Last year's annual question posed by Edge was "How is the Internet changing the way you think?" Several psychologists answered that it was becoming an extension of their minds. "The Internet is a kind of collective memory,’ wrote Stephen Kosslyn (Harvard University). "When I write with a browser open in the background, it feels like the browser ...
Date Posted: July 16, 2011
GOSocial studies of Facebook and Twitter have been adapted to gain a greater understanding of the swarming behaviour of locusts. The enormous success of social networking sites has vividly illustrated the importance of networking for humans; however ...
Jul 15
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Over the past seven months, my seven-year-old and I have avidly devoured the full seven volumes of J.K. Rowling’s wondrously magical Harry Potter series. You might think that after 4091 pages of hearing about Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and ...
Jul 14
GOThis summer marks the 40th anniversary of the social psychology experiment in which psychologist Philip Zimbardo placed participants in a simulated prison environment in order to explore how situational variables impact human behavior. In the ...
Jul 13
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Why are 12-step programs so effective? Universality, cohesion, and hope. Although AA may be the best known of the 12-step support programs the powerful effects of universality, cohesion and hope can happen anytime there is a homogeneous group: ...
Jul 12
GOPsychologists at the University of Missouri have identified the beginning of first grade math skills that teachers and parents should target to effectively improve children's later math learning. A long-term psychology study indicates that beginning ...
Jul 12
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Over the last decade, scientists made two key discoveries that reframed our understanding of the adult brain’s potential to benefit from lifelong environmental enrichment. First, they learned that the adult brain remains plastic; it can generate ...
Jul 11
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Do you like surprises? If you do, it may surprise you to learn that a lot of other people don't.
Our natural ability (or lack thereof) to deal with surprising situations and the uncertainty they generate may have an important role to play in our ...
Jul 9
GOMental health experts are calling for a greater world focus on improving access to care and treatment for mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders, as well as increasing discoveries in research that will enable this goal to be met. ...
Jul 8
GOA gentle touch on the arm can be surprisingly persuasive. Consider these research findings. Library users who are touched while registering, rate the library and its personnel more favourably than the non-touched; diners are more satisfied and give ...
Jul 7
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As an entrepreneur owner-manager of a successful business, would you be willing to buy your business today at the same value that you would agree to sell it? According to Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler, people exhibit the endowment effect when they ...
Jul 6
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In 1943, American psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed that all humans seek to fulfill a hierarchy of needs, which he represented with a pyramid. The pyramid's base, which he believed must come first, signified basic needs (for food, sleep and sex, ...
Jul 5
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Last month, when the New York congressman Anthony Weiner finally admitted that he had lied, that his Twitter account had not been hacked, that he in fact had sent a picture of his thinly clad undercarriage to a stranger in Seattle, I asked my wife ...
Jul 4
GOWith youths spending the greater part of the day in school, teachers are probably best placed to spot signs of distress in their charges. This early intervention can help prevent psychological issues from taking root and developing into major mental ...
Jul 2
GOHaving a boring job can leave you just as vulnerable to burnout than one which leaves you rushed off your feet, say psychiatrists. They believe there is a distinct category of "underchallenged" employees who end up finding they simply cannot take ...
Jul 1
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The Supreme Court decided today that it's unconstitutional for the state of California to bar minors from buying violent video games (here's the WSJ story). The 2005 law, which never took effect, violates children and adolescents' right to freedom ...
Jun 30
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