Money, Political, Social

In it together: How we become less individualistic during harsh economic times
Team Huddle Harmony Togetherness Happiness Concept
It’s an effect that’s reflected in pop songs and baby names 

By Alex Fradera

The Great Depression gives us a vivid picture of a time when economic hardship rekindled a sense of the collective. Politics took on a greater obligation to common welfare, new workers’ institutions sprang up, and society developed through charitable movements and new habits. More broadly, we know that as societies grow richer, they tend to focus on the individual more than on the community. These trends are fed by political decisions, institutions, and indeed new generations born into the times, but is there also a psychological component to this, operating at the level of individuals? New research in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Emily Bianchi at Emory University suggests the answer is yes – subtle fluctuations in American national economic health, too brief for society to change wholesale, nonetheless push each one of us between We and Me. Continue reading “In it together: How we become less individualistic during harsh economic times” →

Feast

Link feast

screen-shot-2016-09-09-at-18-20-33Our editor’s pick of this week’s 10 best psychology and neuroscience links:

The Everyday Magic of Superstition
Ella Rhodes at The Psychologist speaks to psychologists in an attempt to understand the widespread and persistent nature of apparently irrational beliefs.

Do Men and Women Really Have Different Personalities?
Personality profiles appear to reveal consistent (if subtle) differences between men and women – but are they meaningful? I attempted to untangle a knotty and controversial question for BBC Future.

Continue reading “Link feast” →

Cognition, Illusions, Perception

Investigating the weird effects treadmills have on our perception

Treadmill workoutBy Christian Jarrett

Anyone who’s been on a treadmill at the gym has probably had that strange perceptual experience afterwards – once you start to walk on stable ground again, it feels for a time as though you’re moving forward more quickly than you really are. The illusion, which is especially striking for treadmill newbies, was first documented scientifically in a Nature paper 20 years ago. Since then psychologists have come to better understand what’s going on and the ways the effects can manifest. Continue reading “Investigating the weird effects treadmills have on our perception” →

Political, Social

What are the implications of believing it’s impossible to alter other people’s beliefs?
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Evidence suggests Republicans are more likely to believe in the immutability of belief

By Alex Fradera

What makes us stand up and advocate for what we believe? Whether denouncing the tyranny of taxation or making a plea for the necessity of universal health care, we’re surely driven by our conviction and the urgency of the situation. But how about what we believe about belief itself, whether it is fixed or malleable? Work in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology untangles the previously invisible effect of our belief in human certainty. Continue reading “What are the implications of believing it’s impossible to alter other people’s beliefs?” →

Developmental, Mental health

Some children are extra sensitive to parenting style, bad and good

Portrait of serious boyBy Christian Jarrett

Just over ten years ago, a fascinating journal article argued that some children are like orchids – they don’t just wither in response to a harsh upbringing, they also flourish in a positive environment, unlike their “dandelion” peers who are less affected either way. Since then, research into this concept has exploded. A new meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin usefully gathers all that we know so far about one key aspect of this – the associations between children’s temperament (the forerunner to adult personality) and the way they respond to different parenting styles. The results suggest that those with a particular kind of highly emotional temperament are more likely to match the description of an orchid child*. Continue reading “Some children are extra sensitive to parenting style, bad and good” →

Educational, Gender, In Brief

A letter from a role model boosts female science students’ grades

Female researcher working with chemicalsBy Christian Jarrett

Women are underrepresented in science and technology careers, and female students are especially likely to drop out of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) degree courses. One cause is a relative lack of female role models, combined with feelings of not belonging in a male-dominated environment. This is why Ada Lovelace Day – the celebration of women in science and technology that’s taking place around the world today – is so valuable. A timely new study in Basic and Applied Social Psychology shows how the principles behind the day could be implemented quickly and easily at universities, helping to boost female science students’ grades and reducing drop-out rates. Continue reading “A letter from a role model boosts female science students’ grades” →

Occupational, Social

When and why does rudeness sometimes spread round the office?

Casual business partners having an argumentBy Alex Fradera

Incivility is the mucus of the workplace. Cruel remarks, condescension and cutting people out of conversations are sufficiently low-level acts that they are rarely sanctioned formally, yet acts of rudeness still spread around an organisation “like catching a cold“, clogging up the smooth running of an organisation. But why does the sneezing start in the first place? A new article in the Journal of Applied Psychology argues that just as colds erupt when our immune system is low, so rudeness manifests when our ability to regulate our thoughts and behaviours is running thin. Continue reading “When and why does rudeness sometimes spread round the office?” →

Forensic, Gender, Misogyny, Sex

Training men to judge women’s sexual interest more accurately
Businessman Flirting Businesswoman
Researchers may have found a new way to combat sexual aggression

By Christian Jarrett

“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”  Donald Trump, 2016 Republican Party nominee for US president, speaking in 2005 (full transcript).

The causes of sexual aggression are many, but anecdotal evidence (for example, as implied in the above quote), and research-based evidence, suggests that at least part of it has to do with when men overestimate women’s levels of sexual interest. A new study in the Psychology of Violence finds that men with a history of sexual aggression are especially likely to make this kind of misjudgment, in part because they focus on inappropriate cues, such as a woman’s attractiveness, rather than on her actual emotions. But promisingly, the research also suggests that it’s possible, through practice, to reduce this bias. This is an important finding considering previous research has shown that information-based educational programmes designed to reduce sexual aggression (through challenging rape myths, for example) are relatively ineffective. Continue reading “Training men to judge women’s sexual interest more accurately” →

Emotion, Football, Occupational, Sport

Football team lose yesterday? Your work performance will probably suffer today

sad frustrated friends fanatic football fans watching tv match dejectedBy Alex Fradera

How much do experiences in one part of our lives have effects that spill into other, seemingly separate domains? One obvious candidate is the football team you follow – it’s a distinctive arena that matters greatly for many people and involves a range of experiences, both high and low. For a new paper in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, a team led by Panagiotis Gkorezis at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have tested whether your football team’s success can affect how you feel and perform at work. Continue reading “Football team lose yesterday? Your work performance will probably suffer today” →

Feast

Link feast

screen-shot-2016-09-09-at-18-20-33Our editor’s pick of this week’s 10 best psychology and neuroscience links

‘Honey, I Shrunk The Kids’
At The Psychologist, Jon Sutton and Aidan Horner speak to the children of psychologists, and the psychologists themselves, about their parenting.

Why Does the Replication Crisis Seem Worse in Psychology?
The same problems are facing other fields, too. Here’s why you hear about it most in psychology, says Andrew Gelman for Slate. Continue reading “Link feast” →