Feature Channels: Psychology and Psychiatry

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Humans are unlikely to be the only animal capable of self-awareness, a new study has shown.

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In "Group Discussion Improves Lie Detection," the researchers designed four experiments in which groups consistently distinguished truth from lies more accurately than one individual, demonstrating that the group advantage in lie detection comes through the process of group discussion, not the product of a "wisdom of crowds" effect.

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According to a new study, women experiencing difficulty with time management, attention, organization, memory, and problem solving – often referred to as executive functions – related to menopause may find improvement with a drug already being used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

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A University of Maryland School of Social Work researcher joins with colleagues at William & Mary to probe a possible connection between fermented foods, which contain probiotics, and social anxiety symptoms.

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As an economic and political force, researchers say that older adults hold a tremendous amount of social power. A new West Virginia University study is examining what factors contribute to older adults’ decisions.

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When facing an ethical dilemma, being aware of the temptation before it happens and thinking about the long-term consequences of misbehaving could help more people do the right thing, according to a new study.

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This conclusion is based on a new study conducted on rats at the University of Haifa. Prof. Mouna Maroun, the researcher leader, explains that given the similarity between the mechanisms in rats and humans responsible for coping with stress, “the immediate significance is that we cannot go on treating children affected by stress in the same way and with the same drugs that we use for adult patients”

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– Individuals with a higher level of moral reasoning skills showed increased gray matter in the areas of the brain implicated in complex social behavior, decision making, and conflict processing as compared to subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with a researcher from Charité Universitätsmediz in Berlin, Germany. The team studied students in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at the Wharton School. The work is published in the June 3rd edition of the journal PLOS ONE.

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You might not need to remember those complicated e-mail and bank account passwords for much longer. According to a new study, the way your brain responds to certain words could be used to replace passwords.

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Sojourner Center, one of the largest and longest running domestic violence shelters in the United States, announced plans to develop the first world-class program dedicated to the analysis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in women and children living with domestic violence, a largely unrecognized public health issue.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: income inequality, climate change, genetics, cancer, precision medicine, medical imaging, schizophrenia, research funding, molecular biology and skin cancer.

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If you’re a musician, this sounds too good to be true: University of Chicago psychologists have been able to train some adults to develop the prized musical ability of absolute pitch, and the training’s effects last for months.

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Holding cynical beliefs about others may have a negative effect on your income according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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Monkey see, monkey count—almost. New research from the University of Rochester shows that while monkeys don’t have words or symbols for numbers like we do, they do understand the basic logic behind counting—and that can show us how humans first learned to count.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: genetics, cancer, nanotech, elderly care, marketing research, energy, children's health, and immunology.

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There’s more than one way to gain a sense of control. The traditional view of a life in control is one in which an individual has taken actions to ensure success in both the near and long terms. “Secondary control,” has been given short shrift in both the scientific literature and the attitudes of Western societies. Secondary control can be described as a mindset in which one accepts and adapts to the fact that much of life can’t be bent to human will.

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In terms of your mental health, University of Montreal industrial relations researcher Annie Barreck identifies the best ways to get yourself to work.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: gun regulation, psychology and altruism, big data, threats to coral reefs, extra-terrestrial life, personalized diets, metabolic syndrome and heart health, new drug target to treat arthritis, and archeologists find oldest tools.

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“Why do people behave the way they do? “Why do people feel the way they do? In one of the largest studies to employ experience sampling methods to measure the effects of situations on human behavior in real-time and outside of a lab setting, researchers at Florida Atlantic University have shown that personality predicted behavior across a lot of different situations over time, confirming that personality really does matter.

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In four studies, documented in their paper "In Search of an Association Between Conception Risk and Prejudice," Carlee Beth Hawkins, a University of Chicago Booth School of Business doctoral student, and her co-authors were unable to find any evidence that there is an increase in racial bias related to conception risk.

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As social creatures, we tend to mimic each other’s posture, laughter, and other behaviors, including how we speak. Now a new study shows that people with similar views tend to more closely mirror, or align, each other’s speech patterns. In addition, people who are better at compromising align more closely.

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Inducing a sense of awe in people can promote altruistic, helpful and positive social behavior, according to new research led by UC Irvine psychologist Paul Piff.

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Inducing a sense of awe in people can promote altruistic, helpful and positive social behavior according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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Severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and excessive daytime sleepiness are associated with an increased risk of depression in men, according to a new community-based study of Australian men, which was presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.

