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Is Internet Addiction a Real Thing?
The New Yorker: Marc Potenza, a psychiatrist at Yale and the director of the school’s Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders, has been treating addiction for more than two decades. Early in his career, he, like most others studying addiction at the time, focussed on substance-abuse problems—cocaine and heroin addicts, alcoholics, and the like. Soon, however, he noticed patients with other problems that were more difficult to classify. There were, for example, the sufferers of trichotillomania, the inescapable urge to pull your hair until it falls out. Others had been committed for problem gambling: they couldn’t stop no matter how much debt they had accumulated.
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Distracted Driving May Become More Dangerous as We Age
Older drivers have actually been found to be safer drivers in many respects when compared to younger people. They’re more likely to wear seatbelts and less likely to engage in risky behavior, like speeding and driving under the influence, according to the CDC. However, a study published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention finds that older drivers should be especially cautious about multitasking behind the wheel. The research team, led by psychological scientist Kelsey R. Thompson of Northwestern University, found that distracting tasks – like talking on a cell phone or fiddling with the radio – may be particularly dangerous for older drivers.
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The Weird Reason Happy Things Make You Cry
TIME: Think back to the one of the happiest moments of your life, say a wedding day or the birth of a child. During these life-changing moments, it’s safe to say you were probably crying. It may feel silly when it happens—especially if you’re someone who often turns into a blubbering mess over a heartwarming viral video. But it turns out crying when you’re happy isn’t so crazy after all: A forthcoming study in the journal Psychological Science found that people who are often reduced to happy tears may actually be better at regulating their emotions. Read the whole story: TIME
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You’re not my type, but sure
The Boston Globe: HAVE YOU EVER found yourself on a date with someone who, on paper, isn’t what you were looking for at all? It turns out that daters’ preferences in principle can get blindsided by another factor: compassion. In an experiment, single, heterosexual college students were shown dating profiles of other students. The researchers told some of the participants that these profiles represented actually available fellow students, while other participants were told that these profiles represented unavailable students. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
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Yes, It’s Possible To Be Both An Introvert And An Extravert
The Huffington Post: We love to proudly label ourselves as introverts or extraverts. If the Internet has anything to say about it, introverts particularly enjoy categorizing themselves as suchand connecting with fellow introverts (virtually, not in person of course) over their mutual distaste for parties and small talk. But in reality, few of us fit neatly into either of these personality types. And for those of us who are truly in the middle of the introversion/extraversion spectrum, there's a name, too. Psychologists refer to such people as ambiverts, meaning that we express qualities and behaviors of both introverts and extraverts, depending on the situation.
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Feeling—Not Being—Wealthy Cuts Support for Economic Redistribution
Pacific Standard: Psychologists and political scientists have puzzled for some time about why the same Americans who favor greater economic equality don’t also support the kinds of redistributive economic policies that would get them there. Perhaps, some say, it’s political ideology. Perhaps it’s some kind of twisted self-interest. Or perhaps it’s because of how easy it is to make someone feel relatively poor or relatively well-off. ... So what is it then? While it’s not a complete answer, Jazmin Brown-Iannuzi and colleagues at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill say that subjective social status, rather than actual financial well-being, is likely playing a role.
