High school students from around the world will compete in the 11th International Brain Bee Championship, demonstrating their knowledge of the brain on such topics as intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensation, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, addictions and brain research.
People make environmental choices the same way they manage money, preferring smaller gains right away to bigger gains later, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
Most of the cognitive tests that have been used to decide whether someone has Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia have not been very helpful when used alone. A new report published by the American Psychological Association concluded that when older people are confused and forgetful, doctors should base their diagnoses on many different types of information, including medical history and brain imaging.
Parents who value strenuous team sports are more likely to influence their children to join a team or at least participate in some kind of exercise, and spend less time in front of the TV or computer, a new study says.
We swim in a sea of information, but filter out most of what we see or hear. New analysis of data from dozens of studies sheds new light on how we choose what we do and do not hear. The study found that while people tend to avoid information that contradicts what they already think or believe, certain factors can cause them to seek out, or at least consider, other points of view.
For Father's Day: Five Questions for Daniel Kruger, PhD - Daniel Kruger, PhD, is a social psychologist at the University of Michigan who focuses on evolutionary psychology. His work explores the balance between the social and natural sciences and how that contributes to a broader understanding of human behavior, including natural selection. To mark Father's Day, the American Psychological Association spoke with Dr. Kruger about how evolutionary psychological research and other psychology disciplines are helping to better understand men and their roles in an ever changing society.
A recent surge in immigration rates has led psychologists to study how these families are coping and thriving in their adopted countries. In a special June issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, researchers report that close family ties are crucial for immigrants' successful transition to their new country.
American Psychological Association 117th Annual Convention in Toronto, Canada, Aug. 6-9, 2009
Spending hours taking a high-pressure aptitude test may make people feel mentally fatigued, but that fatigue doesn't necessarily lead to lower test scores, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. If anything, performance might actually improve on a longer test, the study found.
Helping middle school students with their homework may not be the best way to get them on the honor roll. But telling them how important academic performance is to their future job prospects and providing specific strategies to study and learn might clinch the grades, according to a research review.
People looking for a good job at a good salary could find their intelligence may not be the only trait that puts them at the top of the pay scale, according to researchers. A new study finds attractiveness, along with confidence, may help job-seekers stand out to employers.
Significant and widespread cognitive problems appear to exist in schizophrenia in its earliest phase, making it very hard for people with the disorder to work, study or be social, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.
Children who suffer traumatic brain injuries can experience lasting or late-appearing neuropsychological problems, highlighting the need for careful watching over time, according to two studies published by the American Psychological Association.
Children who can stay focused and don't sweat the small stuff have a better shot at good health in adulthood -- and this is especially true for girls, according to a new study.
Even very early in Alzheimer's disease, people become less efficient at separating important from less important information, a new study has found.
Living in another country can be a cherished experience, but new research suggests it might also help expand minds. This research, published by the American Psychological Association, is the first of its kind to look at the link between living abroad and creativity.
Let's set the record straight: It is a clear violation of professional ethics for a psychologist to have played a role in the torture of CIA detainees, as described in the recently released Bush administration memos. These Justice Department documents, which purport to offer medical and scientific justification for torturing detainees, are chilling in their dispassionate analysis of how far to push a human being for the purpose of eliciting national security-related information.
Chris E. Stout, a clinical psychologist and professor at the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has studied the impact of globalization on people's lives. Throughout a 20-year career, Dr. Stout has focused on the interconnectedness of global matters, such as conflict, war, global health and poverty. As the challenges of globalization become more pressing, Dr. Stout addresses how psychology can help combat poverty and create a more sustainable world.
To mark Child Abuse Prevention Month, APA spoke with Dr. Melton about the success of his community program and why it is working so well.
From the operating room to the executive board room, the benefits of working in teams have long been touted. But a new analysis of 22 years of applied psychological research shows that teams tend to discuss information they already know and that "talkier" teams are less effective.
Romance does not have to fizzle out in long-term relationships and progress into a companionship/friendship-type love, a new study has found. Romantic love can last a lifetime and lead to happier, healthier relationships.
Older air traffic controllers can head off mid-air collisions at least as well as younger controllers, using experience to compensate for age-related declines in mental sharpness, a new study finds. The evidence that experience triumphs over the normal changes of aging could help to overturn myths about older workers that are contributing to the draining of the pool of skilled professionals.
College women may be drinking to excess to impress their male counterparts on campuses across the country, but a new study suggests most college men are not looking for a woman to match them drink for drink.
Women don't choose careers in math-intensive fields, such as computer science, physics, technology, engineering, chemistry, and higher mathematics, because they want the flexibility to raise children, or because they prefer other fields of science that are less math-intensive--not because they lack mathematical ability, according to a new study.
Spending time with a grandparent is linked with better social skills and fewer behavior problems among adolescents, especially those living in single-parent or stepfamily households, according to a new study.
While science tries to understand the stuff dreams are made of, humans, from cultures all over the world, continue to believe that dreams contain important hidden truths, according to newly published research.
Students who feel connected to their peers and teachers are more inclined to alert a teacher or principal if they hear a fellow student "wants to do something dangerous," according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.
