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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science and Clinical Psychological Science, journals of the Association for Psychological Science. Gendered Races: Implications for Interracial Marriage, Leadership Selection, and Athletic Participation Adam D. Galinsky, Erika V. Hall, and Amy J. C. Cuddy Researchers have documented the effects of racial and gender stereotypes, but few studies have examined how these stereotypes interact. In the first of six studies, researchers had a group of participants rate the masculinity and femininity of several traits and then had a separate group assign those traits to different races.
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Why is math so hard for so many?
The Washington Post: If you are someone who has long struggled with math, read on to find out why that might be so. This was written by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, a professor and director of graduate studies in psychology at the University of Virginia and author of “Why Don’t Students Like School?” ... In a recent article in “Current Directions in Psychological Science,” David Geary (2013) reviews evidence that one cause of the problem may be a fundamental deficit in the representation of numerosity. Geary describes three possible sources of a problem in children’s appreciation of number. Read the whole story: The Washington Post
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Damned Spot: Guilt, Scrubbing, and More Guilt
The Huffington Post: Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most complex characters, and by far the bard's most obsessive. Immorally ambitious, she prods her husband to murder Scotland's king, and then deludes herself into believing that "a little water will clear us of this deed." But for all of her repeated hand washing, the ritual cannot cleanse her of her consuming guilt, and by Act V the stubborn blood stains have driven the illegitimate queen to madness and suicide. ... And they were, clearly. As Dar reports in a forthcoming article in the journal Clinical Psychological Science, hand washing did salve guilt about past misdeeds, and reduce willingness to help another person.
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How to Get Beyoncé Out of Your Head: The Scientific Solution
The Atlantic: Here are, in no particular order, some of the songs most likely to get stuck in your head when you hear them. Apologies in advance. - "Single Ladies" - Beyoncé - "Alejandro" - Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance" - Lady Gaga - "Call Me Maybe" - Carly Rae Jepsen - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - The Beatles - "She Loves You" - The Beatles - "SOS" - Rihanna - "You Belong With Me" - Taylor Swift According to music psychologist Ira Hyman, who recently published a paper on earworm science in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, songs function much like puzzles in our brains: Music is catchy because its patterns and rhythms engage our minds like a crossword puzzle would.
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Maybe Isolation, Not Loneliness, Shortens Life
NPR: Loneliness hurts, but social isolation can kill you. That's the conclusion of a study of more than 6,500 people in the U.K. The study, by a team at University College London, comes after decades of research showing that both loneliness and infrequent contact with friends and family can, independently, shorten a person's life. The scientists expected to find that the combination of these two risk factors would be especially dangerous. ... "It doesn't negate the loneliness work that's been done to date," says Bert Uchino, a University of Utah psychology professor.
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Four Ways to Give Good Feedback
TIME: When effectively administered, feedback is a powerful way to build knowledge and skills, increase skills, increase motivation, and develop reflective habits of mind in students and employees. Too often, however, the feedback we give (and get) is ineffectual or even counterproductive. Here, four ways to offer feedback that really makes a difference, drawn from research in psychology and cognitive science: ... The eminent psychologist Edward Deci has identified several conditions under which feedback may actually reduce learners’ motivation.
