Psychology

Optimism May Be Good For Your Health, Psychologists Say

Feeling optimistic may actually help you maintain your health, say psychologists writing in Psychological Science. The authors claim they have found "the first evidence that changes in optimistic expectancies are accompanied by changes in immunity, as ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 23 2010 - 11:36am

Thinking Yourself to Orgasm

Think yourself to orgasm- sounds natural enough......but not for everyone. Some people, injured and unable to feel their genitals may be helped by new research "The relation between the mind and sexual response is still fertile ground for investigatio ...

Blog Post - Henry Cox - Mar 24 2010 - 6:16pm

Unwrapping the Science of Gift Buying

Scientists in Russia have been studying how to buy the best possible gift. This coincides with an exhibition of the worst presents received by residents in Yekaterinburg last week. High on the list of worst presents ever must be the following: "[an] u ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Mar 25 2010 - 4:30am

Psychologists Say "Fast Food Culture" Promotes Impatience

Not only do evil fast food companies make us fat and tempt our children with deceptive advertising, they also make us impatient, according to a new study in Psychological Science. In fact, mere exposure to fast food and related symbols can make us impatien ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 25 2010 - 6:05pm

Hands Free? So What? Only "Supertaskers" Can Drive And Chat

A new study from University of Utah psychologists suggests that most people are lousy drivers when talking on their cell phones. But a small group of people with an extraordinary ability to multitask can safely drive while chatting, according to a study i ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2010 - 7:05pm

Sleep: As the world turns...it turns out

    If you have ever wondered why we sleep, you are not alone. The puzzle of sleep and the question of why we sleep has been a much-researched topic yielding few really definitive answers. Sleep is a dormant state and some researchers have answered the que ...

Blog Post - James Moon - Mar 29 2010 - 5:44pm

My, my! What a big brain!

A very interesting question has been posed by colleague Mark Changizi (see his fascinating blogs at www.scientificblogging.com) related to brain size as it relates to body size. He presents good information that shows the rather constant relationship of br ...

Blog Post - James Moon - Mar 30 2010 - 12:04pm

Words Do Hurt- Verbal Stimuli Put Our Pain Memory On Alert

Researchers from Jena University in Germany say it is not only painful memories and associations that put our pain memory on alert, words can do the trick as well. "Even verbal stimuli lead to reactions in certain areas of the brain", says Dr. Th ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 30 2010 - 1:09pm

Figured out and Ignored while in plain sight-that is autism!

Unexpected context, So much for inventing motors or figuring out Autism Found on the web, from Stumble-upon So much for solving autism, inventing computors (Alan Turing 1912-1954), motors or simply overcoming the curse of Rain Man, if Joshua Bell could no ...

Blog Post - Rich Shull - Mar 30 2010 - 2:41pm

Informed People Make Poor Choices, Study Says

Despite understanding the long term benefits of eating healthy and exercising,  people often forgo these potential gains for the immediate satisfaction of a big mac and a night of cable TV. What makes people go for the quick reward even though they know th ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 31 2010 - 11:22am