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Genes play a role in the likelihood of divorce
THAT the children of divorced parents are more likely, when they grow up, to get divorced themselves is well known. What is not known is how much this tendency is the result of nurture (with children manifesting, in later life, behaviours learned from their parents), and how much it is caused by nature (with children inheriting from divorced parents the sorts of genes that lead to marriage-breaking behaviour). That genes are important has, though, now been confirmed by a study published in Psychological Science by Jessica Salvatore and Kenneth Kendler of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioural Genetics.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of research exploring trends in adolescent media use and depression, memory amplification following trauma, perceptual inference in autism spectrum disorders, and statistical learning applied to diagnostic predictions.
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The Toolkits of Creative Teams: Lessons from Hollywood Animation
This study found that experts rate animated movies as more creative when animation teams use a variety of tools, most of which were already established in the field.
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Yale’s Most Popular Class Ever: Happiness
NEW HAVEN — On Jan. 12, a few days after registration opened at Yale for Psyc 157, Psychology and the Good Life, roughly 300 people had signed up. Within three days, the figure had more than doubled. After three more days, about 1,200 students, or nearly one-fourth of Yale undergraduates, were enrolled. The course, taught by Laurie Santos, 42, a psychology professor and the head of one of Yale’s residential colleges, tries to teach students how to lead a happier, more satisfying life in twice-weekly lectures. “Students want to change, to be happier themselves, and to change the culture here on campus,” Dr. Santos said in an interview.
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The ‘IKEA Effect’ — And Getting Kids To Eat Their Veggies
A couple of years ago, at the peak of my children's reluctance to eat vegetables, I decided to try an experiment. When the kids arrived home from daycare one afternoon, I had bowls of colorful vegetables cut up and ready to go: crunchy red and yellow peppers, bushy little florets of broccoli, tomatoes and mushrooms and olives. I gave them each a cheese pizza base to "decorate" for dinner, and they gleefully complied. My older daughter made a face with olive eyes, broccoli hair, and a bright, red-pepper mouth. My younger daughter loaded on veggies by the fistful. It felt like a parenting win!
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The Best Way to Combat Anti-Muslim Bias
The best way to curb anti-Muslim rhetoric the next time you witness it? Simply point out the other person's hypocrisy. But do it with some tact. A new study led by Emile Bruneau, a researcher and the director of the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, suggests that the best way to lower anti-Muslim feelings is to show individuals the hypocrisy of their stance. Bruneau became interested in figuring out the most effective way of combating anti-Muslim prejudice after he noticed his liberal friends responding online to Islamophobic sentiment in the wake of terrorist attacks.
