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White as Snow, Black as Sin: The Colors of Moral Purity and Pollution
What do wedding dresses and doves have to do with toothpaste and soap? Psychologists Gary Sherman and Gerald Clore from the University of Virginia found that the perceptual symbols of purity, such as snow and doves, are associated with the color white and the feeling of cleanliness, while the symbols of immorality are associated with feelings of dirtiness and the color black. As reported in a recent issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, people greatly desired products dealing with self-cleanliness after they were invoked with a feeling of immorality.
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Time of the Month Matters: Increased Racial Bias and the Menstrual Cycle
Can racial bias be affected by the time of the month? According to a study in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, a woman’s menstrual cycle can affect not only her mood but may cause a racial bias as well. Psychologist Carlos David Navarrete from Michigan State University and his colleagues have been studying the evolutionary preference toward mating--that is, women only mate with the “in-group” of males and shun anyone from the “out-group.” It turns out this bias has been modified in the present day to include skin color.
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Increases in Brain’s Motivation can result in Diminished Performance
Choking under pressure affects us all. Psychologists are very interested in this phenomenon, because choking sabotages performance not only in big sports contests but in the classroom and workplace as well. A study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science may offer some insight into why we crumble under pressure. Psychologist and neuroscientist Dean Mobbs of University College London (and a large team of colleagues) decided to look inside the brains of people during competition, both when the stakes were low and when they were high.
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Smile As You Read This: Language That Puts You in Touch With Your Bodily Feelings
Louis Armstrong sang, “When you’re smilin’, the whole world smiles with you.” Romantics everywhere may be surprised to learn that psychological research has proven this sentiment to be true — merely seeing a smile (or a frown, for that matter) will activate the muscles in our face that make that expression, even if we are unaware of it. Now, according to a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, simply reading certain words may also have the same effect. Psychologists Francesco Foroni from VU University Amsterdam and Gün R.
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When Eyewitnesses Talk, Justice Is Distorted
A research report explains how eyewitnesses’ memories can become distorted after speaking with co-witnesses.
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Major new report establishes effective methods of enhancing and preserving brain power as we age.
In 1900, only 4.1 percent of U.S. citizens were older than 65; in 2000 that number had jumped to 12.6 percent; and by the year 2030, 20 percent of our population could be in that category. Cognitive decline was long seen as an inevitable consequence of aging, but recent years have seen a surge of interest in activities and products touted to forestall this outcome. What is the truth? Is decline inevitable, or is there a possibility of retaining our faculties if we exercise them? And which kinds of exercises and products are effective, and which are merely hype?