Bertha Holliday, APA's senior director for ethnic minority affairs, leads the association's efforts to increase the scientific understanding of how culture affects relationships and how ethnicity influences behaviors. A main focus for her office is to promote research that identifies behaviors that contribute to diseases that disproportionately affect the health and life span of African-Americans, as well as other ethnic minorities. Holliday, who holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, sees psychologists as instrumental in changing these behaviors and developing policies to eliminate the disparities in health care for these populations.
John Dovidio, a professor at Yale University, has studied issues of social power and social relations, both between groups and between individuals. His work explores both conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) influences on how people think about, feel about and behave toward others based on group membership. He has conducted research on "aversive racism," a contemporary subtle form of prejudice, and on techniques for reducing conscious and unconscious biases.
A team of Arizona psychologists, geneticists and neuroscientists has reported that a safe and effective drug used to treat vascular problems in the brain has improved spatial learning and working memory in middle-aged rats. Although far from proving anything about human use of the drug, the finding supports the scientific quest for a substance that could treat progressive cognitive impairment, cushion the cognitive impact of normal aging, or even enhance learning and memory throughout the life span.
People who feel socially rejected are more likely to see others' actions as hostile and are more likely to behave in hurtful ways toward people they have never even met, according to a new study.
Cognitive rehabilitation after a serious brain injury or stroke can help the mind in much the same way that physical therapy helps the body, according to a new meta-analysis. Because the data suggest that treatment may work best when tailored to age, injury, symptoms, and time since injury, the findings may help establish evidence-based treatment guidelines.
Both the developing brain and the aging brain can suffer from lead exposure. For older people, a buildup of lead from earlier exposure may be enough to result in greater cognitive problems after age 55, according to a follow-up study of adults exposed to lead at work.
Adults with diabetes experience a slowdown in several types of mental processing, which appears early in the disease and persists into old age, according to new research. Given the sharp rise in new cases of diabetes, this finding means that more adults may soon be living with mild but lasting deficits in their thought processes.
Joyful or sad smiles expressed after a competition are the same for blind and sighted athletes, says a new study, showing that certain facial expressions are innate and managed differently depending on the social situation.
With the economy in freefall and people worried about their dwindling assets, clinical psychologist Mary Gresham says parents can turn the holidays into a non-materialistic, joyous celebration by working to change their "“ and their children's "“ buying habits.
Nearly 50 years after one of the most controversial behavioral experiments in history, a social psychologist has found that people are still just as willing to administer what they believe are painful electric shocks to others when urged on by an authority figure.
Yarrow, a consumer psychologist, says people can alter their spending habits this holiday, feel empowered and fight the doom and gloom feeling that is affecting many. As a professor of psychology and marketing at Golden Gate University and author of Gen buY: Why tweens, teens and twenty-somethings buy and how they're revolutionizing the way we all shop (Jossey-Bass, August 2009), Yarrow provides insight into why people buy and shop and how the current economic situation is affecting this year's holiday spending habits.
People who have a sibling with mental illness more likely to be depressed during their lifetimes.
Drivers make more mistakes when talking on a cell phone than when talking to passengers, new research shows.
Amendments that restrict civil marriage rights of same-sex couples "“ such as Proposition 8 that recently passed in California "“ have led to higher levels of stress and anxiety among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults, as well as among their families of origin, according to several new studies to be published by the American Psychological Association.
Children of immigrants who enter school with low math and reading skills have a better chance of catching up with their peers if they attend a school with high-performing students, well-supported teachers and services to families of English as a second language (ESL) children, according to a new study.
White people "“ including children as young as 10 -- may avoid talking about race so as not to appear prejudiced, according to new research. But that approach often backfires as blacks tend to view this "colorblind" approach as evidence of prejudice, especially when race is clearly relevant.
The American Psychological Association sent a letter today to President Bush, informing him of a significant change in the association's policy that limits the roles of psychologists in certain unlawful detention settings where the human rights of detainees are violated, such as has occurred at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at so-called CIA black sites around the world.
When it comes to sex roles in society, what you think may affect what you earn. A new study has found that men who believe in traditional roles for women earn more money than men who don't, and women with more egalitarian views don't make much more than women with a more traditional outlook.
Compared to their younger counterparts, older problem gamblers who ask casinos to bar them from returning are three to four times more likely to do so because they fear they will kill themselves if they don't stop betting, according to a new study.
Older adults may be better able to comply with medication regimens by working with providers to fill out simple paper tables that track what they take and when they take it. Recent experiments found that use of a "medtable" may help to prevent medication-related problems. A report appears in the September issue of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, published by the American Psychological Association.
There is fresh evidence that people spend less when paying cash than using credit, cash-equivalent scrip or gift certificates. They also spend less when they have to estimate expenses in detail.
A special August issue of the Journal of Comparative Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, presents a host of studies that investigate the way that animals adapt their calls, chirps, barks and whistles to their social situation.
More than half of 26,000 students across 70 colleges and universities who completed a survey on suicidal experiences reported having at least one episode of suicidal thinking at some point in their lives. Furthermore, 15 percent of students surveyed reported having seriously considered attempting suicide and more than 5 percent reported making a suicide attempt at least once in their lifetime.
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