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The Hidden Cost of Caregiving: Stress, Anxiety, and Coping Mechanisms
Podcast: Under the Cortex features Michael Kramer from the University of Zurich to discuss how, as individuals step up to provide care for loved ones in need, they face their own mental health challenges. Visit Page
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New Content From Current Directions in Psychological Science
A sample of articles on the importance of life skills and civic science, the psychology of secrecy, how we use our imaginations to condemn and condone, and much more. Visit Page
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The Secret to Doing Hard Things and Getting Stuff Done
Over the last year, NPR graphics reporter Daniel Wood — a busy dad of three — says he's been able to maintain "a workout cadence I've never, ever had before." The secret to his good exercise regime? He has an accountability group. Wood and a few dads in his neighborhood in Cheverly, Md., wake up before their childcare morning duties to drink coffee and lift weights in one of the dad's garages. "Through a combination of good encouragement and friendly rivalry, we hold each other accountable to be there," says Wood.
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Does Fact-Checking Work? Here’s What the Science Says
... In terms of helping to convince people that information is true and trustworthy, “fact-checking does work”, says Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist at the University of Cambridge, UK, who acted as an unpaid adviser on Facebook’s fact-checking programme in 2022. “Studies provide very consistent evidence that fact-checking does at least partially reduce misperceptions about false claims.” ... Fact-checking is less effective when an issue is polarized, says Jay Van Bavel, a psychologist at New York University in New York City. “If you’re fact-checking something around Brexit in the UK or the election in United States, that’s where fact-checks don’t work very well,” he says.
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She Is in Love With ChatGPT
... Michael Inzlicht, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, said people were more willing to share private information with a bot than with a human being. Generative A.I. chatbots, in turn, respond more empathetically than humans do. In a recent study, he found that ChatGPT’s responses were more compassionate than those from crisis line responders, who are experts in empathy. He said that a relationship with an A.I. companion could be beneficial, but that the long-term effects needed to be studied.
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A Four-Day Science-Backed Guide to Forging Better Friendships That Will Improve Your Life
... Another way to add warmth to your connections could be to repair past wrongs, by saying sorry. As our tech specialist Thomas Germain found out, robots are actually surprisingly good at coming up with effective apologies – while many humans struggle with that. But we humans may have one advantage: we can show in many ways that while imperfect, our apologies come from the heart. As Judy Eaton, a psychology professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, told Thomas: "Apologies aren't just about saying the right words, it's about bringing in the physiological responses of what researchers call 'psychic pain'. If you're truly remorseful, it hurts.
