People who hang out with friends heavier than they are tend to gain weight. Those who socialize with leaner friends tend to maintain their weight, or even lose a few pounds.
Is it that friends influence our behavior? Or do we simply tend to have friends that resemble ourselves—the birds of a feather flock together effect.
Date Posted: July 17, 2012
GOIn the largest study to examine the impact of the recession on child abuse, researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's (CHOP) PolicyLab detected a significant increase in children admitted to the nation's largest children's hospitals ...
Jul 17
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Specific types of “mindfulness practices” including Zen meditation have research-proven benefits for patients with certain physical and mental health problems, according to a report in the July Journal of Psychiatric Practice. The journal is ...
Jul 16
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Physical health and mental health often go hand-in-hand, but it is not always clear which comes first, or which influences the other, or how long the effects last. But, a new study now reports that physical fitness early in life reduces the risk for ...
Jul 16
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One of the most famous experiments in cognitive psychology (pdf) involved a person in a gorilla suit walking through a basketball game between two teams of players, one dressed in white, the other in black. Told to count passes between the players ...
Jul 16
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Does smelling granny relieve depressive mood? The answer to that and more questions you never asked...
A few years ago I wrote an article on weird psychology studies. It included studies on tickling, superstitious pigeons, a psychic dog and ...
Jul 14
GOThe eyes are the windows to the soul. As such they can reveal if someone is lying, right? Cop shows, advice shows, even some organizational training courses hold that if somebody looks up and to the right, they’re probably lying. Up and to the ...
Jul 14
GOIce cold, hard and emotionless. Such is the psychopath -- we think. Until we get a glimpse behind the mask. Researchers have for decades been almost unanimous in their accord with the popular perception that psychopaths are made in a certain way, ...
Jul 14
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It was early December 2010. That August, my father, who was 69, became abruptly and deeply paranoid. Convinced that nameless people were trying to kill him, he slept no more than an hour or two a night and started drinking after five years of ...
Jul 13
GOAt 17, Eleanor Longden had a promising future ahead of her; then she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After a ...
Jul 13
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Pressure to be more involved in their children's lives has many middle class men turning to sports as a way to nurture their kids. This softening of gender roles might be seen on the field, but researchers found it doesn't change traditional ...
Jul 13
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Do you get panicky in wide-open spaces? Tight, closed ones? What about in high places or—eek!—around arachnids? If these fears are frequent or debilitating, you might have a phobic anxiety.
All of this psychological stress could be taking a ...
Jul 12
GOHenry V is one of Shakespeare's most appealing characters. He was rambunctious when young and courageous when older. But suppose Henry went to an American school. By about the third week of nursery school, Henry's teacher would be sending notes ...
Jul 12
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Mr Alfred Nasoni and his wife Biti Rose pulled their eldest son out of school in the fourth grade because they couldn't afford US$5 (S$6.30) in school costs for a term.
However, Alfred, 45, told me that even as his children were starving, he ...
Jul 12
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We usually think of over-indulgence in terms of a lack of willpower. I scoff the doughnut because I can't marshal the necessary self-control to resist it. A new study by Jessie de Witt Huberts and her colleagues at Utrecht University takes a ...
Jul 11
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What would it take for you to give your life to save another? The answer of course is two siblings or eight cousins, that is, if you’re thinking like a geneticist. This famous quip, attributed to the British biologist J.B.S. Haldane, is based on ...
Jul 11
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New evidence shows the calming power of reminiscing about happy times
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