Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
Adults more prone to 'false memory'
ITHACA, N.Y., July 23 (UPI) -- Adults are worse at remembering negative or stressful events than children are, a finding that could impact the criminal justice system, a study...
Childhood sexual abuse and social shaming linked to health issues later
Gay and bisexual men enrolled in a long-term study of HIV who reported sexual abuse and social shaming in childhood experience psychosocial health problems later in life that could put...
New Playboy Site That's SFW (as in, No Articles)
Men's Mag to Make Logging on at Work Safer With Launch of TheSmokingJacket.com
Study: Music training 'primes' the brain
EVANSTON, Ill., July 21 (UPI) -- Musical instruction can "prime" the brain to improve human skills in language, speech, memory and attention, U.S. researchers say. ...
Children of older women appear vulnerable to the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure
The presence and severity of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are influenced by factors beyond alcohol consumption, such as maternal age. New findings have shown that the damaging effects of maternal...
Harvard Issues New Conflicts Policy
Medical students association praises Harvard medical changes to reduce conflicts of interest.
Looks like a winner: Scientists demonstrate how much candidate appearances affect election outcomes
When you vote in an election, your choice is surely not influenced by anything as superficial as a candidate's looks, right?
Healthy families, religious involvement buffer youth against risk factors related to drug abuse
American-Indian adolescents continue to have the highest rates of illicit drug use among all ethnic groups. Although previous research has found that increasing adolescent exposure to protective factors can reduce...
Women in their 50s more prone to PTSD than men
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates peak in women later than they do in men. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Annals of General Psychiatry found that men are...
Feeling insecure in relationships may predispose people to later health problems
People who feel insecure about their attachments to others might be at higher risk for cardiovascular problems than those who feel secure in their relationships, according to a new study...
Cultural reactions to anger expression can affect negotiation outcomes
Getting angry might help you get your way if you're negotiating with European Americans, but watch out - in negotiations with East Asians, getting angry may actually hurt your cause....
Michelangelo hid brain stem in God's throat
Michelangelo's depiction of God's throat in one panel of his Sistine Chapel fresco is notably awkward. Now researchers think it's because Michelangelo intentionally embedded an image of a human brain...
A study of house prices: Do the benefits of disclosure outweigh the risks?
Most of us think that disclosing a conflict of interest is a positive step, but a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research shows that disclosure can often backfire...
For Domestic Violence Victims, a Little Financial Literacy Goes a Long Way
(PhysOrg.com) -- Learning how to manage her own money can help a woman recover from domestic abuse and avoid it in the future.
Online shoppers more likely to buy from white sellers than black
(PhysOrg.com) -- When a seller's race is evident in an online classified ad for an iPod nano, black sellers receive fewer offers and less money than white sellers, says a...
Notre Dame research shows children’s school performance tied to family ‘type’
The way a family interacts can have more of an impact on a child’s predicted school success than reading, writing or arithmetic, according to a University of Notre Dame study...
Next generation surgical robots: Where's the doctor?
Feasibility studies conducted by bioengineers have demonstrated that a robot -- without any human assistance -- can locate a man-made, or phantom, lesion in simulated human organs, guide a device...
Genders of alcohol-dependent parents and children influence psychopathology in the children
Scientists already know that the children of alcohol-dependent (AD) individuals have a greater risk of developing a psychiatric illness, but the effects of gender on this risk are not well...
No pain, no gain? Concrete thinking increases consumer confidence
The confidence you feel when making a choice might depend on whether you're thinking concretely or abstractly, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Taking music seriously
EVANSTON, Ill. — Those ubiquitous wires connecting listeners to you-name-the-sounds from invisible MP3 players — whether of Bach, Miles Davis or, more likely today, Lady Gaga — only...
Getting the Humpty | Sarah Churchwell
Sarah Palin may irk language scholars. But her portmanteaus put her in esteemed companyLet's be honest: we've all done it. I once published a piece describing a movie star as having "fizzled...
Stephen Fry reveals new BBC TV series
Planet Word, a five-part series, will cover language – but it's 'a bit of a secret', Fry tells 14-year-old interviewerHe's used to people hanging on his every erudite word. Now Stephen Fry...
Animal rights 'terror' law challenged
Targeted researchers support the legislation, despite free-speech concerns.
Comic superhero Echo fights stereotypes of deaf people
Unlike most of the one-dimensional deaf characters in literature, Echo (aka Maya Lopez) has a complex emotional back storyDeaf characters are often marginalised in literature. Echo the deaf superhero is coming to the...
Oxford-trained doctor shut out of B.C.
A British doctor with a medical degree from Oxford University says he is leaving Canada - frustrated and disillusioned - after red tape kept him from applying for a residency...
Remembering so as not to forget
Verbal distractions are a primary cause of poor memory, according to scientific tests, which prove that the key to preventing ourselves from forgetting is to rehearse and ‘refresh` our thoughts.
Bad translation makes fundamentalists of us all | Marie Dhumières
Religious phrases are scattered liberally throughout Arabic languages. The secret to translating is not to take them literallyI was recently watching the Spanish documentary "To shoot an elephant," about the Israeli attacks on...
Are all meditation techniques the same?
As doctors increasingly prescribe meditation to patients for stress-related disorders, scientists are gaining a better understanding of how different techniques from Buddhist, Chinese, and Vedic...