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Depression linked to negative thoughts
Times of India: A new study has revealed that people suffering from depression get stuck on bad thoughts because they're unable to turn their attention away. Such people keep brooding over a fight with a friend, a divorce or the loss of a parent. Though a majority of the population is able to pull out of the negative thoughts caused by these situations, some fail to do so. This leads them to develop major depression. "They basically get stuck in a mindset where they relive what happened to them over and over again," said Jutta Joormann of the University of Miami. Read more: Times of India
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Mental health issues rise among US troops
Boston Globe: American troops in Afghanistan are suffering the highest rates of mental health problems since 2005, and morale has deteriorated, the Pentagon said yesterday. Military doctors said the findings were no surprise, given the dramatic increase in fighting, which was at its most intense level during the survey period since officials began battlefield mental health analyses in 2003. The grim statistics illustrated the psychological cost of a campaign that US officials say has reversed the momentum of the insurgency in the war-ravaged country. Read more: Boston Globe
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New Republic: Let Them Eat Cake Or Don’t Bake At All
NPR: Flannery O'Connor once described the contradictory desires that afflict all of us with characteristic simplicity. "Free will does not mean one will," she wrote, "but many wills conflicting in one man." The existence of appealing alternatives, after all, is what makes free will free: What would choice be without inner debate? We're torn between staying faithful and that alluring man or woman across the room. We can't resist the red velvet cake despite having sworn to keep our calories down. We buy a leather jacket on impulse, even though we know we'll need the money for other things. Everyone is aware of such inner conflicts. But how, exactly, do we choose among them?
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Too much coffee and stress can lead to hallucinations, La Trobe University study warns
Herald Sun: A La Trobe University study has found stressed people who have consumed five cups of coffee can exhibit signs of hallucination. Professor Simon Crowe from the School of Psychological Sciences examined the effect of stress and caffeine on 92 participants. Prof Crowe found stressed people who had consumed about 200mg of caffeine during the day were more likely to imagine hearing things. "What we did is we brought people into the lab while listening to White Christmas and then told them we were going to play some white noise," he told mX. Read more: Herald Sun
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Both mind and body play key role in problem solving
Yahoo India: A new study has confirmed that not only the brain, but other body parts also play a significant role in problem solving. "Being able to use your body in problem solving alters the way you solve the problems," said Martha Alibali, psychology professor at University of Wisconsin. "Body movements are one of the resources we bring to cognitive processes," she added. To confirm their findings, researchers recruited 86 American undergraduates, half of whom were prevented from moving their hands and the others were prevented from moving their feet. Read more: Yahoo India
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News in Brief: Association for Psychological Science meeting
ScienceNews: Familiarity breeds congeniality Snap judgments about others sometimes depend not on what the person looks like but on whom they look like. Women tend to preferentially like male strangers who facially resemble the woman’s romantic partner, psychologist Gül Günaydin of Cornell University reported May 27. This type of social attraction often occurs unconsciously, Günaydin’s team found. For unclear reasons, men showed no signs of especially liking women who resembled a romantic partner. Members of 30 romantic couples observed opposite-sex strangers’ faces for half a second on a computer screen. Some faces were digitally altered to resemble the volunteers’ partners.
