Research on stressful life events like receiving a terminal diagnosis or the impact of losing a job has focused primarily on the negative psychological effects of such events. However, clinicians and researchers began to realize that many of their pat …
Over the last couple of decades, learning and memory researchers have become increasingly interested in bringing scientific findings out of the lab and into the classroom, where they can be implemented into teaching methods to produce more efficient an …
About a year ago I went on a field trip to the California Science Center to dissect cow eyes with a class of third graders. I am a mentor for a 3rd grade student through an organization called I Have a Dream (IHAD). I was awestruck by how smart, funny, …
A recent study tested how different parental mediating strategies affect children’s disclosure of private information while online (Lwin, Stanaland, & Miyazaki, 2008). Privacy is a critical issue facing not just children, but also adults, but yout …
Almost everyone has heard about the placebo effect – the finding that treatment that have no particularly relevant effect (like a sugar or vitamin pill, or a behavioral equivalent) can make patients feel better. The placebo effect is actually the reaso …
A series of recent studies suggests that people consistently underestimate the prevalence with which others experience negative emotions – and that this error may lead to increased loneliness, more brooding over personal problems, and decreased life sa …
“She’s autistic.” I explained to the cashier as ten year old Peggy ran her hand lovingly along the wall of the skating rink and screeched about Teletubbies. “Artistic?” The cashier was confused in a way that few people would be now, six years later. Au …
The results of the recent PISA tests, an international assessment comparing countries around the world in reading, math and science, posted extraordinary scores for students in Shanghai, China. Meanwhile, 15 year olds in the US ranked 23 out of 34 cou …
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that approximately 5 percent of children have a specific deficit in attention compared to children of their same age and sex, many people still question whether ADHD (and some still call it it’s former name: ADD …
Here’s a question that’s been on my mind lately: Whose job is it to make sure that the non-scientist consumers of science get it right? I’ve had a few discussions with various psychologists about this lately and they frequently bring up two answers to …
For many pressing health issues, including HIV/AIDS, cancer (in particular lung cancer), and suicide completion, women have lower rates than men. Women are the minority at birth, but the number of women (in the national surveys) far surpass men in surv …
A few years ago, the popular NBC television show Dateline aired a special called To Catch a Predator, using hidden cameras to film a “parade” of men who had approached teenage girls online for a sexual liaison. The men thought they were coming to the t …
Given the plethora of crime shows on television, the term “psychopath” has become a word that is tossed around through media portrayals as well as in everyday conversation relatively often. Criminal Minds, Dexter, and Law & Order: Special Victims …
If you’ve been reading A3 for a while, you know that we’re big supporters of scientific progress in addiction treatment. While it may be true that addicts need to want recovery in order to truly turn their lives around, the choice is hardly ever that s …
The suicide of a young girl named Phoebe Prince in January of 2010 received a great deal of media attention. Phoebe was the victim of bullying, manifested online by classmates who posted disparaging remarks about her on Facebook. A few months ago, digi …
In cognitive behavioral therapy they’re a big part of the “Five W’s” = When, Where, Why, With, and What. In the various 12-step programs they’re simply referred to as “People, places, and things.” But no matter how you refer to them, drug-associated cu …
The NY Times using nearly all anecdotal evidence based on one child, says the media may be responsible for poor grades and lack of focus. Don Tapscott rebutes this argument and cites much research. This is such an interesting example of how even a resp …
I listen to a lot of podcasts in which various psychological articles are often discussed (e.g., stuff you should know, radiolab, etc.). As a psychologist, I am often frustrated when a podcast mentions a study’s finding (e.g., having a sister is assoc …
A documentary called Race To Nowhere is making its way around the schools in my neighborhood. The film was made by a mother who was disturbed by the amount of homework that schools were assigning, as she felt her children were focusing too much on hom …
A recent article by James Fallows in the Atlantic reminded me that digital media are a tool and not an entirely new state of being and behavior. The article says: “Technology, to them, is neither a sedative that dulls our alarm nor a rocket ship that …
As I spent a few minutes this morning updating my Twitter, I was alarmed to see a post that a friend of mine had retweeted from The Atlantic: What’s that? Texting no longer only represents a way for teens to ignore their parents at the dinner table an …