-
Laughter Really Is Contagious — And That’s Good
My three young daughters like to watch pets doing silly things. Almost daily, they ask to see animal video clips on my phone and are quickly entertained. But once my 7-year-old lets out a belly laugh, the laughter floodgates are opened and her two sisters double over as well. This is just what science would predict. “Laughter is a social phenomenon,” says Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at University College London who has studied laughter and other human reactions for more than two decades. Scott co-wrote a study showing how the brain responds to the sound of laughter by preparing one’s facial muscles to join in, laying the foundation for laughs to spread from person to person.
-
Events Serve as “Stepping Stones” en Route to Retrieved Memories
Research suggests that people use event boundaries as “stepping stones” to scan their memories when attempting to recall certain facts or bits of information.
-
New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of research on psychosocial predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, early-warning signals in children, adolescents, and adults, bidirectional effects in parent, peer, and romantic relationships, and much more.
-
Why Is It So Hard to Resist Temptation?
Why are people so inconsistent? Is there such a thing as character? And did Stephen once have the world’s longest chain of gum wrappers? ...
-
The Dangers of “Bureaucra-think”: Research Demonstrates Structural Bias and Racism in Mental Health Organizations
A recent study reveals how organizational-level biases affect how patients and even providers are viewed—and in ways that can produce racial and ethnic inequities.
-
New Research in Psychological Science
A sample of research on feeling good, how perceived distance alters memory, prenatal programming of behavior problems, the impacts of COVID-19 on college students, the connections between racial prejudice and police militarization, and much more.