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In the first study of its kind, former National Football League (NFL) players who lost consciousness due to concussion during their playing days showed key differences in brain structure later in life.

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Studies have shown that individuals with hearing loss or who are listening to degraded speech – think of a loud room -- have greater difficulty remembering and processing the spoken information than individuals who heard more clearly. Now researchers are investigating whether listening to accented speech similarly affects the brain's ability to process and store information. Their preliminary results suggest that foreign-accented speech, even when intelligible, may be slightly more difficult to recall than native speech.

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Whether we’re buying a ticket to a movie, catching a train, or shopping for groceries, the more committed we are to achieving that goal, the more likely we are to assume others have exactly the same objective, a study by New York University psychology researchers shows.

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​If you have a spring in your step and a smile on your face, you’re in good company. Americans are generally a pretty happy bunch, according to a new study that aims to further our collective understanding of happiness and its root causes.

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A psychology study finds that people who believe in pure evil are more likely support sentences such as life in prison without parole and the death penalty for criminals.

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A special issue of American Psychologist provides a comprehensive review of over 40 years of research on bullying among school age youth, documenting the current understanding of the complexity of the issue and suggesting directions for future research.

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Adults over 50 who have persistent symptoms of depression may have twice the risk of stroke as those who do not, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Researchers found that stroke risk remains higher even after symptoms of depression go away, particularly for women.

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The study, led by Professor Simone Shamay-Tsoory of the University of Haifa found that, in addition to gender, differences in empathy between people is related to sexual preference and, therefore, this orientation is important when assessing differences in empathy among people

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The tendency for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to lash out in anger can be significantly amplified if they are also depressed, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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In the face of many myths, the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) releases “Nine Truths About Eating Disorders” in order to clarify public understanding. Produced in collaboration with Dr. Cynthia Bulik, PhD, FAED, who serves as distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “Nine Truths” is based on Dr. Bulik’s 2014 “9 Eating Disorders Myths Busted” talk at the National Institute of Mental Health. Leading associations in the field of eating disorders also contributed their valuable input.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: vision research, DOE research, aging, mental health, children's health, cancer, tick-borne disease, and drone technology.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: WWII and PTSD, stem cells, cancer, racial segregation, supplements and glaucoma, medical research, cybersecurity, vision research, and physics.

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Psychologists are to improve online health information on lung cancer after research showed that family members are more likely to search online to encourage loved ones to seek help.

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When it comes to rewards and punishments, which is more effective — the carrot or the stick? A simple experiment devised at Washington University in St. Louis suggests that punishments are more likely to influence behavior than rewards. The results, which stem from a study involving 88 students at the university, are available online in the journal Cognition.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: lung cancer surgery, childhood obesity, physics, imaging, nutrition, civil unrest in Baltimore, Nepal earthquake.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: Underage drinking, dieting, electrical engineering, neurology and genetics, Nepal earthquake, breast cancer, and supercomputing.

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Researchers have identified two seemingly unrelated but strong predictors of obesity: having low self-esteem related to one’s weight and keeping food visibly available around the house, outside the kitchen.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: Bruce Jenner and transgender health, agriculture and pesticide alternatives, new tick-borne disease, internal dissent in Iran over nuclear deal, listeria ice cream recalls, changing mammography recommendations, immunology, materials science, and healthcare education.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: diet supplements and cancer risk (3 days on top 10 list), oral mucositis in cancer treatment, updated breast cancer screening guidelines, climate change, materials science, asthma, mental health and gun violence, genetics and immunology, and multiple sclerosis treatment.

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A newly minted Ph.D. surveyed county Extension directors, their subordinates and peers. Chris Mott connected diet and exercise to emotional leadership, a key component for leaders everywhere.

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A new study suggests that doctors may want to focus on parents and not just on their patients when it comes to caring for children with autism spectrum disorder. The study, published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that parents who were taught specific behavior management skills saw a dramatic improvement in their child’s behavior.

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People who live in countries built on centuries of migration from a wide range of other countries are more emotionally expressive than people in more insular cultures, according to research led by University of Wisconsin–Madison psychology Professor Paula Niedenthal.

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Faced with requests to meet with potential doctoral students of easily identifiable gender, race or ethnicity, faculty in almost every academic discipline are significantly more responsive to white males than to women and minorities, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

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UNC researchers have published the first direct evidence that a low dose of electric current can enhance the brain’s natural alpha oscillations to boost creativity by an average of 7.4 percent. Next up: using the method to treat depression.