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Social Class as Culture
Social class is more than just how much money you have. It’s also the clothes you wear, the music you like, the school you go to—and has a strong influence on how you interact with others, according to the authors of a new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. People from lower classes have fundamentally different ways of thinking about the world than people in upper classes—a fact that should figure into debates on public policy, according to the authors.
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New Research From Psychological Science
Who Took the “x” Out of Expectancy-Value Theory? A Psychological Mystery, a Substantive-Methodological Synergy, and a Cross-National Generalization Benjamin Nagengast, Herbert W. Marsh, L. Francesca Scalas, Man Xu, Kit-Tai Hau, and Ulrich Trautwein The dominant theory used for predicting human motivation is expectancy-value theory (EVT), in which people respond to novel information by forming beliefs, assigning values based on the beliefs, and creating an expectation based on those beliefs and values.
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Mental Simulations of Social Thought and Action
We live in a world with people from diverse cultures, different societies and varied communities. Unfortunately, all those differences can sometimes result in segregation and discrimination. Reducing prejudice and creating more open minded societies has been the focal point of recent research and now, a new study in this field suggests that mental simulation is a key component of behavioral change strategies. Though this approach is controversial, authors Richard J. Crisp, Michèle D. Birtel, and Rose Meleady at the University of Kent, believe that this will assist in reducing prejudice and discrimination.
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Getting to The Heart of The Appeal of Videogames
People spend 3 billion hours a week playing videogames but little is known scientifically about why they are actually fun in the first place. The vast majority of research into videogames has concentrated on the possible harmful effects of playing videogames, ignoring the simple question of why people actually want to play them. But new research led by scientists at the University of Essex sheds some light on the appeal of videogames and why millions of people around the world find playing them so much fun. The study investigated the idea that many people enjoy playing videogames because it gives them the chance to “try on” characteristics which they would like to have as their ideal self.
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Are Pet Owners Healthier and Happier? Maybe Not…
The general claim that living with a pet makes for a happier, healthier or longer life has weak scientific backing, a psychological researcher reports.
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Monkey See, Monkey Do? The Role of Mirror Neurons in Human Behavior
We are all familiar with the phrase “monkey see, monkey do” – but have we actually thought about what it means? Over the last two decades, neuroscience research has been investigating whether this popular saying has a real basis in human behavior. Over twenty years ago, a team of scientists, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti at the University of Parma, discovered special brain cells, called mirror neurons, in monkeys. These cells appeared to be activated both when the monkey did something itself and when the monkey simply watched another monkey do the same thing. The function of such mirror neurons in humans has since become a hot topic.