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From Clowns to Buttons, These Weird Phobias Afflict Many People
Fear itself is not a bad thing — it can actually serve a protective, useful purpose. In some cases it leads to fight or flight , the body’s sympathetic nervous system response to a perceived threat. But when fear is irrational, excessive and detrimental to someone’s life, it’s classified as a phobia. About 19 million people in the U.S. have at least one phobia. You’ve probably heard of common phobias, such as agoraphobia (public places or open spaces), claustrophobia (confined spaces), or arachnophobia (snakes). But there are other rather unusual phobias that present unique challenges to people’s lives. ...
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the Father of ‘Flow,’ Dies at 87
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian American psychologist who showed how everyone from artists to assembly-line workers can be transported to a state of focused contentment by getting caught in the “flow,” a term he coined and later popularized, died on Oct. 20 at his home in Claremont, Calif. He was 87. His son, Chris Csikszentmihalyi, said the cause was cardiac arrest. Dr. Csikszentmihalyi, who went by Mike and whose full name is pronounced mee-HIGH CHEEK-sent-me-HIGH-ee, was a polymath whose passions for painting, chess playing and rock climbing informed his work on subjects as diverse as the teenage brain and the psychology of interior design.
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How Psychologists Can Help Treat Chronic Pain
Over the past two decades, as the opioid crisis has shaken the public’s view of painkillers and pharmaceutical companies have come under fire for their marketing practices, many patients are looking for alternatives. One of the leading contenders has become treating pain with talk therapy. Psychologists, therapists and social workers have quietly become a crucial part of pain treatment programs, proving to be as effective or more so than medication. In 2018, the medical journal The Lancet went so far as to recommend education and psychological treatment as first-line interventions for chronic low back pain, before pharmacological treatment. ...
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Toys, Tots, and Gender
Campbell Leaper with UC Santa Cruz talks about gender during childhood and the importance of play during these formative years.
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Taxing Sugary Drinks Curbs Consumption, But Only When Costs ‘Pop’
Consumer taxes on sugary beverages are meant to curb consumption, but they are effective only when increased costs are salient at the point of purchase, according to new research published in Psychological Science.
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Scientists Have Passions Outside the Lab. We Should Embrace That
In August, I contemplated revealing a personal secret about a postdoc in my lab. But before I did, I reached out to the postdoc, Victoria, to ask for permission: “Do you want me do a Twitter thread about you and your new book? Or would you prefer to keep your two identities separate?” Five days later, Victoria responded: “I haven’t replied yet because I’m so torn! What is your perspective on whether it could be bad to have academics know about my writing life?” After a back and forth, we decided it would be OK for me to share the good news—which was simply that Victoria had published a new book. This might seem like a small ordeal.
