-
‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ explores brain processes
USA Today: Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow is not only a best seller, it's making many best-books-of-the-year lists, including those from The New York Times and Amazon. It entered USA TODAY's list at No. 28 on Nov. 3 and, after eight weeks, is No. 45. Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize for economics, is a psychologist and Princeton professor. Despite the author's academic pedigree, Thinking is aimed at the lay reader. The book, with 190,000 copies in print, explores how the brain processes information both rationally and through intuition. Read the whole story: USA Today
-
Bebês guardam lembranças mesmo quando parecem esquecer, diz estudo
msn ESTADAO: Um estudo publicado na mais recente edição da revista Psychological Science afirma que os bebês de até 6 meses de idade podem conservar a noção de algo que viram, mesmo quando está fora de alcance. Essa descoberta derruba o antigo mito de que os bebês não teriam aguçado o sentido de 'permanência do objeto' - termo da Psicologia usado para descrever a crença da criança de que um objeto existe, ainda que esteja longe. Conduzido por um psicólogo especialista em desenvolvimento infantil da Universidade Johns Hopkins, em Baltimore, nos Estados Unidos, a pesquisa abre novos caminhos sobre a temática da memória infantil.
-
Männer überschätzen ihre Anziehungskraft
Sueddeutsche Zeitung: Die Geschichte von Mann und Frau ist eine Geschichte voller Missverständnisse und Fehlinterpretationen. Einen möglichen Grund für die Kommunikationspannen zwischen den Geschlechter gibt nun eine neue Studie der US-Psychologin Carin Perilloux: Demnach neigen Männer oft dazu, ihre Anziehungskraft auf Frauen zu überschätzen. Die Wissenschaftlerin vom Williams College im US-Staat Massachusetts untersuchte mit Kollegen 96 Studenten und 103 Studentinnen beim Speed-Dating. Den Studienteilnehmern wurden jeweils fünf Personen des anderen Geschlechts als Gesprächspartner zugeteilt, die Begegnungen dauerten drei Minuten.
-
Researchers: video games won’t make you smarter
The Miami Herald: Video games that'll be under millions of Christmas trees may be loads of fun. But three researchers say you shouldn't expect them to help kids get better grades, improve their concentration or become better drivers. Florida State University psychologist Walter Boot said they found that earlier studies claiming cognitive benefits from video games were flawed and the results couldn't be replicated. He and two colleagues at Florida State and the University of Illinois published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Psychology earlier this year. Boot, who grew up playing video games, said he hasn't given up entirely on the potential for benefits.
-
Self-affirmation May Break Down Resistance to Medical Screening
People resist medical screening, or don’t call back for the results, because they don’t want to know they’re sick or at risk for a disease. But many illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS and cancer, have a far a better prognosis if they’re caught early. How can health care providers break down that resistance? Have people think about what they value most, finds a new study by University of Florida psychologists Jennifer L. Howell and James A. Shepperd. “If you can get people to refocus their attention from a threat to their overall sense of wellbeing, they are less likely to avoid threatening information,” says Howell.
-
The Goldilocks Principle of Stress: Too Little Is Almost As Bad as Too Much
TIME: A life free of stress and adversity sounds blissful. But, in fact, the happiest and healthiest people are those who have had at least some early exposure to negative experiences, according to a new research review. Despite the popular notion, stress isn’t all bad. In fact, low to moderate amounts of stress are necessary for healthy growth. What’s harmful is large doses of uncontrollable stress — experiencing a natural disaster, for instance, or living in extreme poverty — particularly in early life. Also harmful, it turns out, is having experienced no stress at all.
