Psychology News

• Saturday, May 19, 2012

  On Positivity and the Positivity Ratio

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• Saturday, May 19, 2012

  Facebook and Smartphones: New Tools for Psychological Science Research

  Whether you’re an iPerson who can’t live without a Mac, a Facebook addict, or a gamer, you know that social media and technology say things about your personality and thought processes. And psychological scientists know it too – they’ve started researching how new media and devices both reveal and change our mental states. With Facebook preparing to sell shares on Wall Street for the first time next week, investors aren’t the only ones who want a piece of this social media giant. Social scientists have recognized Facebook and its 800-million-plus users ... Read more

• Saturday, May 19, 2012

  Pain Relief Through Distraction: It's Not All in Your Head

  Mental distractions make pain easier to take, and those pain-relieving effects aren't just in your head, according to a report. The findings based on high-resolution spinal fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) as people experienced painful levels of heat show that mental distractions actually inhibit the response to incoming pain signals at the earliest stage of central pain processing. Read more

• Friday, May 18, 2012

  Study released on Impact of Homophobia and Transphobia on the LGBTQ individuals in Singapore

  Oogachaga Counselling and Support released it's first study on the effects of homophobia and transphobia on the GLBT community in Singapore. The survey include results such as the most commonly experienced form of homophobia as well a list of common behavioral issues that arises as a result. This ... Read more

• Friday, May 18, 2012

  Why A Touch Can Double Your Chances of Getting a Date

  Touch research has many obvious applications. For example, in an experiment involving eight servers and several hundred restaurant diners, the servers were trained to touch randomly selected customers briefly on the arm toward the end of the meal while asking if “everything was all right.” The servers received an average tip of about 14.5 ... Read more

• Friday, May 18, 2012

  Internet Usage Pattern Can Indicate Depression

  Depressed internet users browse the web more randomly, switching between several applications, new research on university students suggests. The researchers analyzed Internet usage among college students and found that students who show signs of depression tend to browse differently than others. They identified nine fine-grained patterns of Internet usage that may indicate depression. Read more

• Thursday, May 17, 2012

  There's Nothing Wrong With Turning Red: How Embarrassment Helps Us

  Embarrassment is embarrassing. As anyone who has ever been told, “You’re blushing!” knows, displays of embarrassment can become mortifying events of their own. According to recent research, however, revealing embarrassment is nothing to be ashamed of, and in certain ways it might even serve us well. Read more

• Thursday, May 17, 2012

  Music as Therapy: Music, Movement, Cognition!

  It is rhythm that makes it pos­si­ble for a per­son with Parkinson’s Dis­ease to get up out of their seat and dance their way across the floor. As the Parkinson’s brain processes music, the rhythm seems to coerce and cajole the move­ment sig­nal from start to fin­ish, tra­vers­ing the nerve from top to bot­tom, from the brain to the leg, foot and toes. Read more

• Thursday, May 17, 2012

  Perfectionists worry away the benefits of a break from work

  Go on, have a few days off. Take a week - you've certainly earned it! Clear your mind, take a break - things will tick over til you return... Easier said than done, of course. But respites from work are valuable, replenishing resources and preventing negative loads (mental fatigue, adrenaline build-up) spiralling out of control. Sadly, the positive gloss of the holiday itself tends to ... Read more

• Wednesday, May 16, 2012

  Searching for the Onset of Autism

  Early behavioral intervention has shown some promise as a way to help children with autism. But it’s difficult to see the hallmarks of autism before two years of age with today’s diagnostic criteria. Could we find other methods? Seeking to answer that question is Jed Elison at the California Institute of Technology, who is working with Ralph Adolphs at Caltech and Joe Piven at the University of North Carolina among other ... Read more

• Wednesday, May 16, 2012

  Chronic Child Abuse Strong Indicator of Negative Adult Experiences

  Child abuse or neglect are strong predictors of major health and emotional problems, but little is known about how the chronicity of the maltreatment may increase future harm apart from other risk factors in a child's life. The study tracked children by number of child maltreatment reports (zero to four or more) and followed the children into early adulthood, by which time some of the children had become parents. Read more

• Wednesday, May 16, 2012

  People see sexy pictures of women as objects, not people

  Perfume ads, beer billboards, movie posters: everywhere you look, women's sexualized bodies are on display. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that both men and women see images of sexy women's bodies as objects, while they see sexy-looking men as people. Sexual objectification has been well studied, but most of the research is about looking at the effects of this objectification. Read more

• Tuesday, May 15, 2012

  Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?

