Lots of research suggests that having less money, a less prestigious job, or fewer years of education is bad for health. A person who makes $30,000 a year will be more likely to develop certain health problems, such as cardiovascular disease or even so …
Psychologists often rely on grouping participants together based on shared characteristics (e.g., are girls better than boy in reading ability). The goal is to broadly understand the relationships between potential causes and effects, and, ideally lear …
It’s fall again, and we know what that means—football, freshly sharpened pencils, and a (temporary?) surge of interest in making the most out of learning this school year. Parents and teachers tout the same advice: set goals, do all the reading, find o …
A recent string of suicides by adolescent lesbian, gay and bisexual teens has focused attention on what teachers, parents and peers of these teens can do to help. Psychological research has identified a variety of factors which make a difference for these teens, from supportive school environments to accepting reactions by friends.
Do children really spend less time outdoors or doing sports? Have they stopped reading? Do they only stare at screens all day? The best way to answer this question is to look at what kids actually do all day, and a recent study did just that with a l …
According to Dan Gilbert, the author of Stumbling on Happiness, research indicates that it’s not children. In a recent talk at the APA convention, Dr. Gilbert told the crowd of psychologists and psychiatrists that 20 years of research has shown that p …
Here are two really interesting recent editorials about the role of positive attitudes in cancer progression. One article harshly criticizes the “positive psychology” movement of lacking in scientific sophistication (Coyne & Tennen, 2010) and the …
An article in 2008 (click here to access) published in Archives of Internal Medicine, found that adults who are physically active are biologically younger than those who are sedentary. This study focused on telomere length as an indicator of biological …
A lot of really smart people believe that video games are the key to engaging children in school. The question is can video games really teach useful, transferable subjects? The NY Times magazine just put out an issue discussing this very subject. Th …
Does eating too much fat and sugar have the same consequences as smoking? We don’t know…maybe because the answer is being covered up by the food industry. A compelling article by Brownell and Warner (2009) available here compares the tobacco industry’s …
When it comes to drug addiction, no matter how you look at it and which model you believe in, there are the transients and the ones with serious problems…
What are the risk factors for obesity? What predicts which children will become obese as adults? Here are a few psychological and behavioral risk factors that have been identified: – Diet restriction. Children who try to restrict the types and amounts …
In the last few years, fMRI and EEG have made it into the popular press as tools for reading minds (here, here, here, here and here for a sample), lie-detection (here, here and here), and telekinesis – controlling/ moving objects with our thoughts – (h …
A recent article published by the online magazine Slate.com criticized “ovulation studies,” or psychological research that examines how females’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior change when they are at the most fertile point in their menstrual cycle. T …
Thomas Friedman’s op-ed in the NY Times today underscores some of the findings of psychological research for the last few years… namely that young people in the US may be changing. Below are some of the findings from recent studies: Narcissism has go …
Why do we dream? Theory 1: Dreams express inner wishes and desires (Freud’s idea). But what about nightmares? Those can’t be wishes. Theory 2: Dreams provide solutions to problems. But then why can we only recall 1% of dreams? Dreams aren’t helpful in …
Peggy Orenstein’s recent NY Times Magazine piece on Twittering brings to the forefront many of the issues that psychologists at the CDMC@LA are concerned about. Due to the myriad of self-presentation tools that digital media such as YouTube, twitteri …
The recent article in the New York Times outlining research on the preschool-age depression has raised public interest in the origins of mental disorders. Many non-scholars and even some psychologists are skeptical about the emergence of psychological …
In an exciting new article in Slate.com, top researchers discuss the various negative impacts of stress during childhood. Among many points the authors make, stress consists not only of severe physical and sexual abuse, but even negative interaction pa …
Physician Health Programs (PHP) are reporting an astonishing success rate when it comes to providing addiction treatment for addicted doctors: Only about 20% of doctors ever test positive after being admitted to the program within a 5 year period. More …
Perhaps the most influential and important leader in the burgeoning field of psychology was the German psychologist/philosopher Hermann Ebbinghaus. Ebbinghaus was without the status and resources to conduct his experiments on memory using a large pool …