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Your love is my drug: looking at partner’s photo reduces pain
The Med Guru: Forget medication and therapies, a recent study by Stanford University in California, U.S., suggests that just looking at the partner's photograph relieves the pain as much as taking a drug like cocaine. Read the whole story: The Med Guru
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Baby names in frontier states are more unique
The Christian Science Monitor: Baby names: The same values that pushed adventurous individuals into new territories as our country was being populated may still show up in the names their descendants give to babies, a new study finds. Read the whole story: The Christian Science Monitor
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Genes May Contribute to a Child’s Bad Behavior, but Only When Parents Are Distant
Is bad behavior determined by a child’s genes? A new study has found that a particular gene has some influence on whether or not adolescents show alarming behaviors—but only if their parents aren't keeping tabs on them. While this gene, which has been linked to alcoholism, has only a small effect on the risk of behavioral problems by itself, psychological scientists view this finding as an opportunity to understand how genetic risk combines with environmental factors to contribute to psychological outcomes and disorders.
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Science Starts Early
Science: Infants and young children can exhibit striking confusion about how the world works, from failing to grasp that wind causes waves, to being mystified about how babies are created. Indeed, some researchers have characterized a child's knowledge of the world as a bundle of misconceptions awaiting replacement with correct concepts through education. Read the whole story: Science
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People More Likely to Act Morally Than They Imagine
U.S. News & World Report (HealthDay): People are more likely to act morally than they would predict, a new study finds. Researchers gave a 15-question math test to two groups of volunteers. A $5 reward was offered for 10 or more correct answers. Read the whole story: U.S. News & World Report (HealthDay)
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Staring Contests Are Automatic: People Lock Eyes to Establish Dominance
Imagine that you're in a bar and you accidentally knock over your neighbor's beer. He turns around and stares at you, looking for confrontation. Do you buy him a new drink, or do you try to outstare him to make him back off? New research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that the dominance behavior exhibited by staring someone down can be reflexive. Our primate relatives certainly get into dominance battles; they mostly resolve the dominance hierarchy not through fighting, but through staring contests. And humans are like that, too. David Terburg, Nicole Hooiveld, Henk Aarts, J.