  One day last summer, Anne and her husband, Miguel, took their 9-year-old son, Michael, to a Florida elementary school for the first day of what the family chose to call “summer camp.” For years, Anne and Miguel have struggled to understand their eldest son, an elegant boy with high-planed cheeks, wide eyes and curly light brown hair, whose periodic rages alternate with moments of chilly ... Read more

• Tuesday, May 15, 2012

  A Walk in the Park Gives Mental Boost to People With Depression

  A walk in the park may have psychological benefits for people suffering from depression. In one of the first studies to examine the effect of nature walks on cognition and mood in people with major depression, researchers in Canada and the U.S. have found promising evidence that a walk in the park may provide some cognitive benefits. Read more

• Tuesday, May 15, 2012

  Polanski’s Movie “Carnage” and Personality Types

  This is Part II of my blog on Roman Polanski’s Carnage, starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz. Early in the movie, 11 year-old Zachary’s parents are on their way to leave Ethan’s parents’ apartment after a discussion about Zachary knocking Ethan’s teeth out with a stick when Al, Zachary’s hot-shot ... Read more

• Monday, May 14, 2012

  5 Psychological Reasons Gambling is so Addictive

  Gambling has become one of the most popular pastimes for people today. Whether it’s betting on your favourite football team, playing the slot machine at a local casino, or pulling the trigger in a risky round of Russian roulette, gambling never seems to lose its appeal. It’s easy to understand why people decide to take up gambling – who wouldn’t want to earn a few extra dollars without having to break a sweat? Read more

• Monday, May 14, 2012

  Are You Dominant or Subordinate in Your Romantic Relationship?

  Dominance is so intrinsic to human social relationships that we don’t even notice it. However, I suspect that if I asked you to make a list of one hundred people you know, including family members, friends, and coworkers, and indicate whether you are dominant or subordinate in your relationship with each of these people, you could give a clear ... Read more

• Monday, May 14, 2012

  Be careful when comforting struggling students

  Previous research tells us that students who see intelligence and ability as fixed will tend to give up when confronted by a difficult problem, whereas those who see intelligence as growable will persevere. But how do teachers' beliefs about ability affect the way they perceive and respond to their students' performance? Read more

• Saturday, May 12, 2012

  Can I Trust My Gut to Know If I've Found My True Love?

  How can you tell if the person you are currently drawn to, dating or living with is The One True Love with whom you should seal the deal? Can you trust your gut to tell you who is a good choice to marry? Is cohabitation a good way to assess if a true love will be likely to make a good mate? My answer to those last two questions would be no and no. There's lots of folks that a given ... Read more

• Saturday, May 12, 2012

  World of Psychology Removing the Stigma of Mental Health

  I was a successful actor. Then I had more and more success. I won an Emmy for my role on The Sopranos and I thought: That’s it? The Emmy was supposed to make me feel better. I left it on the floor of my car. It didn’t give me the feelings a life you dream about is supposed to give you. It wasn’t enough. It was never enough. Success didn’t cure my clinical depression. I started to self-destruct. Read more

• Saturday, May 12, 2012

  Assertive versus Aggressive: Which Side are You On?

  Learning to behave more assertively is an important part of being successful in life. Whether your newfound assertive behaviors enable you to push for that big salary raise you’ve deserved for years or simply to command more respect from your peers and colleagues, identifying and modeling assertive behaviors is a great way to improve your overall life and your well-being. Read more

• Friday, May 11, 2012

  How To Encourage People To Change Their Own Minds

  Changing people's minds is hard. We resist having our attitudes adjusted by others, especially when the message isn't directly relevant to us and we aren't paying that much attention. But what if you could get people to change their own minds? People will listen to themselves and will automatically generate arguments that have personal ... Read more

• Friday, May 11, 2012

  Feeling chilly? Indulge in some nostalgia

  Over recent years a body of research has accumulated showing the psychological benefits of nostalgia. For example, reminiscing about the past can combat loneliness and off-set the discomfort of thinking about death. Now a team led by Xinyue Zhou has shown that nostalgia brings physical comforts too, making us feel warmer and increasing our tolerance to cold. Read more

• Friday, May 11, 2012

  Sharing Opinions Feels at Least as Good as Earning Money

  If you enjoy sharing all your likes and dislikes on Facebook, you’re definitely not alone: research finds that broadcasting personal opinions gives people the same sense of reward as earning money. The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Diana I. Tamir and Jason P. Mitchell, "Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding"] Read more

