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New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science: Daily Actigraphy Profiles Distinguish Depressive and Interepisode States in Bipolar Disorder Anda Gershon, Nilam Ram, Sheri L. Johnson, Allison G. Harvey, and Jamie M. Zeitzer Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized, in part, by disruption in physical activity; however, few studies have adequately tracked activity levels in BD to see if they are truly an indicator of mood states. Participants with and without BD wore a watch-based activity-monitoring device for 3 months. Participants completed demographic, symptom, and medication assessments at the beginning of each month.
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Teens Take Fewer Risks Around Slightly Older Adults
Adolescents are known risk takers, especially when they're surrounded by same-aged peers. But new research suggests that being in a group that includes just one slightly older adult might decrease teens' propensity to engage in risky behavior. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "The take home message is that decision making in groups of adolescents and young adults is more prudent when a somewhat older adult is present," explains psychological scientist and lead researcher Laurence Steinberg of Temple University.
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Wearing a Helmet Tied to Riskier Decision Making
Individuals wearing a bicycle helmet as part of an experiment reported greater sensation seeking and engaged in more risk taking than those wearing a baseball cap, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The results suggest that wearing a helmet may have complex and even unintended consequences on the wearer's judgment and decision making. For the study, psychological scientists Tim Gamble and Ian Walker of the University of Bath in the UK used a computer-based simulation to measure sensation-seeking behavior and analyze risk taking in adults ranging in age from 17 to 56 years old.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Read about the latest research published in Psychological Science: Failure of Intuition When Choosing Whether to Invest in a Single Goal or Split Resources Between Two Goals Alasdair D. F. Clarke and Amelia R. Hunt How do people respond when asked to perform two similar tasks simultaneously? In theory, if both tasks are easy, they should divide their attention and try to complete both; however, once the tasks become more demanding, they should change strategies and prioritize one task at the expense of the other. In a series of four studies, participants completed simultaneous detection (Study 1), throwing (Study 2), memory (Study 3), or reaching (Study 4) tasks.
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Why Sports Wins and Sunshine May Lead You to Gamble
A sunny day or the fact that your favorite sports team unexpectedly won yesterday won’t improve your chances of winning the lottery and yet they might increase the likelihood that you’ll buy a ticket.
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No Evidence of Seasonal Differences in Depressive Symptoms
A large-scale survey of U.S. adults provides no evidence that levels of depressive symptoms vary from season to season, according to new research published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings are inconsistent with the notion of seasonal depression as a commonly occurring disorder. “In conversations with colleagues, the belief in the association of seasonal changes with depression is more-or-less taken as a given and the same belief is widespread in our culture,” says Steven LoBello, a professor of psychology at Auburn University at Montgomery and senior author on the new study.