Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
New understanding of how we remember traumatic events
Neuroscientists at the University of Queensland have discovered a new way to explain how emotional events can sometimes lead to disturbing long term memories...
Link found between physical and emotional warmth
In a study with interesting implications, people who held a cup of hot coffee for 10 to 25 seconds warmed to a perfect stranger. Holding a cup of iced coffee...
Placebos don't make ethicists feel better
A survey of U.S. doctors finding wide use of dummy pills makes some uneasy with the deception. ...
Spirituality Protects Against Depression Better Than Church Attendance
Researchers have found that the different ways people worship a higher power can offer some insight into their risk for depression.
Could Your Initials Influence Where You Choose To Work?
The "name-letter effect," is a phenomenon which shows that we have a preference for things that begin with the same letter as our first name. Belgian psychologists wanted to know...
Memory Function Varies After Damage To Key Area Of The Brain
Scientists have discovered dramatic differences in the memory performance of patients with damage to the hippocampus, an area of the human brain key to memory.
UK Teen Suicide Rates On The Decline
Suicide rates in those aged 10-19 in the UK declined by 28 percent in the seven year period from 1997-2003, shows a study recently published in the Journal of Child...
Photo Safeguards Confidential Information
These days you can take a photograph with almost every mobile phone. However, using this sort of photo to protect confidential data and send it safely is something new. Scientists...
Interview: Richard Dawkins - 'People say I'm strident'
One evening in 2006, at a colleague's house, I met a friend of her teenage daughter. He was intellectually curious, and obviously bright - but implacably loyal to his parents'...
Seeing a brain as it learns to see
A brain isn't born fully organized. It builds its abilities through experience, making physical connections between neurons and organizing circuits to store and retrieve information in milliseconds for years afterwards.
Effective Anti-tobacco Ads Should Either Scare Or Disgust Viewers, Study Reveals
Researchers examined the effects of two types of content commonly used in anti-tobacco ads -- tobacco health threats that evoke fear and disturbing or disgusting images. The researchers found that...
Been There, Done That: Brain Mechanism Predicts Ability To Generalize
A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to...
Overweight Women Find Health Care Access And Attitudes A Constant Struggle
Shame, embarrassment, distress, anger. Those are just some of the emotions overweight women expressed when they were asked to talk about their health care experiences. It's vital to tackle the...
Tuning in to unconscious communication
What you say in a conversation -- whether on a first date or a job interview -- may be less important than how you say it. But the cues that...
Food That "Fools You" Into Losing Weight
Want to lose weight? Try eating. That's one of the strategies being developed by scientists experimenting with foods that trick the body into feeling full.
Review: 'Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew'
The reality show contains many guilty pleasures, sure, but it's also a potent cautionary tale. ...
Civic education conducive to a more democratic America
Successful democracies depend on an informed, thoughtful, and engaged electorate. However, social scientific research shows the American electorate to be poorly informed and often disengaged. In an article in the...
Green practices: When do corporations respond to stakeholders' pressure?
In a new study published in Strategic Management Journal, researchers explain when external stakeholders can effectively influence organizations to adopt greener management practices. In an effort to appease the...
Racialization of drugs mobilizes prior conceptions of identity
If we want to fully understand the allure of pharmaceuticals, we need to look beyond both medical efficacy and profit motives. A new study in the Journal of Law, Medicine...
US scientists 'erase mice memory'
US scientists say they have erased memories from mice, raising hopes the technique could help humans overcome traumatic events.
USC to train social workers to deal with military families
The new program is being launched in response to a growing demand among service members for mental health care as well as a rising suicide rate. ...
Robots and sensors to help elderly stay independent
Someday soon, older adults may not need to move into nursing homes because they'll have a household of technological wonders to keep an eye on them when they become frail.
Show and Tell: Professor Works to Inspire School Children from His Hometown
In his native Newark, N.J., Joseph Freeman, director of the Musculoskeletal Tissue Regeneration Laboratory at Virginia Tech, has been working with Diana Freeman, his mother and a science teacher at...
Could brain abnormality predict drug addiction?
Scientists at The University of Nottingham are to use MRI technology to discover whether abnormalities in the decision-making part of the brain could make some people more likely to become...
Investment rekindles interest in science
Upturn in England’s student science demand sees £350 million plan heralded a success
On Health Plans, the Numbers Fly
Senators Barack Obama and John McCain often cite rough estimates when talking about their health care plans.
Andrew Brown: research shows how naturally we believe in ghosts
Is superstition, or supernaturalism, something that children have to be taught?
Indian government accused of 'gaps' in GM trial regulation
The Indian government has come under fire over alleged flaws in regulating trials on genetically modified crops.