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The Words That Can Signal You’re Depressed
Feeling down? Pay attention to your language. Language changes significantly in both content and word choice in people who are depressed, according to a growing body of research using computer programs to analyze speech and writing. People who are depressed tend to use the pronoun “I” more, indicating a greater focus on self. They also use “absolute” words like “must,” “completely,” “should” or “always,” reflecting an overly black-or-white outlook. Scientists have long known that people change how they speak when they are depressed—their speech becomes lower, more monotone and more labored, with more stops, starts and pauses.
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A new study on the psychology of persistent regrets can teach you how to live now
Lingering regrets, the kind you hang onto for years, can be great company, returning daily to keep some part of you living an alternate version of your life and career. They’re the stuff of sublime tragic novels and films. They can even be functional if they propel you forward, determined not to make the same mistakes again. Intuitively, though, we know that left to fester, regrets can control your mood to ill effect and make you miserable. The solution is not to repress the thoughts or take on some kind of delusional “no regrets” bravado, says Shai Davidai, a psychology professor at The New School and co-author of a recent study on regret.
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The Science Behind South Korea’s Race-Based World Cup Strategy
Whenever you bring together dozens of different countries from around the globe, there's bound be some cross-cultural confusion. The World Cup is no exception. And if you're Shin Tae-yong, coach of the South Korean national team, you figure out how to work that confusion to your advantage. In a press conference Sunday, Shin explained the unusual tactic he'd employed against scouts from the Swedish team: He'd had his team members swap jersey numbers for the warm-up games, in hopes that scouts wouldn't be able to tell the players apart. "It's very difficult for Westerners to distinguish between Asians," Shin explained, as quoted by ESPN. He added, "We wanted to confuse the Swedish team ...
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The Language of Emotion
When people describe feeling “angry” or “distressed” or “dejected,” what do they really mean? Psychologists vigorously debate whether the words individuals use to describe their emotions actually reflect fixed states in the brain, or are merely convenient fictions for talking about feelings.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Structure and Implementation of Novel Task Rules: A Cross-Sectional Developmental Study Frederick Verbruggen, Rossy McLaren, Maayan Pereg, and Nachshon Meiran The authors tested how children and adolescents performed in new tasks that required learning instructions and structuring the tasks hierarchically. They presented images of cartoon characters that lived on the left or on the right side of the street on a computer screen.
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Gossiping Is Good
Word on the street is that gossip is the worst. An Ann Landers advice column once characterized it as “the faceless demon that breaks hearts and ruins careers.” The Talmud describes it as a “three-pronged tongue” that kills three people: the teller, the listener, and the person being gossiped about. And Blaise Pascal observed, not unreasonably, that “if people really knew what others said about them, there would not be four friends left in the world.” Convincing as these indictments seem, however, a significant body of research suggests that gossip may in fact be healthy. It’s a good thing, too, since gossip is pretty pervasive.
