Latest science news in Psychology & Sociology
Monkeys have better basic counting skills than originally thought
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent study published in Nature Communications, it appears that Old World monkeys have the ability to count better than was originally thought. The research also...
Japan disaster sparks social media innovation
(AP) -- As Japan grapples with an unprecedented triple disaster - earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis - the Web has spawned creativity and innovation online amid a collective desire to...
Managing the psychological effects of natural disasters
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the wake of the Queensland floods, the Christchurch earthquake, and the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis, people are asking for advice about how we should manage the effects of...
Skills training can improve responses to disclosures of trauma
New research from the University of Oregon concludes that even brief training can help people learn how to be more supportive when friends and family members disclose traumatic events and...
Bruce S. McEwen to receive Scolnick Prize for research on brain hormones
Bruce S. McEwen, a pioneer in understanding how hormones affect the brain, will receive the 2011 Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at...
Seeing and experiencing violence makes aggression 'normal' for children
The more children are exposed to violence, the more they think it's normal, according to a new study. Unfortunately, the more they think violence is normal, the more likely they...
Big-Nosed Monkeys Eat Like Cows
Proboscis monkeys on Borneo are the first primates found to regurgitate and chew their cud. They apparently suck in their bellies and stick out their tongues before they regurgitate.
Prescriptions: Another Tylenol Recall
Johnson and Johnson announces that a batch of about 34,000 bottles is being removed from the market.
Frequency of fat talk associated with increased body dissatisfaction, regardless of waistline
College women who engage in "fat talk" (women speaking negatively about the size and shape of their bodies) face greater dissatisfaction with their bodies and are more likely to have...
Poor behavior doesn't always lead to poor academics
Despite popular belief, a new study finds that students who have poor behavior in the classroom do not always have poor grades.
Stepchildren relate to stepparents based on perceived benefits, researchers find
A family relationship experts identified factors that are related to positive and negative stepchild-stepparent relationships. In the study, they found that stepchildren build positive or negative relationships based on their...
What choice do we have?
Too much choice can be a bad thing -- not just for the individual, but for society. Thinking about choices makes people less sympathetic to others and less likely to...
Women's body image based more on others' opinions than their own weight
Women's appreciation of their bodies is only indirectly connected to their body mass index (BMI), a common health measure of weight relative to height, according to recent research. The most...
For potentially crippling dystonia, earlier deep brain therapy gets better, quicker results
Patients suffering from dystonia, an uncommon yet potentially crippling movement disorder, get better results if they begin deep brain stimulation therapy sooner rather than later, according to an international study...
Facebook drops uprising page after Israel protest
(AP) -- Facebook on Tuesday removed a page calling on Palestinians to take up arms against Israel, following a high-profile Israeli appeal to the popular social-networking site.
Dutch girl, 12, gives birth on school trip
A 12-year old Dutch schoolgirl gave birth to a baby girl during a school trip, local health services said Tuesday.
Clues dug up: France and lap dogs go way back
The oldest dogs from France were small, lap-sized canines that lived up to 15,000 years ago, according to new research.
The good, the bad and the baby (w/ video)
Babies know when their diapers are clean or dirty, or when their tummies are empty or full. All you have to do is ask any sleep-deprived parent. But can babies...
More science needed for tackling disasters, says report
Science, new technologies and clever innovations will be vital for transforming the approach to disasters, says a review.
Senior relief
Margie Thorp ’11 works to make Harvard a less stressful place. As a student mental health liaison (SMHL), Thorp helps her classmates navigate the University’s network of resources for students under stress. When...
Horse blind date could lead to loss of foal
Fetal loss is a common phenomenon in domestic horses after away-mating, according to researchers. When mares return home after mating with a foreign stallion, they either engage in promiscuous mating...
Study shows students find personal tweets from professors makes them more credible
(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study that will surely shake the ivory towers of academia, authors Kirsten Johnson and undergraduate student Jamie Bartolino, both of Elizabethtown College, have published a paper...
Multiculturalism 'not to blame' for failed sense of community
A research team led by Dr. Laia Bécares from The University of Manchester reveals that neighbourhoods with higher ethnic diversity are associated with higher rates of social cohesion, respect for...
New research questions parents' representation in care proceedings system
A new study of how the parents of children in care proceedings are represented has provided the first detailed findings for 20 years. The research, led by academics at the...
Voice-based cell-phone system: Improving the lives of farmers in the developing world?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Can mobile phonebased information improve the lives of farmers in the developing world? And can these farmers use their phones to share knowledge and skills with other farmers?
The New Old Age: Packing Away a Delusion
Experts are always urging family members to "redirect" people with dementia, rather than point out their errors or argue with them. Sometimes that's not so easy.
The Anti-Predictor: A Chat with Mathematical Sociologist Duncan Watts
Early in his new book, Everything Is Obvious: *Once You Know the Answer (Crown Business, 2011), Duncan Watts tells a story about the late sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld, who once described an intriguing research...
End of life concepts confuse
Surveys on euthanasia need to be worded properly to avoid confusion for participants a parliamentary report has found.