Now a new study finds that the cosmetic toxin may also make recipients less able to read the emotions of others. Social psychologists say we identify emotions in part by mimicking each other's facial expressions. "When you mimic, you get a window into their inner world," said lead researcher David Neal, a psychology professor at University of Southern California, in as statement. "When we can't mimic, as with Botox, that window is a little darker." Read the whole story: TIME
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Genes and environment join forces to influence learning by ADHD children
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New research suggests that there is a complex interaction of genes and environment that affects academic performance of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The research led by Lee A. Thompson, chairman of Case Western Reserve University's Psychological Sciences Department, involved a study of twins. Read the whole story: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Learning to play music as a child boosts brain as a pensioner
The Telegraph: Not only will it lead to you mastering the instrument, it will also provide a boost to your brain decades later, it is claimed. Even if you no longer play into adulthood, it will help keep the mind sharper as you enter old age. The researchers found that pensioners who had piano, flute, clarinet or other lessons as a youngster, did better on intelligence tests than others. "Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of ageing," said lead researcher Dr Brenda Hanna-Pladdy at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Read the whole story: The Telegraph
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It’s All About Control
Having power over others and having choices in your own life share a critical foundation: control, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The paper finds that people are willing to trade one source of control for the other. For example, if people lack power, they clamor for choice, and if they have an abundance of choice they don’t strive as much for power. "People instinctively prefer high to low power positions," says M. Ena Inesi of London Business School.
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Why the Happiest States Have the Highest Suicide Rates
TIME: Worldwide surveys have consistently ranked the Scandinavian countries — with their generous family-leave policies, low crime, free health care, rich economies and, yes, high income taxes — as the happiest places on earth. But this happiness has always been accompanied by a paradox: the happiest countries also seem to have the highest suicide rates. Is it the long, dark winters facing Finland and Denmark that cause the problem? Or some kind of Nordic depression gene? Or none of the above? A new study suggests the problem is not specific to Scandinavia, finding that high suicide rates accompany high rates of happiness in comparisons of U.S. states as well.
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Misery may really love company, study suggests
MSNBC: Does misery really love company? An intriguing new study suggests that may be the case. Researchers who study how people's sense of well-being varies from place to place decided to compare their findings with suicide rates. The surprising result: The happiest places sometimes also have the highest suicide rates. "Discontented people in a happy place may feel particularly harshly treated by life," suggested Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England. Or, put another way by co-author Stephen Wu of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., those surrounded by unhappy people may not feel so bad for themselves. Read the whole story: MSNBC