• Thursday, May 10, 2012

  People love talking about themselves, brain scans show

  Got something to report about yourself? An opinion, perhaps, or a status update? Nobody may care except you, but new brain research suggests you can make yourself feel good simply by sharing. Participants who talked about themselves showed signs of activity in the areas of the brain that are linked to value and motivation, said Diana Tamir. This helps to explain why people so ... Read more

• Thursday, May 10, 2012

  Science Remains a Stranger to Psychiatry’s New Bible

  n the offices of psychiatrists and psychologists across the country you can find a rather hefty tome called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM). The current edition of the DSM, the DSM-IV, is something like a field guide to mental disorders: the book pairs each illness with a checklist of symptoms, just as a naturalist’s guide describes the distinctive physical features of different birds. ... Read more

• Thursday, May 10, 2012

  On Marriage & Pair Bonds: the straight and gay of it

  Most people in the USA identify marriage as a natural goal for humans, with love as a necessary component. After all, Frank Sinatra sang “love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage” and informed us that “you can’t have one without the other.” With all of the debate and discussion about same-sex marriage in the past few days, it is worth busting a few myths about “happily ever after.” It is not human nature to seek marriage and a specific romantic relationship, but it is our nature to pair bond and it is our culture ... Read more

• Wednesday, May 9, 2012

  Study indicates finding a positive parental balance is key

  Wondering why your toddler is acting up? University of Alberta researcher Christina Rinaldi says it may be time to take a look at your parental style -- and your partner's. Rinaldi's study, which appears in Early Childhood Research Quarterly, looked at how parents' child-rearing styles were related to their young children's behaviour. Read more

• Wednesday, May 9, 2012

  Want to quit smoking? Try acupuncture or hypnosis

  Acupuncture and hypnosis have been promoted as drug-free ways to help smokers kick the habit, and there is some evidence that they work, according to a research review that looked at 14 international studies. Researchers, whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Medicine, said that there are still plenty of questions, including how effective alternative therapies might be and how they measure up against conventional methods. But the alternatives should still stand as options for smokers determined to break the habit, said researchers led by Mehdi ... Read more

• Wednesday, May 9, 2012

  Is your personality sabotaging your weight-loss goals?

  For most people, losing the kilos is often just one part of the weight-loss challenge. Sustaining the weight loss is the other half of the battle. Too often, weight watchers win a battle but end up losing the war when they pile back on the excess kilos. Only one in four people who lose 10 per cent of their body weight are able to keep it off for at least two years, according to a 2005 ... Read more

Recent Psychology Topics

• April 16, 2012

  Top Ten Specific Mental Disorders

  Most of us worry about the possibility of getting physically sick at some time in our life and that is why insurance coverage of medical diseases is so common. However, how many of us even think about developing a psychological illness let alone get insurance coverage for it? Yet a recent and very reliable survey in the United States (US) concluded that about half of the population will ...

  Categories: Adult ADHD, Agoraphobia, Anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Bipolar, Depression / Bipolar, Drug Addiction, Obsessions & Compulsions (OCD), Oppositional & Defiant Behavior in Children & Teens, Phobias, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) / Trauma / Complex PTSD

• March 27, 2012

  Is love for somewhere you previously lived preventing you from enjoying fully where you now?

  Sometimes memories of enjoyable and rewarding attachments in the past interfere with forming similar positive attachments in the present. This post is about psychological strategies to prevent such maladaptive memories of places where we have lived in the past from interfering with the formation of positive new attachment to where you are living today. I was reminded of this problem in a recent ...

  Categories: Other

• March 13, 2012

  4 most common classes of Mental illness and their prevalence

  What is our risk of developing a mental illness over the course of our entire lives and which types of mental illnesses are we most likely to develop? These questions are not just academic in nature because the answers are of great practical importance to all of us. We need this information if we are to be prepared for its occurrence, or even prevent it from occurring. The fact is that most of us ...

  Categories: Addictions, Inattention, Impulsivity, & Hyperactivity (ADHD), Mood Swings / Bipolar

• February 21, 2012

  The story of the two wolves: Managing your thoughts, feelings and actions

  Have you ever had thoughts, feelings or acted in ways that were unacceptable to yourself but felt powerless to control? The purpose of this post is to help you find ways to manage your mind so that you can live your life more in accordance with what your own judgment says is best for you. As we grow up, we gradually become aware of the many things in the external world which are largely beyond ...

