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Dependency and Passivity-You Can Have One without the Other
Think of a dependent person and you think of someone who's needy, high-maintenance, and passive. That's how many psychologists and therapists think of them, too; passivity is key. But dependency is actually more complex and can even have active, positive aspects, writes Robert Bornstein of Adelphi University, the author of a new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Bornstein was sent towards a different concept of dependency by a series of experiments he did in graduate school. He paired a dependent person with a less dependent person and set them to debate an issue they disagreed on.
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The Joy of Researching the Health Benefits of Sex
The Wall Street Journal: Is sex good for your health—or is that just a fantasy? A flurry of small studies suggest that sex is as good for your health as vitamin D and broccoli. It not only relieves stress, improves sleep and burns calories, it can also reduce pain, ease depression, strengthen blood vessels, boost the immune system and lower the risk of prostate and breast cancer. But many of those studies rely on people to remember and report their sexual activity honestly and many can't distinguish between cause and effect. That is, does sex make people healthier or do healthier people have more sex? Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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Want to be a macho man? Study finds it’s not easy
The Globe and Mail: It's an oft-spoofed scene: young men who fail to 'score' wailing on each other outside a nightclub. A new paper suggests that manhood is a precarious status—and when it's threatened, men will often become aggressive to re-assert it. In several studies, University of South Florida psychologists had men perform "feminine" tasks, and recorded the fallout afterwards. In one experiment, they had some men braid hair (that's feminine, they said) and others braid rope -- that's more masculine, or gender neutral, they argued. Read the whole story: The Globe and Mail
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National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected
The National Academy of Sciences today announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 15 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Those elected today bring the total number of active members to 2,113 and the total number of foreign associates to 418. Foreign associates are nonvoting members of the Academy, with citizenship outside the United States. Newly elected members and their affiliations at the time of election
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Bin Laden mythology lives on as fast sea burial sows doubt among believers that he is dead
The Canadian Press: WASHINGTON — Knowing there would be disbelievers, the U.S. says it used convincing means to confirm Osama bin Laden's identity during and after the firefight that killed him. But the mystique that surrounded the terrorist chieftain in life is persisting in death. Was it really him? How do we know? Where are the pictures? Already, those questions are spreading in Pakistan and surely beyond. In the absence of photos and with his body given up to the sea, many people do not believe bin Laden — the Great Emir to some, the fabled escape artist of the Tora Bora mountains to foe and friend alike — is really dead. U.S.
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‘Fatting in’: Immigrant groups eat high-calorie American meals to fit in
Immigrants to the United States and their U.S.-born children gain more than a new life and new citizenship. They gain weight. The wide availability of cheap, convenient, fatty American foods and large meal portions have been blamed for immigrants packing on pounds, approaching U.S. levels of obesity within 15 years of their move. Psychologists show that it’s not simply the abundance of high-calorie American junk food that causes weight gain. Instead, members of U.S. immigrant groups choose typical American dishes as a way to show that they belong and to prove their American-ness.
