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Families cling to hope of autism ‘recovery’
Los Angeles Times: In 1987, Ivar Lovaas, a charismatic UCLA psychology professor, published what remains the most famous study on the treatment of autism. Lovaas had broken down the basic skills of life into thousands of drills, such as pointing, identifying colors and reading facial expressions. For 40 hours a week on average, the therapists he trained used rewards and punishments, ranging from food treats to slaps on the thigh, to instill those abilities in 19 autistic youngsters under the age of 4. When the study began, most of the children didn't speak and were considered mentally retarded.
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The ability to love begins earlier than you think
Woman's Day: The ability to trust, love and resolve conflict with loved ones starts much earlier than you think. In fact, a new review of the literature in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, found that these abilities start in early childhood. Psychologist Jeffry A. Simpson, one of the authors of the paper from the University of Minnesota, said the first 12 to 18 months of a child's life are crucial to this development. "Your interpersonal experiences with your mother during the first 12 to 18 months of life predict your behaviour in romantic relationships 20 years later," he said. Read the full story: Woman's Day
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Does Team Training Save Lives? A New Science Gives It a Rigorous Evaluation
Whether the task is flying a plane, fighting a battle, or caring for a patient, good teamwork is crucial to getting it done right. That’s why team-building and training courses are big business in the U.S., and have been for decades. But lately something has changed: “There’s a demand for evaluations—an emphasis on showing that team training makes a difference in safety, decision-making, communication, clinical outcomes—you name the ultimate criteria the industry has,” says Eduardo Salas, an organizational psychologist at the University of Central Florida.
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Les gènes de l’intelligence remis en question
Le Monde: Avec l'explosion des analyses génétiques, de nombreux travaux ont associé des variations dans plusieurs gènes impliqués dans le fonctionnement du cerveau avec le niveau d'intelligence. Prochainement publiée par la revue Psychological Science, une étude internationale revient sur ces "gènes de l'intelligence" : elle a essayé de retrouver leur lien avec le QI en utilisant trois jeux de données indépendants qui totalisent presque 10 000 personnes. En bref, ces chercheurs ont suivi le traditionnel et indispensable chemin de la science : répliquer l'expérience pour voir si l'on aboutit au même résultat. Read the full story: Le Monde
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Män har uppblåsta egon
Sveriges Television: De signaler vi ger varandra när vi flörtar kan vara svårtolkade. Speciellt män läser ofta kvinnors signaler fel. I studien fick 96 manliga och 103 kvinnliga studenter gå på snabbdejt med varandra. De fick tre minuter på sig att prata med fem olika potentiella partners. Innan samtalen fick deltagarna ranka sin egen attraktionskraft och uppge hur pass intresserade de var av tillfälligt sex. Efter varje dejt fick deltagarna sen betygsätta varandra på ett antal punkter - till exempel när det gällde fysisk attraktivitet och sexuellt intresse för den andre deltagaren. Read the whole story: Sveriges Television
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Why ugly men believe pretty women are interested in them
Evening Herald: SOME men can get by on a wink and a smile -- but those with less chiselled features make up for it with misguided optimism about their own appearance. The study could help explain the mystery of why so many men think women are interested in them when they are not, a study claims. Some men are able to snare a partner far more attractive than them through relentless persistence and overblown belief in their own sex appeal. Scientists think this may be down to an evolutionary trait which tricks men into overestimating the value of their looks to prevent them from missing a mating opportunity.