  Categories: Control Issues, Life Purpose / Meaning / Inner-Guidance, Personality problems, Self-Care / Self Compassion

• February 7, 2012

  What stops people with mental health issues from seeking treatment?

  Worldwide, a large majority of those with mental illness fail to receive adequate treatment and hence undergo unnecessary suffering. Arguably as tragic is the suffering experienced by the family members who agonize about the inexplicable and seemingly never ending mental anguish of their loved one. In Singapore, for example, although depression is the most common mental health issue and there ...

  Categories: Depression / Bipolar, Prejudice / Discrimination, Psychology in Asia, Self help groups

• January 25, 2012

  How can you help a family member or friend who may be suffering from Depression?

  As a practising psychologist in Singapore, I often receive calls from distraught family members asking what they can do if they have a family member or friend who they suspect is suffering from depression but who is reluctant to see a mental health professional. The main goal in this situation, is to make sure the person gets an appropriate diagnosis and then start treatment by a mental health ...

  Categories: Depression / Bipolar, Family Problems

• January 13, 2012

  Thoughts on Addiction Treatment in Singapore

  This brief article is meant for counselors, family members, and those suffering from addictions. By addictions, I mean both behavioral, such as gambling, and substance abuse, such as alcohol and drugs. I will only consider three areas of addiction treatment, as I consider these three crucial to favorable outcomes. As an American Addiction Specialist since 1979, I have worked in Singapore in that ...

  Categories: Addictions, Drug Addiction, Gambling Addiction

• December 30, 2011

  Top 5 articles on Psychology Matters Asia in 2011

  A new year is fast approaching with a fresh start and new challenges. Let us take a look at some of the articles that had been previously posted on Psychology Matters Asia and have been well recieved by our readers. In preparation for a brand new year, start it out by learning how to better manage your self-talk. A recent review of psychological research concluded that human behaviour was ...

  Categories: Psychology in Asia

• December 19, 2011

  Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their Care giver

  I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet with several parents of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), both in the UK and in Singapore. When discussing what life is like, regardless of their residency, availability of support seemed to be one of the greatest factors in determining their sense of wellbeing. As is the case with many severe mental health disorders, the disorder does ...

  Categories: Autism spectrum disorders, Caregiver Issues / Stress

• December 6, 2011

  Book review of “My Voice: Overcoming”

  On hearing of a newly published book on depression titled “My Voice; Overcoming”, I decided to contact the author, Mr Chua Seng Lee , to determine if there was some way of introducing this insightful book to readers of my blog. He was extremely friendly in our email exchanges and immediately agreed to meet up over coffee. On the day of our appointment, I was not feeling very well due ...

  Categories: Depression / Bipolar

• November 27, 2011

  State of support for Children with Disabilities in Singapore

  When I first moved to Singapore, I was initially struck by just how differently the attitude towards children with disabilities were from what I had known it to be in the west. A number of studies have shown the extreme gap in resources for people suffering with mental health disorders throughout Asia. However the longer I live here, I see benefits in the way culturally things are done ...

  Categories: Caregiver Issues / Stress, Child and/or Adolescent Issues, Developmental Disorders (Autism, Aspergers, etc.), Learning Difficulties

• November 11, 2011

  How to improve your life by better managing your self-talk

  Over the past 15 years, as part of a program of self exploration and development, I developed the habit of journaling on a daily basis. As part of that practice I started to record my ideas, memories etc on a voice recorder. Not only did this practice provide an abundance of ideas for my journaling, but I gradually became more and more aware of the mental “self-talk” that I engaged in ...

  Categories: Life Purpose / Meaning / Inner-Guidance, Positive Psychology, Self-Care / Self Compassion, Sports Psychology

• October 28, 2011

  Special Needs Schools for Children, Teenagers and Adults in Singapore

  Below is an extensive list of schools in Singapore which offer programs for children with a developmental challenge of some kind.  One advantage of this data base is that it has been organized according to the type of challenge and age group catered to. It includes the following kinds of handicap: Attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD, ADD), Autism, Asperger’s syndrome, Dyslexia, ...

  Categories: Antisocial personality, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism spectrum disorders, Developmental Disorders (Autism, Aspergers, etc.), Disability

• October 19, 2011

  Introduction to Codependence

  In this initial entry I want to introduce you to the topic of co-dependence which I feel is a valid and useful approach to helping people. I also use it because there are many resources available to help people recover from the effects of co-dependence (coda) including books, tapes, and videos so that you can work on your recovery outside of the counselling room. In North America there are many ...

  Categories: Codependency / Dependency