Psychology

Stress Makes Your Epigenetic Clock Tick Faster

People age differently but it is unclear why. Some argue it is mitochondria while others contend it is equally nebulous epigenetics- a broad umbrella term for changes in genes that don't impact DNA but have been correlated to everything from probiotic ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2021 - 11:28am

The COVID-19 Pandemic Reduced Stigma About Depression

There has long been something of a stigma about mental health issues. If a celebrity goes into an alcohol or drug clinic, 30 days later their career is back on track, but a reputation for depression makes filmmakers worry they won't be able to take th ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 29 2021 - 11:39am

How I Learned To Stop Thinking For Myself And Get To The Right Answer

On Applied Epistemic Helplessness The often (always?) brilliant Scott Alexander has an essay that parallels the thesis of an essay I've been meaning to write for that last six years. It's the perfect topic to kick off this column which I've ...

Article - Marc Brazeau - Jan 18 2022 - 12:22pm

Political Parties Don't Follow Polls, Polls Follow Party Changes

In 2008, Senator Barack Obama was opposed to gay marriage and worried vaccines might cause autism. A few years later he said neither of those things. Did Democrats flip to being pro-science and the party followed and then the President reflected those poll ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 20 2022 - 9:30am

The Dumbest Epidemiology Paper You'll Read This Week

Epidemiology pushes out a lot of dumb papers. Not as many as social psychology per capita but in volume a whole lot more. It's easy to see why the public believes horse de-wormer cures COVID-19, it was in an epidemiology paper, and that methodology wa ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jan 30 2022 - 9:55pm

An Argument For Getting Rid Of Biological Sex Designations

Check out your birth certificate and surely you’ll see a designation for sex. When you were born, a doctor or clinician assigned you the “male” or “female” label based on a look at your genitalia. In the U.S., this has been standard practice for more than ...

Article - The Conversation - Feb 7 2022 - 3:27pm

Does A Full Moon Mean More Psychological Problems?

The moon is both easy and tough to figure out. Of the many things Galileo got wrong, the moon was the biggest, despite it being studied for millenia by then, unless you think we only have one tide per day.  And last year some people wanted to believe an ea ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 17 2022 - 6:37pm

Heat Waves Linked To Emergency Mental Health Issues

There is a myth that people act differently during a full moon but nurses swear by it because of perception of an increase in emergency room cases. Now demographers have linked heat waves to emergency care, except the mental health kind. The paper correlat ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 23 2022 - 12:06pm

In Times Of Financial Stress, Buying Makes Us Less Happy

President Biden is touting his strong economic performance but the public disagrees; his approval rating is in the 30th percentile because an expanding economy as framed by politicians still means high inflation to people paying taxes. The psychological im ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 2 2022 - 11:19am

The Social Justice Of Oral Health

In the quest to create more social justice and equity, a lot of economic common sense leaves the discussion first. If I become a politician by promising you that you'll get your own personal doctor, for example, you aren't getting a real doctor- ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Mar 4 2022 - 10:07am