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More than Just ‘Zoning Out’ – Psychological Science Examines the Cognitive Processes Underlying Mind Wandering
It happens innocently enough: One minute you’re sitting at your desk, working on a report, and the next minute you’re thinking about how you probably need to do laundry and that you want to try the new restaurant down the street. Mind wandering is a frequent and common occurrence. And while mind wandering in certain situations – in class, for example – can be counterproductive, some research suggests that mind wandering isn’t necessarily a bad thing. New research published in the journals of the Association for Psychological Science explores mind wandering in various contexts, examining how mind wandering is related to cognitive processes involved in working memory and executive control.
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If there’s no spectrum of colours, is the result white noise?
Times Higher Education: The study of prejudice and discrimination has been one of the cornerstones of social psychology since the 1950s. But new research suggests that as well as studying discrimination, social psychologists may engage in it themselves. In a paper in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, Yoel Inbar and Joris Lammers from Tilburg University find a striking - and perhaps concerning - relationship between the political ideology of social psychologists (who are typically liberal or left wing) and a willingness to discriminate against their politically conservative (right-wing) colleagues.
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It’s Not Me, It’s You
The New York Times: WE’VE all been there: you feel especially smart and funny when talking to a particular person, only to feel hopelessly unintelligent and inarticulate in the presence of another. You’re not imagining things. Experiments show that when people report feeling comfortable with a conversational partner, they are judged by those partners and by observers as actually being more witty. It’s just one example of the powerful influence that social factors can have on intelligence.
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Checking Facebook or Twitter is more tempting than sex or cigarettes, says study
The Daily Mail: Checking social networking sites is more tempting than sex and cigarettes, a study has revealed. Researchers at Chicago University's Booth Business School used BlackBerrys to log reports about participants' willpower and desires over seven days. The online poll of 250 participants in Germany revealed the yearning to interact through tweets, photos, and comments was stronger than sex and cigarettes. Over seven consecutive days participants were signaled seven times a day over 14 hours, reported the Guardian. This meant they were required to message back and inform if they were experiencing a desire at that moment or had experienced one within the last 30 minutes.
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Free Your Mind: Experience Awe, Have More Time
Pacific Standard: I don’t tend to budget a lot of time for trolling YouTube. But the other day, I cashed in four minutes and twenty-three seconds to watch a video my husband sent me: a short film in which the Scottish cycling wunderkind Danny MacAskill pedals around San Francisco, performing acrobatic feats that make you consider the urban landscape in a whole new way. I’m your typical time-crunched working mother, my day jammed with day-care pickups and drop-offs, writing, meal prep, chasing an energetic 2-year-old boy.
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Studies Link Students’ Boredom to Stress
Education Week: One glance, and any teacher knows the score: That student, halfway down the row, staring blankly at his tapping pen, fidgeting, sneaking glances at the wall clock roughly every 30 seconds, is practically screaming, "I'm bored!" While boredom is a perennial student complaint, emerging research shows it is more than students' not feeling entertained, but rather a "flavor of stress" that can interfere with their ability to learn and even their health. An international group of researchers argues this month in Perspectives on Psychological Science that the experience of boredom directly connects to a student's inability to focus attention. Read the whole story: Education Week
