Many women with low sex drives reported greater sexual satisfaction after taking a placebo, according to new psychology research from The University of Texas at Austin and Baylor College of Medicine.
A new look at tests of mental aging reveals a good news-bad news situation. The bad news is all mental abilities appear to decline with age, to varying degrees. The good news is the drops are not as steep as some research showed, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.
Students who cheat in high school and college are highly likely to fit the profile for subclinical psychopathy – a personality disorder defined by erratic lifestyle, manipulation, callousness and antisocial tendencies, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. These problematic students cheat because they feel entitled and disregard morality, the study found.
Schoolyard taunts of any type can potentially damage a child’s sense of self-confidence. But a new study suggests that a particular kind of teasing – about weight – can have distinctive and significant effects on how pre-teens perceive their own bodies.
A psychologist at the University at Buffalo says research on traumatic experiences pinpoints sources of stress that the trapped Chilean miners and their rescuers will need to manage in the weeks and months ahead, and offers ways of dealing with them.
People who believe that fate and chance control their lives are more likely to be superstitious -- but when faced with death they are likely to abandon superstition altogether, according to a recent Kansas State University undergraduate research project.
Longevity trumps other factors when evaluating objects and policies. The longer a policy, medical practice, painting, tree or consumer good was said to exist, the more favorably it was evaluated.
A paycheck brings a familiar sense of freedom, albeit one that dwindles in lockstep with the balance in one's checking account. But, it’s not the checking account size that influences consumer behavior; rather, it’s the time that has elapsed since payday.
In the first study of its kind, researchers have found compelling evidence that our best and worst experiences in life are likely to involve not individual accomplishments, but interaction with other people and the fulfillment of an urge for social connection.
Miners in Chile will be facing numerous mental challenges as a result of being trapped 2,300 feet below the earth for weeks, possibly months. Psychologists and mine safety researchers can help explain how those underground and on the surface are coping. The following experts are available for interviews on topics such as leadership, resilience, stress management and mine safety during and after the mine collapse.
College students are less likely to let their female friends engage in risky sexual behavior after a night of drinking alcohol. Recent findings in the journal Communication Education examine how and why college students protect their friends who have been heavily drinking.
Watching superheroes beat up villains may not be the best image for boys to see if society wants to promote kinder, less stereotypical male behaviors, according to psychologists who spoke Sunday at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.
Sons who have fond childhood memories of their fathers are more likely to be emotionally stable in the face of day-to-day stresses, according to psychologists who studied hundreds of adults of all ages.
Gilbert will deliver the keynote address at the American Psychological Association’s 118th Annual Convention. He will explain how psychologists and other scientists are exposing the myths of happiness and why people’s imaginations fail them.
How positively you see others is linked to how happy, kind-hearted and emotionally stable you are, according to new research by a Wake Forest University psychology professor.
It’s a symbol of courage and sacrifice, of sin and sexuality, of power and passion – and now new research demonstrates that the color red makes men more alluring to women.
Wearing the color red or being bordered by the rosy hue makes a man more attractive and sexually desirable to women, finds a multicultural study published Aug. 2 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. And women are unaware of this arousing effect.
Negative stereotypes not only jeopardize how members of stigmatized groups might perform on tests and in other skill-based acts, such as driving and golf putting, but they also can inhibit actual learning, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers.
People who feel insecure about their attachments to others might be at higher risk for cardiovascular problems than those who feel secure in their relationships, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.
New research by two Cornell University professors has shown that emotions, particularly those provoked by negative events, can trigger inaccurate memories – and the effect is worse, not better, when the witness is an adult.
A foreign accent undermines a person’s credibility in ways that the speaker and the listener don’t consciously realize, research shows. Because an accent makes a person harder to understand, listeners are less likely to find what the person says as truthful, researchers found. The problem of credibility increases with the severity of the accent.
Because understanding character lies at the heart of human identity, philosophers, psychologists and theologians have long wrestled with how to define good character and how to improve character.
