While the media buzz surrounding the 2012 Presidential Election is just starting up, now is as good a time as any to think about how effective political advertisements really are at influencing our candidate choices. Every election season, political c …
Consider the photograph on the left. Can you tell how this man is feeling? According to a recent study by Drs. David Neal and Tanya Chartrand, if you’ve recently undergone Botox treatment, you may be impaired in your ability to do so. The study is in p …
The world of research can be scary if you don’t know how to navigate the many fields and labs. But luckily a few tips can really demystify the process! 1. To get involved you may want to check out some resources that describe the different areas of res …
An article in The Economist this week – “Think yourself better” – examined the effectiveness of alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture, crystal healing, Reiki channelling, and herbal remedies. Alternative medicine a booming business. Surv …
Throw out what you learned in 9th grade biology class. The age old idea that your genetic profile is static and there is nothing you can do to change the DNA hand you’ve been dealt, is likely not true. A new article in the American Psychological Associ …
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders in childhood. In fact, estimates of the rates of ADHD had found that between 5-10 percent of all children meet diagnostic criteria for the disorder. Childre …
Conducting research with babies invites many unique challenges. For example, infants don’t speak or respond to instructions very well. One of the ways researchers work around this limitation is by presenting images on a screen and measuring various a …
One of the goals of the American Psychological Association is “to advance the communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society.” As the head of the Center for Disease Control’s Division of Violence Prevention, Dr. Rodney Hamm …
How does early life stress affect health across the lifespan? This question has intrigued our research team for many years. People who experience early life stress, in the form of poverty, exposure to violence, noise, and other stressors, or who experi …
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In my previous blog post I wrote about the need for applying health research to improve community health. Another glaring need is to conduct research that both test theoretical models and addresses community-relevant questions. What does this mean? Dr. …
A recent McClatchy-Marist poll found that nearly 6 in 10 Americans think a nuclear disaster similar to what happened in March of this year in Japan could happen here. Why do so many people suddenly think that nuclear disaster is likely? Recent research …
Often in academia the direct arrow from research findings to improving the human condition is hard to see. I believe this is a major problem specifically in the area of health and wellness. Governmental organizations, the private sector, and foundatio …
What is the most effective way to study? Psychologists studied this question and their research findings provide helpful strategies and tips that you can use to improve your test-taking performance. Researchers have found that studying and testing in t …
How likely are you to remember this post tomorrow? The question above asks you to make a metacognitive judgment—that is, it asks you to evaluate your own thoughts. People use metacognitive judgments every day, whether it is to believe you know a route …
From the time kids are in preschool, they tend to make and keep more friends of their own ethnicity than of others. In many schools, children form entirely separate peer groups, with European-American (white), African-American, Latino and Asian-America …
The field of developmental psychology is fraught with some very popularized but misunderstood dichotomies. Nature versus is nurture is probably the most well known, but another important distinction is that between competence and performance. Jeff me …
Looking back on social psychology’s greatest hits, my mind always drifts first to studies on conformity, largely because they make such good stories. Take Asch, for instance. Who would’ve thought that so many people would willingly follow the crowd in …
Many individuals find the idea of helping people for a living to be appealing. There is no one path to this type of career. Clinicians, therapists, coaches, social workers, or psychologist, provide psychotherapy and guidance to people. Below are severa …
The field of psychology had its modern origin just over 100 years ago, and yet interest in the field has grown rapidly. Researchers with broad and varied interests have expanded the field, and as a result there are many different subdisciplines. Highli …
Emotions are a central component of the human experience. They facilitate social interactions, allow us to both appreciate and create powerful works in arts and literature, and guide us in achieving personal goals. These are only a few of the myriad …