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College students come up with plug-in to combat fake news
A team of college students is getting attention from internet companies and Congress after developing a browser extension that alerts users to fake and biased news stories and helps guide them to more balanced coverage. The plug-in, “Open Mind ,” was developed earlier this month during a 36-hour problem-solving competition known as a hackathon at Yale University.
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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of new research exploring emotion and memory in depression, emotion regulation and everyday functioning in schizophrenia, and different autism phenotypes in males and females.
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The Best (and Worst) Holiday Gifts, According to Science
‘Tis the season—of scrambling to finish your holiday shopping before the big day. If you’re still looking for some last-minute holiday gifts, there’s a better way to find inspiration than scouring gift guides and mall displays. Here are four types of gifts that, according to science, you should give this year —and three you shouldn’t. ... Everyday items, like kitchen gadgets or wardrobe staples, may not feel like slam-dunk gifts, but a study published last year in Current Directions in Psychological Sciencefound that people actually prefer presents they can use for months and years to come, rather than something that makes a statement right when it’s unwrapped.
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HOW CHILDHOOD TRAUMA ADVERSELY AFFECTS DECISION-MAKING
Punishment—or the threat of it—is generally considered an effective way to shape human behavior; it is, after all, the foundation of our criminal justice system. But what if there's a subset of the population for whom this paradigm simply doesn't apply? New research suggests that there is such a group: survivors of childhood trauma. University of Wisconsin–Madison psychology professor Seth Pollak worked with over 50 people around the age of 20, and found that those who had experienced extreme stress as kids were hampered in their ability to make good decisions as adults.
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Why asking for a pay rise via email DOESN’T work
It might sound scary, but if you really want to get a pay rise, then meet your boss in person rather than email a request. That's according to scientists in California who claim spoken arguments have a more powerful impact than those that are written. This is because reading a point of view can 'dehumanise' an argument, leading to less empathy, and less chance the reader will come round to thinking in the same way.
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Social Notworking: Is Generation Smartphone Really More Prone to Unhappiness?
Mobile devices have become our alarm clocks and newspapers and, via platforms like Facebook and Instagram, portals to our social lives. With smartphones inhabiting the pockets of roughly three quarters of all Americans and tablets borne by half, a pale blue glow silhouettes modern life. As screens have become ubiquitous, so has the phenomenon of depressed or suicidal teens, notes Jean Twenge, a psychologist at San Diego State University and the author of iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.