Adolescent sex offenders are often stereotyped and treated as socially inept, but new research negates this image, finding that they are more likely to be characterized by atypical sexual interests -- such as desire for prepubescent children, coercive sex with peers and adults, and exposing their genitals to strangers. Adolescent sex offenders are also more likely to have a history of sexual abuse themselves, been exposed to sexual violence in their families, and experienced early exposure to sex or pornography.
Contrary to Leo Tolstoy's famous observation that "happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," a new psychology study confirms that unhappy families, in fact, are unhappy in two distinct ways. And these dual patterns of unhealthy family relationships lead to a host of specific difficulties for children during their early school years.
Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy portrayed Russians as a brooding, complicated people, and ethnographers have confirmed that Russians tend to focus on dark feelings and memories more than Westerners do. But a new University of Michigan study finds that even though Russians tend to brood, they are less likely than Americans to feel as depressed as a result.
A new study published by a Washington and Lee University professor of clinical psychology finds that children in urban neighborhoods who suffer from asthma may not benefit from using problem-solving coping strategies that are typically helpful for children.
University of Utah researchers are using eye-tracking technology to pioneer a promising alternative to the polygraph for lie detection. The university recently licensed the technology to Credibility Assessment Technologies, of Park City.
In his book, The Quest to Feel Good, Furman University psychology professor Dr. Paul Rasmussen examines the power of emotions and the important role they play in mental health. And he says we should listen to the message before trying to subdue the messenger.
Children and adolescents who lack social problem-solving skills are more at risk of becoming bullies, victims or both than those who don’t have these difficulties, says new research published by the American Psychological Association. But those who are also having academic troubles are even likelier to become bullies.
As more women wait until their 30s and 40s to have children, they are more willing to engage in a variety of sexual activities to capitalize on their remaining childbearing years. Such “reproduction expediting” includes one-night stands and adventurous bedroom behavior, the research shows.
A new study finds that depressed patients show more symptom improvement when their therapists more competently follow the guidelines for delivering cognitive therapy.
A new study by an international team of researchers led by neuropsychiatrist Jeff Victoroff, an expert on human aggression at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), suggests that support for religo-political aggression (RPA) in the Autonomous Palestinian Territory of Gaza is more closely linked to past trauma and perceived political injustice, rather than to aggression.
The pain and anguish of rejection by a romantic partner may be the result of activity in parts of the brain associated with motivation, reward and addiction cravings, according to a study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology.
When it comes to executing items on tomorrow’s to-do list, it’s best to think it over, then “sleep on it,” say psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis.
Crayfish make surprisingly complex, cost-benefit choices, finds a University of Maryland study -opening up a new line of research to help unravel the cellular brain activity involved in human decisions. It concludes crayfish are a practical way to identify the neural circuitry and chemistry of decision making. No direct way exists to do this in primates.
Traditionally, the most successful methods used to combat stage fright have been prescribed medications (beta blockers) and aerobic exercise. In the most recent issue of Biofeedback, researchers studied another technique: the effect of biofeedback training on Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA). MPA is a severe form of stage fright marked by high anxiety levels and impaired performance.
Playing violent video games can make some adolescents more hostile, particularly those who are less agreeable, less conscientious and easily angered. But for others, it may offer opportunities to learn new skills and improve social networking.
Being outside in nature makes people feel more alive, finds a series of studies published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology. And that sense of increased vitality exists above and beyond the energizing effects of physical activity and social interaction that are often associated with our forays into the natural world, the studies show.
Moving to a new town or even a new neighborhood is stressful at any age, but a new study shows that frequent relocations in childhood are related to poorer well-being in adulthood, especially among people who are more introverted or neurotic.
There are biological motivations behind the stereotypically poor decisions and risky behavior associated with adolescence, new research from a University of Texas at Austin psychologist reveals.
Close relationship researchers have previously found that Easterners (those from collectivistic cultures such as China) seem to regard love differently from Westerners (those from individualist cultures such as the United States).
Arizona recently adopted a new law giving police the authority to inquire about a person’s immigration status during a stop, detention, or arrest. The APA interviewed social psychologist John Dovidio, PhD, of Yale University about the new law. Dr. Dovidio studies issues of social power and social relationships including the influence of explicit and implicit bias.